Checked Out for Murder: A Haunted Library Mystery by Allison Brook

About Checked Out for Murder

 

Checked Out for Murder: A Haunted Library Mystery Cozy Mystery 4th in Series Publisher: Crooked Lane Books (September 8, 2020) Hardcover: 320 pages ISBN-10: 164385447X ISBN-13: 978-1643854472 Digital ASIN: B082738ZNV

Carrie Singleton and Evelyn the ghost sleuth the slayings of a starlet and a star-crossed psychic in Agatha Award nominee Allison Brook's fourth Haunted Library mystery.

 

Daphne Marriott strolls into Clover Ridge and informs librarian Carrie Singleton that she's a psychic. But had she foreseen what fate awaited her, Daphne would have steered clear of the quaint Connecticut town. Evelyn, the library ghost, tells Carrie that there's more to Daphne than she lets on.

 

The mysterious woman grew up in Clover Ridge with her no-good dad, who apparently met his end at the hands of Daphne's brother, Billy. Still, Daphne proves a welcome distraction when Carrie's overbearing mother hits town. Mom's much younger husband, Tom, is in a movie that's lensing locally, and she's there to keep an eye on him: Tom's costar, sultry Ilana Reingold, is also his ex-fiancée, and there's no denying the chemistry is still there. Soon after mingling with the moviemakers at a meet-and-greet, Daphne is found dead.

 

Carrie and Evelyn investigate, assisted by bushy-tailed library cat Smoky Joe. But the suspect list could overflow the library shelves. Has Billy killed another relative? Is their long-missing mother involved? Or Daphne's mean ex-husband? Carrie's sure she knows who committed the crime, but can she bind together the clues before the culprit Dewey-decimates the town?

What I Thought:

This is the fourth installment in the Haunted Library series, and this one was just as good as the first in the series. In this installment, a psychic had come to town along with Carrie's mother is who is there to keep an eye on her younger husband and his co-star. When Daphne is found murdered, Carrie becomes involved much to the chagrin of her boyfriend the sheriff, but at the urging of her overbearing mother. I thought this book was well written just like the others in the series. I find the character of Evelyn, who is a ghost to be very refreshing of course the setting is awesome, who does not love a library, right. There were twists and turns in this book that kept me guessing till the very end, which is what I like about a cozy.

I received a complimentary copy of this book.

About Allison Brook

A former Spanish teacher, Marilyn Levinson writes mysteries, romantic suspense, and novels for kids. Her books have received many accolades. As Allison Brook she writes the Haunted Library series. DEATH OVERDUE, the first in the series, was an Agatha nominee for Best Contemporary Novel in 2018. Other mysteries include the Golden Age of Mystery Book Club series and the Twin Lakes series.

Author Links Website: http://www.marilynlevinson.com Amazon: http://bit.ly/Amazon_MarilynLevinson Facebook: http://bit.ly/MarilynLevinson_Facebook Goodreads: http://bit.ly/Goodreads_MarilynLevinson Twitter: @MarilynLevinson; @AllisonBrookML Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/marilev/ BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/allison-brook BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/marilyn-levinson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marilev4/ Purchase Links - Amazon - B&N - Kobo - IndieBound a Rafflecopter giveaway

Little Bookshop of Murder

 

Little Bookshop of Murder: A Beach Reads Mystery by Maggie Blackburn

About Little Bookshop of Murder

 

Little Bookshop of Murder: A Beach Reads Mystery Cozy Mystery 1st in Series Publisher: Crooked Lane Books (September 8, 2020) Hardcover ISBN-10: 1643854380 ISBN-13: 978-1643854380 Digital ASIN: B0818ZX2NY

A Shakespearean scholar inherits a beachside bookshop--and a murder mystery--in this delightful new cozy series for fans of Kate Carlisle and Ellery Adams.

 

Summer Merriweather's career as a Shakespeare professor hangs by a bookbinder's thread. Academic life at her Virginia university is a viper's pit, so Summer spends her summer in England, researching a scholarly paper that, with any luck, will finally get her published, impress the Dean, and save her job. But her English idyll ends when her mother, Hildy, shuffles off her mortal coil from an apparent heart attack.

 

Returning to Brigid's Island, NC, for the funeral, Summer is impatient to settle the estate, sell her mom's embarrassingly romance-themed bookstore, Beach Reads, and go home. But as she drops by Beach Reads, Summer finds threatening notes addressed to Hildy: "Sell the bookstore or die."

 

Clearly, something is rotten on Brigid's Island. What method is behind the madness? Was Hildy murdered? The police insist there's not enough evidence to launch a murder investigation. Instead, Summer and her Aunt Agatha screw their courage to the sticking place and start sleuthing, with the help of Hildy's beloved book club. But there are more suspects on Brigid's Island than are dreamt of in the Bard's darkest philosophizing. And if Summer can't find the villain, the town will be littered with a Shakespearean tragedy's worth of corpses--including her own.

What I Thought:

This is the first installment in the Beach Reads Series and I so wanted to love this book. I liked this book and I really liked the setting. I think a book store on the beach that sells beach reads would be an awesome place to visit. While I liked the setting, I did not like the main character very well. Summer returns to Brigid's Island for her mother's funeral. Summer is a little shell shocked over her mother's death and soon suspects foul play when she starts finding threatening letters for her mother to sell her store. Summer suspects the man who runs the arcade next door, but that is soon cleared up. Summer does not like her mother's book store because she hates romance novels and loves Shakespearean literature and hates romance novels. The idea of this story was a good one. The plot was well thought out. The author did a good job setting up for the next book. I will probably read more in this series because I liked the setting so well. The author did well describing the area. And in future novels, I hope Summer is not such a book snob.

 I received a complimentary copy of this book.

About Maggie Blackburn

 

  Maggie Blackburn is the author of the Cora Crafts mysteries and the Cumberland Creek mysteries under another pen name. Her books have been selected as finalists for an Agatha Award and a Daphne du Maurier Award and as a Top 10 Beach Reads by Woman's World. She has also been short-listed for the Virginia Library People's Choice Award. She is the mother of two young women who are off following their dreams in the music business. She currently lives in Waynesboro, VA, and works at the University of Virginia as a development associate. Author Links Website - http://www.molliecoxbryan.com Twitter - @molliecoxbryan Purchase Links - Amazon - B&N - Kobo - a Rafflecopter giveaway