Book Review: Murder Out of Character by Olivia Matthews (Peach Coast Library Mysteries #2)

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: The main characters are great

Cons: The plot should have been stronger

The Bottom Line:

A list of victims

The main characters shine here

But plot needed work

Has Marvey Found a Hit List?

I’d always intended to come back and read the second Peach Coast Library Mystery from Olivia Matthews.  When I won a copy of Murder Out of Character, I decided now was the perfect time to do just that.

As this book opens, it’s just been a few weeks since we first met Marvey Harris, who has moved to Peach Coast, Georgia, to become the community outreach librarian.  Part of her job is planning the fundraising for the year, and the summer campaign is kicking off with a cocktail reception.  The event goes well, but as the staff is cleaning up, Marvey finds a list of names left behind by someone.  She’s intrigued since her good friend Spence is on it as is a man who has just died.

Two days later, another person on the list has died.  Marvey can’t help but think she’s found a list that someone is targeting, but she is having a hard time getting anyone to take her seriously.  Especially since no one seems to be able to figure out a solid connection between the four people on the list.  Can Marvey discover what is going on before a killer strikes again?

I appreciated the skepticism that so many of the other characters gave Marvey about the list.  I would have been right there with them questioning the list.  However, I felt like some of those conversations got to be repetitive.  In fact, that was a big frustration with the book, I felt like we were going in circles at times, having similar conversations over and over again.  As a result, the pacing was uneven.  We definitely got some development, but it wasn’t as steady as I normally like.  When Marvey does piece things together at the end, the identity of the killer and the motive make sense, but there is still a major plot point that isn’t explained.

There is a core cast of characters, and quite a few supporting players.  The supporting cast doesn’t get that much development, but they are still fun.  The core characters?  I love them, and I loved spending time around them.  They are wonderful and very supportive of each other.  They were easily the highlight of the book.  And that includes Marvey’s cat.

While not a culinary cozy, there is a recipe for pralines at the end.

This series was published by Hallmark when they were venturing into publishing.  Sadly, they decided it wasn’t for them, so this series is ending with just two books.

If you enjoy spending time with great characters, you’ll be glad you picked up Murder Out of Character.  If you are looking more for a strong plot, you’ll want to skip this book.