LONG OVERDUE AT THE LAKESIDE LIBRARY

3 stars out of 5

A good plot that held my interest; wish I could be as complimentary about the two  main characters. To be sure, they fit the "cozy mystery heroine" mold perfectly - one has emotional baggage from the past, a great job, friends who love her and a penchant for investigating things that go bump in the night - or in this case, in an ice-fishing shanty. The other is loud, obnoxious, doesn't know the meaning of the word no and shoves her way into everyone else's life even when it's not appreciated. The first, Rain Wilmot, wouldn't be quite so hard to take if just once in a while she'd grow a backbone instead of caving to her friend Julia's outrageous demands; Julia, however, is beyond redemption.

Put together, they bring a whole new meaning to going off the deep end. That there are no consequences for their downright illegal behavior makes the whole thing even more of a travesty. That they laughingly agree to lie to the police if necessary to keep from going to jail because they broke the law, well, that crosses a line that, at least IMHO, shouldn't be crossed.

All that said, I'll return to that good plot - which makes for an entertaining book for those who don't share my concerns (this one is, for the record, the second in a series; I did not read the first, but I never felt at a disadvantage because of that). Rain has decided to live year-round at her family's log cabin compound on Pine Lake, Wisconsin; she runs the Lofty Pines library, attached to her house, which now will be open all year. It's winter, so the small community is preparing for an ice fishing tournament and "chili dump." Rain has hopes that her neighbor, Nick, will win the tourney - he's married to her best friend, the aforementioned Julia (he seems like a really nice guy, so what he sees in her is a not-so-cozy mystery). But before the competition can ramp into full gear, something awful happens: a local man, Wallace Benson, is found stabbed to death. The problem? He was seen arguing with Nick, who shows up with a nasty cut on his hand. When what may be the murder weapon - a fishing knife - is discovered in Nick's tackle box, he gets arrested.

Julia, needless to say, is determined to prove her husband didn't do it; Rain, who knows Nick well, agrees he's innocent. So, the two women, plus Julia's brother and local police officer Jace, set out to gather evidence. Mostly, though, they just talk about it - and spend even more time talking about the snowstorm that's apparently one of the worst to hit the Badger State in years. The storm's fury is exacerbated because Nick handled snowplow duties for the locals, but being jailed put rather a kabosh on that. The solution for that comes when one of the two potential love interests for Rain gives Julia five minutes of instruction on how to operate the plow so when she's not blabbing about the sleuthing she thinks they should be doing and how bad the storm is, she can pitch in (which, if I recall correctly, she actually does only once, when it serves her own purpose).

Toward the end, the action picks up as another tragedy strikes, making the case against Nick less of a sure thing and putting the lives of Rain and Julia at serious risk. Nope, no details from me - all I'll disclose from this point on is that I received an advance copy to read and review from the publisher (via NetGalley). For the rest, you'll have to get your own copy and find out for yourself.

Long Overdue at the Lakeside Library by Holly Danvers (Crooked Lane Books, February 2022); 304 pp.