Book Review: Death Checked Out by Leah Dobrinska (Larkspur Library #1)

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Good start, Greta’s development

Cons: Mystery is easy to figure out

The Bottom Line:

Greta’s neighbor dies

But now she must clear her name

Wish it were better

Who Helped Greta’s Neighbor Check Out?

I enjoy book and library themed cozies, so Death Checked Out caught my eye. This is the first in a series from Leah Dobrinska set on a small Wisconsin town. Sadly, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. 

Greta Plank is settling into her new life in Larkspur, a small lake side community. She’s the head of the library, and she’s become good friends with her two fellow librarians. She’s even managed to charm her grouch of a neighbor, Franklin, who has a reputation of being antisocial. 

Unfortunately, one day on her way home from work, Greta finds Franklin dead. Greta thinks it is an accident, but Detective Mark McHenry quickly figures out it was murder. Even more quickly, he zeros in on Greta as his prime suspect. Can she find out what really happened to prove her innocence?

The book started out well. The setting was charming, and I was enjoying meeting Greta and her friends. 

However, as the book went along, I never felt like we got to know them any better. Outside of some development for Greta, which I enjoyed, none of the rest of the cast grew beyond that initial impression. This includes the suspects, sadly. And I really felt like the detective was overly harsh even though Greta was a suspect. 

The mystery was pretty easy to figure out as well. That’s not to say we didn’t have some nice surprises along the way, which I enjoyed. But it wasn’t as complex as I would have liked. 

This is another case where it is easy to point out where the book went wrong. It wasn’t a bad book. But it wasn’t really good either. 

So I’d only recommend Death Checked Out if there is something in particular about the premise or setting that appeals to you.