library mystery – Cuddle Up With a Cozy Mystery

A Death Long Overdue review

October 19, 2020 Tari Hann

This is the seventh book in the Lighthouse Library series by Eva Gates aka Vicki Delany, and it’s been a favorite series of mine ever since the first book. It’s always fun to read and wish that there really was a library inside a lighthouse somewhere. I’ve always loved Charles, the library cat that lives with Lucy in her apartment, but he was extra helpful in this book. The picture I found made me think of how he’d probably sit on guard right outside the lighthouse door if he ever got out.

Something special was in the works, and now I can’t wait for the next book!

My Goodreads review:

A Death Long Overdue: A Lighthouse Library Mystery by Eva Gates
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I always love visiting the Lighthouse Library. This time we met Bertie’s predecessor who wasn’t a very nice person, so what happened wasn’t a real shocker. The hunt for the killer was a good one with plenty of good red herrings. I think Sam let Lucy help more in this book than any other so far. Louise Jane wasn’t quite as obnoxious as she was once, but she was still a handful that Bertie sometimes had to reign in.

The setup at the end to trap the killer was great and led to a quick but exciting showdown. What happened after that was amazing! It’s great how this series never just solves the case and ends like quite a few other books have done. There’s always closure and plenty of explanations going on even to what might have seemed trivial at the time. I can’t wait for the next book!

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Buried in the Stacks review

September 11, 2019 Tari Hann

This is the third book in the Haunted Library series by Allison Brook, the pen name of author Marilyn Levinson. I just love the library ghost, Evelyn! She’s not a scary ghost at all, just a sweet older lady who was killed before her time. In this book, it’s possible that Evelyn might get to find out what really happened to her and if she was murdered by the same person who killed her niece.

My Goodreads review:

Buried in the Stacks by Allison Brook

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Murder hit very close to the library ghost Evelyn’s heart in this story. Since it was her own relative that was killed, Evelyn promised Carrie that this time she’d be more willing to share things that she knew or could overhear. The side story of a daytime homeless facility was mixed up in the case as well, and Carrie couldn’t help getting involved, especially when her very sad ghost friend asked her to investigate. Evelyn had a soft spot for all her relatives.

I liked hearing from some of the previous characters like Ken Talbot and Gillian. I’ve really grown to like Carrie’s dad a lot, and she had a few good conversations with him, plus he was working for the same agency now as Dylan her boyfriend was. Dylan was coming home for good with a slight change in the original plan. I loved how little Smoky Joe, Carrie’s beloved cat that she shares with the library as their daytime cat, got to have a part in taking down the killer. I had a suspicion as to who the killer would be, but it was still really good seeing when Carrie would catch on and how the killer would get caught. Carrie got a surprise phone call from another relative who would be coming to see her in April, someone that she wasn’t really looking forward to seeing. The next book should be very interesting!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by the publisher via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own.

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Jeopardy in January–review

January 4, 2019January 4, 2019 Tari Hann

This was a fun book to read as we begin the month of January. It takes place in a small town called Calendar. I’m thinking it wasn’t placed in an actual state on purpose–can’t use this for my Literary Escapes challenge! 😉 But it’ll fit in for a few of them. I love discovering books like this that I’ve had on the Kindle for awhile.

My Goodreads review:

Jeopardy in January by Camilla Chafer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I chose this book for one book challenge I’m doing, but realized it will probably work for a few others as well. On top of all that, I enjoyed it so much! I can’t believe I waited this long to read it. I really loved all the main characters, but from reading the upcoming blurbs for other books in the series, I’m not sure if these characters will appear or not. It seems like they are all free-standing, but at least this book had a very nice ending!

Sara Cutler, head librarian of the Calendar library was working to save the library from demolition. When she found her assistant murdered in that library and realized how very little she really knew about her, it made her wonder just what Bree had been up to that had gotten her killed. As Sara dug into the investigation more and more, the local detective warned her that her own life could be in dangers if the people that killed Bree thought Sara knew something. Add to that mix the fact that Sara felt herself falling for Jason who worked for the firm that was going to build over where the library was to be demolished. Can Sara save the library and find out who killed her assistant?

Of course she can, because this was an awesome cozy mystery! I gotta confess I realized who the killer was early on, but it was a lot of fun to read and see just when it would dawn on other people. The showdown was great and the book ending was very sweet. I do eventually want to read more in this series, especially if the mysteries are as good as this was.

