Cozy mysteries, one of my favorite genres, are known for having the main character own some sort of shop. It seems to me that many of these shops could never stay in business, especially since so many of them are in small towns. There would never be enough business to keep the doors open. That was my first thought as I started At Wick’s End by Tim Myers.

Our hero, Harrison Black, inherits his aunt’s candlemaking shop upon her death. Really? A whole shop with nothing but candlemaking equipment? Maybe if you live in New York City or Chicago but not in a small town or even a small city. We couldn’t even keep a Radio Shack in our town. As it turns out, he inherits not only the shop but the whole building which has a number of tenants. He also inherits an apartment in the building. Through a number of clues, he believes his aunt was murdered and, of course, sets out to find the murderer.

Harrison Black is a likeable character. The secondary characters are likeable. The story is clean and the mystery is not overly-simplistic but not overly-taxing. It’s light, it’s entertaining, it’s not deep. A pleasant way to pass a couple of hours. I won’t mind reading the rest of the series. It’s what I would call a mid-list cozy. Not the best I’ve read, far from the worst I’ve read.