Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Published: July 13, 2021

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Source: NetGalley

Available Formats: Audio, Digital, and Hardback

My Review: This year my promise to myself was not to start any new cozy mystery series until I finished a few I had going but the cover of this debut series sucked me right on in. I am so glad it did. Is it a perfectly written cozy mystery? No, but for me, it felt very real. Rain is dealing with the loss of her husband and the realization that he was unfaithful. She decides to move back to her hometown and stay at her parents’ place while they are away for the summer. Before she even gets unpacked she learns that she is expected to run the summer library for her absentee mom and in the process finds a dead body on her property. Rain is starting to wonder if moving home was her best choice. She really just wanted a quiet place to grieve and lick her wounds.

Rain appears fickle at times but coming from my own experience of grief you don’t always think like you normally would. Some days you are lucky to remember to tie your shoes before walking out the door. Rain’s childhood friend, Julia, is a tad irritating as she tends to railroad Rain and then afterward apologizes. I wouldn’t pick Julia as a friend but she seems to be the right one for Rain.

I hope in book 2, Long Overdue at the Lakeside Library (out 2.2022) that we get to meet Rain’s parents and find out what is really going on with them. There is quite a story going on there.

If you love cozy mysteries set by water and involving books this is a series for you. Trigger warning: unfaithfulness, death of a spouse, and murder.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher, Crooked Lane Books, through NetGalley. All opinions expressed in the above review are entirely my own.

From NetGalley: In this series debut perfect for fans of Jenn McKinlay and Miranda James, Rain Wilmot must discover the killer, before the book closes on her life.

Rain Wilmot has just returned to her family’s waterfront log cabin in Lofty Pines, Wisconsin after the untimely death of her husband. The cabin is peaceful compared to Rain’s corporate job and comes with an informal library that Rain’s mother, Willow, used to run. But as Rain prepares for the re-opening of the library, all hopes for a peaceful life are shattered when she discovers the body of Thornton Hughes, a real estate buyer, on the premises.

The community of Lofty Pines starts pointing fingers at Willow, since she has been unusually absent from the library this summer. A fishy rumor surfaces when Rain learns that Willow had been spending a lot of time with Thornton. The town even thought they were having an affair.

While theories swirl about Thornton’s death, Rain takes it upon herself to solve the case to exonerate her mother. As more clues surface, Rain will have to piece together the mystery. But if she isn’t careful, she may be the next to end up dead in the water in Murder at the Lakeside Library, the first in Holly Danvers’ new Lakeside Library mysteries.