Death Overdue: A Haunted Library Mystery (A Haunted Library Mystery, #1)

by Allison Brook

The delightful first installment in The Haunted Library Mysteries, featuring “ghosts, libraries, and cats—all my favorite cozy things" (Ali Brandon, author of the Black Cat Bookshop mysteries)

Carrie Singleton is just about done with Clover Ridge, Connecticut until she's offered a job as the head of programs and events at the spooky local library, complete with its own librarian ghost. Her first major event is a program presented by a retired homicide detective, Al Buckley, who claims he knows who murdered Laura Foster, a much-loved part-time library aide who was bludgeoned to death fifteen years earlier. As he invites members of the audience to share stories about Laura, he suddenly keels over and dies.

The medical examiner reveals that poison is what did him in and Carrie’s determined to discover who murdered the detective, convinced it’s the same man who killed Laura all those years ago. Luckily for Carrie, she has a friendly, knowledgeable ghost by her side. But as she questions the shadows surrounding Laura's case, disturbing secrets come to light and with each step Carrie takes, she gets closer to ending up like Al.

Agatha Award Nominee

"Readers of Miranda James, Jenn McKinlay, Carolyn Hart, Nancy Atherton, and Carolyn Haines will be delighted with this paranormal debut." Library Journal starred review, Pick of the Month)

• ISBN10: 1683313860
• ISBN13: 9781683313861
• Publish Date: 10 October 2017
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Crooked Lane Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781683313861

Reviews

[Mystereity Reviews]

Between 3 and 4 stars. A good start to a series but it lagged in parts, I think to set up the main character more. Some aspects seemed to jump ahead without being laid out (the "romance" between Carrie and Dylan being one. He rents the cottage to her and then takes off on a trip for several weeks and when he comes back they have Thanksgiving dinner and suddenly they're dating? What?)

The plot revolves around a cold case murder of a woman and the fatal poisoning of the original case's detective as he is poised to reveal the name of the killer, and was riveting. Carrie fumbles her way through an investigation, with the help of a ghost of Evelyn, a former library employee who died at the library a few years before. I enjoyed Evelyn's input, not only on the case but also helping Carrie to adapt to her new position.

Overall, a great debut and I look forward to reading more of this series.

[Eve1972]

Alas, I just couldn't get into this one. I didn't like Carrie AT ALL. She calls her coworkers "dimwitted" and "juvenile," yet she is a 30-year-old woman who dressed like a goth and mooched off her aunt and uncle. The writing also felt clunky and a bit juvenile to me. The plot was all over the place. The characters felt very one dimensional as well. Ya, this just wasn't that great IMO. Onwards...