Kim Deister
This short novella introduces the main characters in the upcoming new series by Kayt Miller, of whom I’m an unabashed fan! And if this story is any indication of what’s to come, I’m hooked.
Mabel is a librarian/administrator, newly hired at a library in Savannah, Georgia. The city holds memories of her grandmother, now passed. Mabel inherited her house and is now living in it, hoping it doesn’t fall to pieces around her. Her house woes are only made worse as she tries and tries to assimilate into her new life in Georgia after fallout from a doomed relationship in Chicago. But things are not going well for her. With a cast of characters as quirky as this one, that should not be a surprise!
Much of the cast introduced are her colleagues at the library, and those that are kind to the “Yankee” are in the minority. The rest seem hellbent on destroying her. Her only savior seems to be Leo Watts, a detective who becomes involved when Mabel, as one does in the library, happens upon a body. And, of course, it seems as if her colleagues are trying to pin the murder on her.
I can’t get enough of Kayt Miller’s books! It’s the way she creates characters that keep me coming back for me. I adore the feisty FMCs she creates, the sassiness of them. And I love the men she creates for them, their unexpected vulnerability and strength of character. But almost as much, I love her villains. They are so antagonistic, so simply awful. She creates bad guys that are just terrible, right to the line but without going over it in any way that could be seen as “too much.” There are moments when I get viscerally angry with them! I love having that level of involvement and feeling elicited from me. The cast of villainous characters in this book do that for me!