Vicki Delany

Outer Banks, library, lighthouse, library-cat, amateur-sleuth, librarian, small-town, small-business, cozy-mystery, art, art-theft, art-show, detective, family, family-dynamics, friction, friendship, investigation, local-gossip, local-law-enforcement, mayor, murder, relationships, relatives, series, unputdownable, unpleasant-guests*****

Nags Head, North Carolina. Librarian Lucy and the staff at the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library are part of an art appreciation initiative involving some local residents. There are nice, wretched, and even pretentious characters present and then the body of one is found face down in the mud. Let the excellent sleuthing begin!
I requested and received a free temporary EARC from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. Thank you!
Available 04 Jun 2024 #LighthouseLibraryMysteryBk11… (meer)

Before I begin, I would like to say that I am not a professional reviewer. I just enjoy reading books and sharing my thoughts about them. I also have no sense for what counts as a spoiler and I cuss like a sailor, so read at your own risk!

I rate this book 4.5 / 5 ★ and I received this book through a giveaway.

I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book or not, but I was pleasantly surprised by it. First off, I felt anger for like 90% of this book, not because it's bad or anything, but because of the blatant disrespect that Elizabeth is given despite being a businesswoman. I know women were treated badly back in the 50s but holy shit man, was it really that fucking bad? They completely steamrolled over this woman, acting as if she's as dumb as a sack of bricks and as fragile as porcelain.

And the cop, man. The fucking. Cop. He is TRASH. Period. Though, I guess I can understand why by the end of the book but when I was reading, I hated him. He was ignorant, did a terrible job as a cop, and he deadass set his mind on ONE option and refused to explore any other angle. I hate this man and I hope he suffers.

Normally when I read murder mysteries, I choose suspects that I think may be guilty but for this book... I don't know what happened, but I didn't suspect ANYONE. No one felt like a suspect to me and I just kept waiting for them to introduce someone that might be behind the murder but it just didn't happen and I was surprised when things fell into place. Not sure if that means the mystery is top-tier or terrible lol

Another thing I noticed is that this book is super boring in the beginning, and the murder doesn't even occur until page 55 which, I guess is normal, but it annoyed me because the beginning was so painful for me to read. It was boring and didn't really hook me. I think it was just before the halfway point that the book started to pick up, like the train finally got rolling and I read quite a bit of it back to back without stopping. I was surprisingly hooked. I can't say this book was amazing but it was a good read.

There were a few points that really had me laughing. For example, on page 170 when Elizabeth finds out about her mother's stalker and thinks he's a good suspect so she shows the picture to that dumbass chief and he's just like:

{"How long have you been a communist, Miss Peters?"}

I lost it at this line. I had to put the book down and legit take a moment. I wanted to STRANGLE this man. Another moment I had to take a moment for was on 176:

{"You're doing a good job. For a girl, I mean."
"Gee, thanks."}

I HAD THE SAME REACTION AS ELIZABETH. Men deadass used to think they were on top of the world, huh.

{Little noodles cut to look like letters of the alphabet floated in the soup.}

I read this line and IMMEDIATELY thought of those cheap ass 90 cent cans of alphabet soup that you usually eat when you're a kid. But I don't know anything about fancy rich people, so I just let this go until:

{The consomme was largely tasteless and, unlike here, my kitchen reserved alphabet noodles for the children's dining room.}

SHE SAID IT. SHE SAID WHAT I WAS THINKING. It's like me and her are on the same wavelength, it was crazy.

And finally, the best line in the whole ass book, delivered by the glamor queen herself:

{"Elizabeth!" my mother called. "What on earth is your girdle doing in the cutlery drawer?"}

I deadass SNORTED at this line. And it's the last line of the book which is fucking glorious. This is literally the BEST way to end a book and it's the best. And I don't even know what a fucking girdle is!

Finally, I want to take a moment to talk about how the chief tried to make it a communist thing. Now, I definitely ain't the sharpest crayon in the box, but I have no idea what communism is. I looked it up and read the definition. Still don't get it. I even looked up "explain communism like I'm 5" and still don't really get it. The most I can get from it is "everyone owns the same items" like that one NAP from Sims 4 where other sims can just come and take your shit and use it as they please, but I don't know man.

Maybe it's because I don't understand it or because I don't have much knowledge about history, but it felt like people were going nuts just at the mention of the word. It seemed so fucking strange to me and they acted like anyone who believes in communism is the literal devil. I don't get it and I ended up scratching my head many times through this, but I don't think that's any fault of the book.

So yeah, this book isn't bad and if you can overlook the sexism of the 50s, then it's a nice little murder mystery.… (meer)

This novel was the first in a long cozy series that I have read, although I love the author's Tea By the Sea series. It took me a couple of chapters to really get into it (likely because I was catching up on a lot of backstory), but after that, I breezed right through it. I enjoyed the art references and the characters as well as the scenery/setting. I adored the ending as well. Reading this book from another likeable series has firmly established this author as one of my top five favorite cozy mystery writers.

Net Galley Feedback… (meer)