BOOKED ON MURDER

4 stars out of 5

I've read, but not confirmed, that this book is the last in the cozy mystery series featuring ghost-loving librarian Carrie Singleton. Events in the book do signal that may well be the case, though, but if it's not, I'll note for other readers that this is the eighth of the enjoyable cozy tales (as well as advise, as always, that it's best to start any series at the beginning). Still, like the others, this one stands alone just fine.

What it is not, however, is anywhere close to my favorite in the series. I admit to having a bit of an issue with a librarian who sees and talks to ghosts - but that was only at the beginning. Now, I'm quite used to "seeing" the apparitions and enjoying their insights along with Carrie. No, in this one I was never able to get past the concept that anyone would deliberately leave a priceless, one-of-a-kind item out in the open for a week or more just because a security system can't be installed till then. I mean c'mon, folks, put it in a closet or drawer with a lock on it already.

To the heart of the story is Carrie's upcoming wedding to her main squeeze, private eye Dylan Avery. In about two weeks, they'll tie the knot at the gorgeous home of a friend that overlooks Long Island Sound. The arrangements are being finalized and it looks like smooth sailing from here on; but wait, there's more. That comes when they're doing a walk-around of the wedding venue in the form of a dead body near the gazebo (whoops is sort of an understatement). It would be unnerving all on its own, but Carrie has been feeling stressed after being asked to write an article for a local newspaper about Verity Babcock, a woman who was hanged as a witch in 1652 in Clover Ridge, Connecticut, where Carrie's library is located. Not long ago, she discovered Verity's diary among the library's historical acquisitions - and it's now being displayed in the new historical section, where everyone wrings their hands with worry that it will be stolen before that new security system is put in place.

Carrie, as regular readers know, has a knack not only for conversing with ghosts, but of involving herself in police investigations. Unlike other cozy mystery heroines, thankfully, she does it with respect for and cooperation from the local police (albeit a little grudgingly at times). This one is no exception; since she and Dylan found the body, it makes sense for her to follow up a bit. And thanks to help from her friends and family, she manages to work in all the sleuthing and a little actual work in the library with finalizing plans for the upcoming wedding with only a titch of pre-wedding jitters.

The victim turns out to be a young man who was released from prison recently following a bank robbery - looking for, it's determined, the stolen money he'd buried. In fairly short order, two robbery accomplices are identified, but one has gone missing and the other has turned up dead. From that point on, it's pretty much a race to see whether the murderer(s) will be caught, the diary will remain safe and the wedding will come off with a hitch (see what I did there??) All the loose ends that might otherwise have bothered me are tied up nicely at the end. So whether or not this is Carrie's swan song, I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy in a series I've long enjoyed. 

Booked on Murder by Allison Brook (Crooked Lane Books, August 2024); 304 pp.