Librarian Carrie Singleton must catch a killer before she can say “I do,” in the 8th delightful installment in Agatha Award-nominee Allison Brook’s Haunted Library Mystery series.
Carrie Singleton is about to kiss the single life goodbye. Her wedding to Dylan Avery is just a few weeks away, and a happy ending is about to be hers. But when a body is found on the lawn of their wedding venue, happily-ever-after is looking deadlier than ever.
The victim turns out to be Billy Carpenter, a young man recently released from prison after serving time for a bank robbery. The stolen money he’d buried is gone and Carrie and the police suspect Billy’s two alleged co-conspirators, his friends Luke Rizzo and Tino Valdez. But then Luke is murdered and Tino is nowhere to be found.
With no leads and only a week to go before her big day, Carrie is on the hunt for clues. She hopes to wrap up this investigation with a neat bow before she and Dylan tie the knot. Carrie has something old, something new, and something borrowed ready for her walk down the aisle. Now she needs to find the killer without becoming the ‘something blue.’
Dylan and Carrie are getting married in two weeks but what an action-packed two weeks it will turn out to be. Along with wedding planning there is a theft from the library, murder and a campaign to exonerate accused witches from the 17th century.
I have mixed feelings about this series. The characters are pleasant but not too memorable. The ghost that makes it The Haunted Library series just seems sort of contrived, what little she contributes to the plots would be just the same if she was alive and she makes only a few brief appearances this time around. The cat also seems superfluous, just there because a cozy mystery needs a cute cat or dog, as other than being taken back and forth to the library and being fed he is just there. This entry actually focuses more on the Carrie and Dylan’s wedding and plans for their future with almost every few pages having Carrie musing upon - or telling Dylan - how happy she is to marry him as he loves her as she is and does not want to change her, than it does on an actual mystery even though there are several murders as well as a subplot about the injustices of the 17th century witch trials. Possibly the most interesting part is the two new ghosts who make an appearance, and whose fates we would like to know more about, but as the author states this is the last entry in the series, that is a storyline that unfortunately will not be explored. Overall while not my favorite cozy mystery series these are a quick and pleasant way to pass a lazy Sunday. ~~ Stephanie L Bannon
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