Elizabeth Spann Craig

Librarian Ann Beckett loves her job. Spending all day surrounded by books, helping patrons to socialise or discover the resources available, finding new books to recommend and being part of the community makes her happy - even if she doesn't have many close friends or a partner to share with. She just wishes everyone else would agree and stop trying to set her up on blind dates. But when her latest blind date results in death, her curiosity is aroused and she finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation, sleuthing her way to the guilty party.

Elizabeth Spann Craig is pretty much my go to when I want a relaxing cosy mystery with a decent plot and funny characters. And the first book of the Village Library Mysteries is no exception. Plus it's based in a library. I mean it's hard not to love it for that alone.

Ann was great. I liked her humour and easy going attitude. Her sleuthing was low key nosy and it suited her style. The cast of characters were all great as well - I loved the library manager, Wilson, the children's librarian, Luna and the police chief, Burton and I adored the sense of community the library fostered. I'm not a cat person but I enjoyed the inclusion of the library cat and how he won over the patrons and Wilson into keeping him about. Plus I loved the discussions about books and movies - like Ann I'm always on the lookout for recommendations to add to my reading/watching list. You know that list that's thousands and thousands of books and movies long. But of course, new reccs.

The plot was well constructed and kept me entertained sleuthing along with Ann. I didn't guess who it was but then I very rarely do. I enjoyed the twists and turns of the investigation and the reveal of the guilty party.

An enjoyable start to a new cosy mystery series. 4 stars.… (meer)