A Shocking Christmas Murder
While we’ve had a book set in December in the Library Lover’s Series, it wasn’t a full-on Christmas book. As a result, I was looking forward to spending the holidays in Briar Creek with A Merry Little Murder Plot.
It’s hard to believe it, but this is the fifteenth Library Lover’s Mystery from Jenn McKinlay. In that time we’ve really gotten to know Lindsey Norris, the director of the public library, and many other residents. As a fan, it’s always fun to jump in and see what everyone is up to. There are some references to past books, it nothing super spoilery, so if you wanted to jump in here you could. You’ll miss some of the fun character development, however, and you’ll want to go back to the earlier books when you see how much fun you have here.
The library is hosting their first writer in residence this winter, and they are thrilled to have bestselling author Helen Monroe kicking the program off. She’s just killed off her popular FBI agent character, and she’s promised to reveal what she’s working on next at the end of her residency.
However, Lindsey’s radar goes off when a stranger comes into the library very interested in meeting Helen. Since Lindsey has had a past experience with a stalker, she’s immediately on guard. But when the two of them meet, sparks fly in a completely unexpected way. Then Lindsey finds a dead body electrocuted by the town’s light display, Lindsey can’t help but ask questions. Will she find the truth?
Let’s get my issue out of the way up front. There’s a character in this book who wants to ban books, including Helen’s. Honestly, I’m a little surprised it’s taken this long for the topic to come up in the series. This becomes a subplot in the book, and every time it was on the page, it annoyed me because it fell into the typical stereotypes. This character is evil, and the librarians are wonderful. One of them even fell into the logical fallacy of appealing to authority at one point, talking about how she took classes to curate the collection for the community. Now, hear me carefully. I am against banning books. And I completely disagree with the character in this book. But if you can buy a book, it isn’t banned. And, we need to be able to have a conversation about age appropriateness of books. And yes, there are some books that don’t belong in a library. It certainly didn’t help that I was reading this right before Banned Books Week started, which always gets on my nerves. Yes, there is nuance that should be had in this conversation, and this book didn’t even try to offer it.
Now that I’ve got that out of my system, let’s move on. Because that really is a small part of the book.
The plot took me by surprise several times, including how it was set up. I hadn’t read any description of the book before I started reading, so I didn’t know who the victim was going to be or anything. I honestly could have seen a few different people being the victim, which is always fun. There were several more good twists before we reached the climax, when things made perfect sense.
I’ve already talked about how much I like the characters in this series, and that holds true again here. It was a blast to spend time with them again. They are their usual charming selves, too. There’s a large cast, and some stayed more in the background, but that’s how things usually are. We still at least got to see everyone. The new characters were good and we got to know them as the book progressed.
And there’s the humor. I laughed multiple times over the course of the story, usually at the dialogue. That’s always fun.
I also enjoyed the Christmas setting. We get plenty of holiday events to enjoy as the book goes along, and it was a fun added touch for this entry in the series.
As usual, the book includes some extras, this time with a Christmas theme. We get a discussion guide for a Christmas book, a fun ornament craft project, and two recipes.
Overall, I enjoyed my time in Briar Creek for A Merry Little Murder Plot. Fans of Jenn McKinlay will be glad they picked this up, and if you want a fun Christmas mystery, this is a book you’ll enjoy.
Be sure to check out the rest of the Library Lover’s Mysteries.
NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.
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