Love is in the air in Briar Creek as library director Lindsey Norris and boat captain Mike (Sully) Sullivan are finally tying the knot. The entire town is excited for the happy day, and Lindsey and Sully’s plan for a small wedding evaporates as more and more people insist upon attending the event of the year.
When Lindsey and her crafternoon pals head out to Bell Island to see if it can accommodate the ever-expanding guest list, they are horrified to discover a body washed up on the rocky shore. Even worse, Lindsey recognizes the man as the justice of the peace who was supposed to officiate her wedding ceremony. When it becomes clear he was murdered, Lindsey can’t help but wonder if it had to do with the wedding. Now she has to book it to solve the mystery before it ends her happily ever after before it’s even begun….
Release Date: Sept 1, 2020
Series: Library Lover
Book: 11
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley
Price: $12.99
The wedding of library director Lindsey Norris and boat captain Mike “Sully” Sullivan is turning into the event of the year for Briar Creek, Connecticut. Lindsey and Sully had hoped to keep things small, but the guest list is becoming out of control. Lindsey and her friends go to check out a potential wedding venue but instead find a dead body – of the man who was supposed to officiate Lindsey’s wedding! Sully and Lindsey want to put all of this behind them before their wedding, so they work together to try to find out who would want to kill Sully’s old friend justice of the peace, Steve Briggs.
This is the eleventh book in the Library Lover’s series. I have read quite a few of the prior books, but I think new readers would be able to enjoy this book even if it’s the first they’ve read in the series. Lindsey is a likable character and she and Sully are a great couple. It is so refreshing to have the couple working together to solve the mystery instead of having the main female character sneaking around behind her boyfriend’s back to investigate. Sully thought he knew Steve, but learned there was more to the man that he realized, opening up the possibility of several suspects. Lindsey also finds out that someone can be a good person, but still make mistakes in their lives, which again increases the number of suspects in the murder. Plenty of red herrings are provided, but most readers won’t find it too hard to figure out the real killer, although the motive is more complicated than it first seems. Even after a long investigation, the solution seems rushed and I wish the drama would have been extended a bit longer.
The most obvious “mystery” in the book is who will be able to stand in at the last minute and officiate Lindsey and Sully’s wedding. It starts out amusing, but becomes silly when the joke goes on too long. As expected, there is a satisfying solution to the obstacles Lindsey and Sully were having when finalizing their wedding plans. Readers who have been following the series will be especially pleased with how everything turns out in the end. In addition to Lindsey and Sully’s love for each other, I like Lindsey’s friendship with her co-workers, too. I enjoy the discussions they have about books, although there was less of that in this installment due to the wedding. There are several references to different books as Lindsey helps library patrons or talks about books she likes. I like the authenticity that gives the story since books are so important to Lindsey. This is an evenly paced, light mystery that fans of this author or of Lynn Cahoon will enjoy.
~ Christine
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