A second perfectly good installment in this series. Enjoyable and well paced. ( )

I love this series featuring librarian Greer Hogan. In this latest, she's on the hunt for clues in her husband's murder, relying on her in-depth knowledge of fictional detectives as well as her own senses. A great, engaging read!

Thanks to Crooked Lane Books for access to a digital ARC via NetGalley.

Librarian Greer Hogan travels to Lake Placid to attend the wedding of Sarah, an old friend from her college days. The Whitaker family is rich and owns a couple of houses outside of town, on one of the many lakes in the area, and Greer is happy to assist in the arrangements being made for all of the guests coming to attend various functions before and after the wedding itself. But when Brittany, a business assistant to Sarah’s father, goes missing and subsequently is found drowned in the lake, it will take all of Greer’s sleuthing skills to find the killer and prevent a further death…. This is the second Greer Hogan book and, like the first, it is the combination of Greer’s detective skills (because, of course, librarians are detectives of a kind, in terms of finding out things) and her former work in the fashion industry that creates a very competent and determined character. As it happens, she is also hoping to learn more about her husband’s murder some years ago while at the wedding, since a number of the guests were part of that world too - but that plan gets sidelined by the more immediate death in this book. I assume that means the third novel will continue with this overarching mystery - but I hope that it will also take place in one of the small New York towns and villages that are so appealing in this series! There are references to events in the first book (“The Unkindness of Ravens”) in this one, but I don’t think it’s actually necessary to have read that one before trying this. Despite the various serious issues involved, this is a light and cozy read; recommended. ( )

Greer Hogan is in upstate New York near Lake Placid to help a friend celebrate her marriage. She does have an ulterior motive: many of the guests were acquainted with Greer's murdered husband Danny and she hopes to find information to reopen the investigation of his death. She's convinced that the wrong man was convicted.

Before she can begin her investigation, another case takes center stage. A young woman who might have been having an affair with the bride's father is found dead. Greer and her friends are eager to find out who wanted Brittany dead - but it looks like the murderer was one of the family. So many of the family members are keeping secrets from each other and some of the secrets could have led to Brittany's death.

I liked the way Greer uses her job as a reference librarian and her love of mysteries to help her solve the case. I liked that there were a number of plausible suspects among the family. I also liked learning about the pasts of some of the characters.

This was an engaging and well-plotted mystery. ( )