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Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Book Review: A Likely Story by Jenn McKinlay (Library Lover's Mysteries #6)


Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: Great characters, fun story
Cons: Some details of the mystery never quite resolved
The Bottom Line:
Death on an island
Starts a myst’ry for the books
With fun characters




No Man Dies on an Island Alone

I’ve reached the current half way point in Jenn McKinlay’s Library’s Lover’s Mysteries.  I’ve also reached the first of her books to be published in hardcover.  That distinction goes to A Likely Story, which is another fun mystery.

One of the things that librarian Lindsey Norris does as part of her job is take requests to the residents who live in the islands off the coast of Briar Creek, Connecticut.  And that’s what she is doing this cold February day with the help of her ex-boyfriend, Sully.  Their first stop is Star Island, the home of brothers Stewart and Peter Rosen.  The brothers are recluses, and it has taken Lindsey the better part of a year to get Stewart comfortable enough to joke with her on her brief visits.  Even so, she understands she isn’t to leave the dock when she comes to deliver their books.

This particular afternoon, Stewart doesn’t come to meet her.  After waiting a few minutes, Lindsey and Sully can’t help but feel that something is wrong, so they venture up to the house to investigate.  Inside, they find one brother dead with no sign of the other.  Did one brother kill the other?  Or is something even more sinister involved?

Since we are now six books into the series, it’s no surprise that these characters are now dear friends, and I was excited to get to check in with them again.  Everyone is here, and they all get a scene or two to shine.  In fact, there are some sub-plots involving the supporting cast that are a lot of fun for fans of the series and provide some great humor.

Those who have been reading the series know that we have a love triangle of sorts in this series.  No, it isn’t as annoying as some love triangles can be.  Here, it is very much a background part of the story, although I believe this book sets it up to be a major focus of the next book.

Now, if all of this is making you think the mystery gets overshadowed by things going on with the series regulars, let me put your mind at ease.  The mystery is front and center for most of the book with these other aspects as sub-plots, as it should be.  As with others in the series, this book doesn’t present a typical mystery since it adds some other elements to the story.  And I was hooked.  I couldn’t wait to find out what would happen next and how it would all lead Lindsey to figure things out.  I did feel that the climax was a bit rushed, and therefore a couple of lingering questions weren’t answered, but we still got the main points of the mystery resolved.

Each book in this series features multiple extras at the end, and this book has the typical literature discussion questions for one of the books discussed in the story, a craft idea, and a couple of recipes.  On top of that, we also get a short story that I suspect introduces us to a new character we’ll see more of as the series progresses.

A Likely Story is another enjoyable, fast read.  Any fan of Jenn McKinlay will know what to expect when they pick up this book, and will be delighted by every page.

Check out the rest of the Library Lover's Mysteries.

1 comment:

  1. I love this series so much though I missed so many books in the middle. I need to go just reread this series for the beginning - like that will really happen!

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