Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Booked on Murder (A Haunted Library Mystery) by Allison Brook. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!
Booked on Murder (A Haunted Library Mystery) by Allison Brook
Booked on Murder (A Haunted Library Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
8th in Series
Setting – Connecticut
Publisher : Crooked Lane Books (August 6, 2024)
Hardcover : 304 pages
Librarian Carrie Singleton must catch a killer before she can say “I do” in the 8th delightful installment in Agatha Award-nominee Allison Brook’s Haunted Library mystery series.
Carrie Singleton is ready to kiss the single life goodbye. Her wedding to Dylan Avery is just a few weeks away, and a happy ending is about to be hers. But when a body is found on the lawn of their wedding venue, happily-ever-after is looking deadlier than ever.
The victim turns out to be Billy Carpenter, a young man recently released from prison after serving time for a bank robbery. The stolen money he’d buried is gone and Carrie and the police suspect Billy’s two alleged co-conspirators, his friends Luke Rizzo and Tino Valdez. But then Luke is murdered and Tino is nowhere to be found.
With no leads and only a week to go before her big day, Carrie is on the hunt for clues. She hopes to wrap up this investigation with a neat bow before she and Dylan tie the knot. Carrie has something old, something new, and something borrowed ready for her walk down the aisle. Now she needs to find the killer without becoming the ‘something blue.’
My review of Booked on Murder
It’s always sad when a series comes to an end, and I’m definitely sad that the Haunted Library series is at its end! I wish that there could be a “spin-off” series, but I don’t know how that would work without Carrie and Dylan (sad face!) especially given their new home situation (no spoilers!). Booked on Murder ends the series well and leaves us to imagine the newly married couple’s future.
As usual, Brook provides a well-plotted mystery for us to solve along with Carrie. This time, Carrie and Dylan discover a dead body next to a freshly dug hole…a body that happens to be in the backyard of their wedding venue! Of course, events occur that drag Carrie into the investigation, but Dylan is on board with her and is supportive of whatever Carrie wants to do.
This murder mystery involves money stolen in a bank heist several years ago and leads to at least one other murder. Then greed worms its way into the library’s historical wing and a diary that Carrie discovered among the hidden gems donated to the library many years ago. Though the diary has yet to be valued, at least one person thinks it could be worth a lot of money and attempts to steal it. The diary belonged to a woman in the 1600s who was accused of being a witch and ultimately put to death. What a sad time in our history! Though this person was fictional, it was interesting to look back on my history lessons of the tragic witch trials. (Do they even teach kids about this in school anymore?)
I enjoyed “helping” Carrie compile a list of suspects and clues! Are the murders and the diary related at all? Do the suspects overlap? Will we solve it in time for Carrie and Dylan to get married?!
I love these characters so much and could read countless books with them. I’ll miss Evelyn, the library ghost that only Carrie and her niece can see. I love the way the author shows the closeness between Carrie and Evelyn in Booked on Murder. I’ll miss Uncle Bosco and Aunt Harriet. Oh, I’ll miss all of the main characters, even the ones who are a little hard to love. As usual, the characters are well-developed, and it’s easy to feel like they’re your friends and neighbors.
The wedding was my favorite part of the book, and yes, I cried! I cry at all weddings! It’s a bittersweet event knowing that Carrie and Dylan get their happily ever after, but our journey with them is at an end. The author does a beautiful job of sending them off into their future. I miss them already!
I highly recommend Booked on Murder for its wonderful characters, well-plotted mystery, and its happily ever after for Carrie and Dylan!
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.
Author Guest Post
BOOKED ON MURDER is the eighth and last book in my Haunted Library series. Though it was my decision to end the series because the story arc of my sleuth is now complete, I’m going to miss Carrie, Dylan and Evelyn, and all the other residents of Clover Ridge, Connecticut. I’m also going to miss visiting the town of Clover Ridge, the village green surrounded by centuries-old buildings, and especially the Clover Bridge Library where Carrie, my sleuth, is the head of programs and events.