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Death Overdue–review

September 6, 2018September 6, 2018 Tari Hann

I absolutely loved this book! Any element you could possibly want in a cozy mystery is right inside this book! Since I have an advance copy of the next book, I will be reading and reviewing it very soon. I can’t wait!

My Goodreads review:

Death Overdue by Allison Brook

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book so much that I didn’t want it to come to an end! It had everything I love in a cozy: an awesome small town, loving relatives, a smart and brave protagonist and lots of great supporting characters. The fact that Carrie works in a library and it has a resident (friendly) ghost and a cat, well those were just icing on the cake!

Carrie Singleton had come back to Clover Ridge CT with the intentions of visiting, but when she was offered an amazing job at the library where she worked as a temp, she decided to finally put down roots. She had it awfully good living with a sweet and devoted aunt and uncle, plus she’d met a nice guy since they happened to be investigating a murder together. A retired police detective was investigating a cold case he’d worked on 15 years ago when he was murdered during a presentation at the library. Carrie’s new friend Jared had been friends with the detective since the man was investigating Jared’s mom’s murder and had discovered who it was. Hopefully Jared and Carrie won’t anger the killer into doing away with them!

I just loved Evelyn, the library ghost! What a sweet old lady! She and Carrie made quite the team in looking into the case–and Evelyn was even able to tell her a thing or two about a report she needed to do for her new job. It was awesome how Evelyn helped Carrie take care of an issue between her grumpy niece Dorothy who had a huge grudge against Carrie for getting the job she wanted (never mind that Dorothy wasn’t even qualified for the position). You’ll love it when you read that part! And Smokey Joe, the kitten that adopted Carrie and became the library cat was a huge hit with most of the patrons. Surprisingly even boss Sally liked him and didn’t object.

A lot of cozies have relationship triangles, but I didn’t mind this one at all because it didn’t drag on. It became very clear as to which of the two handsome guys Carrie had in her life that she would decide to date and which one would be a friend. I also liked how there wasn’t an actual showdown with just Carrie and the killer, it was more of a car chase scene. I had only started to suspect who the killer was when the carefully placed clues started adding up.

I can’t wait to visit Clover Ridge again and see what my new friends’ next adventure will be!

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Curiosity Thrilled the Cat–review

September 4, 2018September 4, 2018 Tari Hann

It was such fun reading the first in the Magical Cats series by Sofie Kelly! I had read an ARC of book 10 last week and decided I just had to read about Owen and Hercules from when Kathleen first found out they could disappear and walk through walls. It was interesting to see some of the people characters at the beginning as well.

My Goodreads review:

Curiosity Thrilled the Cat by Sofie Kelly

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

After having won and read book 10 of this series, I just had to go back to the beginning and see how this all got started. It was so much fun reading about Kathleen’s reactions to the first times she witnessed Owen appearing or disappearing and Hercules walking through a door or a wall. And the handsome detective Gordon wasn’t nearly as grouchy or impatient with her as I was worried he’d be, lol.

Someone killed the guest conductor for the annual music festival’s final performance, possibly in Kathleen’s library room, so of course she was a person of interest in the murder investigation. There were also a couple of incidents where Kathleen could have been badly hurt–could someone have been trying to scare her off the case?

I had kind of guessed who the killer was but not for the right reasons. I was honestly just trying to think of who wasn’t in book 10…I guess that was cheating a bit right? I still had a lot of fun reading to see what drove this person to what they ended up doing. The man killed wasn’t a saint and many would have agreed that he had it coming. Everything was neatly wrapped up and in the end, Kathleen’s mom came through with a conductor for the final concert. Maggie, Kathleen’s good friend, had a trick up her sleeve as well, which as I know from book 10, turned out to be a very good thing!

Finding out the backstory of Kathleen’s good friend Rebecca was interesting. She was such a good friend to Kathleen and almost like a mom to her since Kath’s parents were both back in Boston. I really liked the characters of Roma, the veterinarian and Maggie, Kathleen’s artist friend. Roma was such a good sport to go sleuthing with Kathleen and Maggie. I loved her sense of humor since she had treated Kathleen on several occasions when she was hurt: “That’s why I like my four-legged patients, they don’t talk back or complain.” Maggie was a good and loyal friend to Kathleen, just what she needed since her own BFF from college was back in Boston–although Kathleen did have to call on her for some help with the investigation.

I really want to keep reading in this series, I’m loving these cats so much!

