Death Overdue: A Haunted Library Mystery by Allison Brook, Marilyn Levinson

Death Overdue: A Haunted Library Mystery by Allison Brook
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Carrie Singleton had returned to Clover Ridge, Connecticut to live with her aunt and uncle for a while but she is just about to move on when she’s given the opportunity to become the head of programs and events at the local library. When offered the job Carrie is almost ready to turn it down when she hears a strange voice telling her to think on it. Thinking this is her own mind telling her not to pass up the offer quite so quickly she does just that when she finds that the salary will be quite nice which would allow her to get her own place and begin her new life while still close to her family. Carrie finds though the voice convincing her to stay is not her conscience but a friendly ghost of a former employee that helps Carrie in her new position.

Jumping into her new job Carrie plans to start adding to the events offered at the library beginning with having a retired homicide detective, Al Buckley, come and speak when she hears that he knows who murdered Laura Foster, another former library employee who had been murdered fifteen years earlier. Carrie’s event however is cut short when the detective is poisoned and dies in the middle of the meeting. Now to try to save her job Carrie decides she needs to begin investigating herself seeing how the police never solved Laura’s murder fifteen years before and it seems someone didn’t want Al to speak up about who may have committed the crime.

Death Overdue by Allison Brook and Marilyn Levinson is the first book in the new Haunted Library Mystery series. Now how in the world could I pass by a book that not only has a main character that shares my name but a setting with a haunted library??? Books and ghosts?? Sign me up please. I will say though jumping into this one I had to keep reminding myself it’s called fiction for a reason since sure, a ghost may be fictional but this small town library certainly didn’t live up to reality when described either. Unfortunately libraries in the real world are struggling everywhere which is a shame but this one seemed to have endless funds and staff. It threw me off a bit but I sure wish all libraries could be as nice, even if they came with their own ghost.

For the most part the book was a decent start to this new series but there were a few other things I think could have used a bit of a change. The relationship side of the book left a bit to be desired leading into two different directions which had me scratching my head on both sides but won’t go into too many details there. I wouldn’t have minded to see more of the ghost in the story to make use of the more unique setting for this book. Otherwise, I ended up deciding to give this first installment of the series 3.5 stars and would read the next to see where the story heads with the next case.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.