The setting of a cozy mystery series is a very important aspect. Cozy settings are picturesque small towns where everyone knows everyone else–not that everyone likes everyone else, hence the occasional murder. But I digress. Sometimes I feel like an urban planner, with the many details that go into creating the setting for one of my series. But that’s where my characters live and enact with one another. It has to be as real for my readers as any place they’ve actually visited.
I had a very specific town in mind when I created Clover Ridge, Connecticut. You won’t find Clover Ridge on the map, but the town I based it on was established in the 1600’s and has a village green. Now a park-like setting used for various events, the green once included a few local buildings, a cemetery and was a place where livestock often roamed. The centuries-old buildings bordering the green were colonists’ homes where they plied their crafts and trades. They are now shops, restaurants and galleries.
I set the library, where so many scenes in my series take place, on a corner of the green. Evelyn Havers, the ghost in the series, used to work in the library as an aide and where she returns to help Carrie, my sleuth, solve murders. Other buildings facing the Green, like the Inn on the Green and the Gallery on the Green are where many important scenes take place. Carrie’s great aunt and uncle live in a house on the far side of the green.
Carrie and her friends visit restaurants around Clover Ridge, including one on the Long Island Sound. They shop in malls close to the center of town, and Carrie, when she becomes a member of the town council, meets with the other members on the council in Town Hall. She lives in a delightful cottage on the Avery property that Dylan owns. And close by all of these created sites are the real towns and cities that my characters occasionally visit.
About Allison Brook
A former Spanish teacher, Marilyn Levinson writes mysteries, romantic suspense, and novels for kids. Her books have received many accolades. As Allison Brook, she writes the Haunted Library series. Death Overdue, the first in the series, was an Agatha nominee for Best Contemporary Novel in 2018. Other mysteries include the Golden Age of Mystery Book Club series, the Twin Lakes series, and Giving Up the Ghost. Her romantic suspense, Come Home to Death, was released on April 30, 2024, and her romantic suspense, Dangerous Relations, will be republished in 2025.
Marilyn’s juvenile novel, Rufus and Magic Run Amok, was an International Reading Association-Children’s Book Council Children’s Choice and recently appeared in a new edition. And Don’t Bring Jeremy was a nominee for six state awards. Her YA horror, The Devil’s Pawn, came out in a new edition in January 2024.
Marilyn lives on Long Island, where many of her books take place. She loves traveling, reading, doing crossword puzzles and Sudoku, chatting on FaceTime with her grandkids, and playing with her kittens, Romeo and Juliet.
Author Links
Website: http://www.marilynlevinson.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marilyn.levinson.10?ref=ts&fref=ts
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/161602.Marilyn_Levinson
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarilynLevinson ; https://twitter.com/AllisonBrookML
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/marilyn-levinson; https://www.bookbub.com/authors/allison-brook
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/marilev/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marilynlevinsonauthor/
Buy links:
Amazon Penguin Random House B&N BAM Bookshop.org Hudson Booksellers Powell’s Target Walmart
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Booked on Murder TOUR PARTICIPANTS
August 6 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
August 6 – Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense – SPOTLIGHT
August 6 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW, AUTHOR GUEST POST
August 7 – Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – AUTHOR GUEST POST
August 7 – Angel’s Book Nook – CHARACTER GUEST POST
August 7 – Sarah Can’t Stop Reading Books – REVIEW
August 8 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW
August 8 – Literary Gold – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
August 8 – Read Your Writes Book Reviews – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
August 9 – View from the Birdhouse – REVIEW
August 9 – ebook Addicts – REVIEW
August 9 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
August 10 – fundinmental – SPOTLIGHT
August 10 – MJB Reviewers – REVIEW
August 10 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
August 11 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
August 11 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW
August 11 – Eskimo Princess Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
August 12 – Ruff Drafts – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
August 12 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW
August 12 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
August 13 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
August 13 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
August 13 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW
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Thank you for your beautiful review of BOOKED ON MURDER. I am touched that you cried at Carrie and Dylan’s wedding. I miss all the characters too. Perhaps I’ll write a few more stories about the Clover Ridge gang, after all.
Allison/Marilyn
You’re welcome! I know that would make a lot of us very happy!
Sounds like a cozy I will enjoy.
Looks like a terrific read.