Death on the Shelf (The Haunted Library Mysteries #5) by Allison Brook #bookreview #mystery #paranmormal

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Title: Death on the Shelf

Author:  Allison Brook

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Publication Date: Nov 9, 2021

Page Count:  316

My rating: 4 stars

About the book:

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?

Death on the Shelf by Allison Brook is the fifth installment in the paranormal cozy The Haunted Library Mysteries series. As with most cozy mysteries each book of The Haunted Library Mysteries will contain their own mystery to be solved within the book so they all could be read as a standalone or in any order if choosing to do so. However, for those following along from the beginning there will be character development carried over from book to book.

Carrie Singleton had returned to Clover Ridge, Connecticut to stay with her aunt and uncle for a while but when she was just about to move on she was given the opportunity to become the head of programs and events at the local library. When she was offered the job Carrie was almost ready to turn it down when she heard a strange voice telling her to think on it. Thinking it was her own mind telling her not to pass up the offer quite so quickly she did just that. Carrie found the job was more than she could have wanted so she stayed and then found out the voice that convinced her to stay was not her conscience but a friendly ghost of a former employee that helps Carrie in her new position.

Carrie never expected that her new job would come with tracking down so many murderers in the small town of Clover Ridge but with Evelyn the ghost’s help she has been doing just that. Now Carrie is just excited to be attending her best friend Angela’s wedding and hopefully enjoy some time just having fun. Unfortunately for Carrie during the bridal shower Angela’s cousin’s husband, Aiden, is murdered right there at the party. Of course Carrie feels she needs to do anything she can to help find the murderer but the suspect list is a mile long with all the guests in attendance.

The Haunted Library Mysteries series is another that I have been following from the beginning and while I was a bit so so at first with this series it has steadily grown on me with each new book. This one has that mix of genres I enjoy with having a resident ghost help solve the murders and the characters are quirky and fun which is always a bonus to me. Then there’s that resident kitty, Smokey Joe, to fill my cute critter quota. Wrap all of that up in a nice mystery and it brings me back time and again.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online:

Goodreads  /  Amazon

About the author:

Allison Brook is an Agatha Award nominated author who writes mysteries, romantic suspense, and novels for young readers. A former Spanish teacher, she loves traveling, reading, knitting, doing Sudoku, and visiting with her grandchildren on FaceTime. She lives with Sammy, her feisty red cat, on Long Island.

Mia Gaskin earned a degree in theater from the University of California San Diego and has performed professionally both on stage and in indie films. She has lent her voice to over one-hundred audiobooks from her state-of-the-art home studio in Oregon.