A Murder for the Books

Amy has moved to Taylorsford to live with her Aunt Lydia and work as the Library director at the local library. When her new neighbor Richard asks her help to research a murder that occurred in his house decades ago, both of them find a dead body in the archives. When they start digging deeper into both the historical and current murders, with the help of Lydia and her old friends, another body turns up. There are a bunch of shady characters who all seem plausible for the murders and Amy tries to use the evidence her research turns up to find the culprit. What follows is more suspense, more drama and the confluence of events that lead to all the murders.

This is a proper cozy mystery. It has all the entertaining elements – murders, mystery, haunted houses, romance, humor. I love the way the romance between the leads is developed and how they help each other overcome their insecurities. I loved the side characters, especially Aunt Lydia and Amy's friend Sunny. They are both lively and cheerful and brought a lot of humor to the proceedings. The mystery is well conceived and I couldn't guess the culprit until it was revealed. But there is one fact that needs a special mention – the male lead here is a dancer/choreographer which breaks the stereotype of the usual fictional macho hero and I really applaud the author for it.


PS: Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.