A Haunted Library Mystery
Allison Brook
Marilyn Levinson
Nov 2021
ISBN 9781643857800
About:
Librarian Carrie Singleton sleuths a murder at her best friend’s wedding in Agatha Award nominee Allison Brook’s fifth Haunted Library mystery.
Clover Ridge librarian Carrie Singleton is thrilled to attend her best friend Angela’s wedding, but Angela’s family can be a bit…much. Angela’s wealthy cousin Donna hosts an extravagant bridal shower at her resplendent home, but the celebrations turn to gossip as the guests notice Donna’s surgeon husband, Aiden, spending a bit too much time with Donna’s cousin Roxy. At the wedding reception, the sweet occasion turns darkly bitter when Aiden topples into the chocolate fountain–dead.
The suspect list is as long as the guest list, and as difficult to sort out as the seating chart. A few of the top contenders on Carrie’s suspect list are the flirtatious Roxy, emotionally unstable since her recent divorce; Angela’s grouchy brother, who feels Aiden betrayed him; and Roxy’s scorned ex-husband. Even Donna may have had reason to want her husband dead. And Aiden’s gossipy office manager has plenty to say about them all.
Then another member of Angela’s family is murdered, making Carrie more determined than ever to find the killer. Can library ghost Evelyn and library cat Smoky Joe help Carrie solve the murders before she becomes the next of Angela’s wedding guests to head to the grave?
Review:
I have to admit I find books with silly covers a bit of a put off. However the synopsis pulled me in and I decided to give it a go.. and I’m so glad I did. I love thrillers, murder mysteries but there are times when they get so intense it’s difficult to put the book down and you get gripped headlong into a tunnel of twists and turns. Death on the shelf was a light-hearted easy read and part of the series The Haunted Library. I didn’t always remember the story when I picked up from where I left off but actually it was really easy to get back into. Carrie is a likeable character and Evelyn adds another dimension to the story. Having not read Alison’s previous books I was quickly aware that this is from a series with Carrie and Evelyn a team. That aside you don’t need to have read the previous books to understand what is going on, Alison puts us in the picture and gives us a complete story without the need to re-introduce us to the previous books characters.