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Better Off Read–review

May 31, 2018May 31, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the first book in a new series released May 18 by Nora Page. If you like senior sleuths that are very similar to Jessica Fletcher, then you will love this book! Cleo and her friends are pretty amazing and I can’t wait to read more of their sleuthing adventures! I just loved Cleo’s cat, Rhett Butler and Henry’s little pug, Mr. Chaucer.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book which was provided via NetGalley and Crooked Lane Publishing. Thanks going out to them for this opportunity!

My Goodreads review:

Better Off Read by Nora Page

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh my goodness, I loved this book! I haven’t read such an enjoyable senior sleuth since Jessica Fletcher. Cleo is just awesome and this was an amazing first book for what I hope is a long series–so much fun!

Cleo Watkins drove the bookmobile bus in Catalpa Springs, GA a lot more now that a storm caused major damage to her beloved library. A local curmudgeon who wasn’t well liked but was a library supporter had basically assured her he had a plan. But someone else had a plan for him, murder. Cleo and her gentleman friend Henry, who owned an antiquarian bookstore, set out to investigate along with the help of her college-age assistant Leanna. There were plenty of suspects and when another body turned up, Cleo realized she had to prove her own grandson’s innocence along with finding the first killer. She was convinced the killer of both was one and the same.

The mystery did get wrapped up very satisfactorily. I like how all the little odds and ends were addressed at the end. The take down was pretty epic…let’s just say Rhett Butler, Cleo’s cat and the skunks living in the library were heroes!

I really enjoyed reading about Cleo and all her friends, especially sweet Henry who was ever the gentleman. All the characters that were good were so interesting–Adelaide was hilarious (a neighbor at Happy Trails retirement village). I didn’t guess the killer at all, was completely fooled but that’s okay, that’s the name of the mystery game. I’m so anxious for the next book!

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book courtesy of NetGalley and Crooked Lane, thanks going out to them.

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Books Can Be Deceiving–review

March 26, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the first book in the Library Lover’s series by Jenn McKinlay. I have read the first in her Hat Shop series so I knew this would be a good book before I even opened it. It definitely didn’t disappoint! Some things in Briar Creek CT were definitely not as they appeared! 😉 An awesome start to a currently 7 book series.

My Goodreads review:

Books Can Be Deceiving by Jenn McKinlay

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I had been wanting to start reading this series for awhile so when another book club online chose it as their discussion for March, I was happy to start reading it. I like settings in libraries and bookstores anyway so I devoured this book (a little slower than usual since real life kept interrupting lol).

Lindsey Norris was happily working as the director of the Briar Creek Library in Briar Creek CT. Her best friend Beth worked with her as the children’s librarian. Despite a grumpy employee named Ms. Cole, the library ran smoothly and life was pretty good. That is until Beth’s long time boyfriend Rick broke up with her very suddenly and the next thing we knew, Lindsey, Beth and their friend Sully (Capt. Mike Sullivan, a boat captain) found Rick dead in his island home.

Since all fingers seemed to point to Beth as the main suspect, Lindsey took it on herself to investigate–along with a little help from Sully and Beth. Surprisingly, they found that Rick was not everything he claimed to be. There was a great plot twist towards the end and at that point, I was really not wanting any interruptions!

This was a great cast of characters, well with the exception of the grumpy library worker. I loved the idea of them having a crafternoon–a book club discussion along with doing their knitting projects. It was so funny that when Lindsey was coming to a difficult part of her knitting (she only learned so she’d be able to meet with them) she would suddenly become very scholarly about the book and pretty hilarious when they all called her on it. I’d love to see an in-person cozy mystery book club do something like that.

Milton, the 80 something year old yoga expert was such a nice guy! I really liked him a lot and I hope he’s in the rest of these books. He was the library board president among other local volunteer things he did. He made me think of one of my favorite actors, Dick Van Dyke in his Dr. Sloane character, an all around nice friend to have.

Nancy was such a sweet lady to kind of take Lindsey under her wing since her parents lived in another state, as well as be a good landlord and friend to her. The other ladies in the crafternoon group were fun too. And there was Beth. Everyone needs a best friend like her!

I had sort of guessed the killer but I sure didn’t guess the twist that came later and the reasoning behind it all. There were some fun and handy things at the back of the book: Tips on how to hold a crafternoon group, a book guide to a book they were reading, Sully’s yummy hot cocoa and Mary’s clam chowder. There was also a short preview for the next book which I already know I’m going to read!

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