Death in the Stacks by Jenn McKinlay

Death in the Stacks by Jenn McKinlay ISBN-13: 9780399583759 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime Released: Nov. 14, 2017

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Lindsey Norris and her staff are gearing up for the Briar Creek Library's annual Dinner in the Stacks fund-raiser. The night of dinner and dancing is not only a booklover's dream--it's the library's biggest moneymaker of the year. But instead of raising funds, the new library board president is busy raising a stink and making the staff miserable.

Although Olive Boyle acts like a storybook villain, Lindsey is determined to work with her and make the event a success. But when Olive publicly threatens the library's newest hire, Paula, Lindsey cracks like an old book spine and throws Olive out of the library.

The night of the fund-raiser, Lindsey dreads another altercation with Olive--but instead finds Paula crouched over Olive's dead body. As the plot thickens, Lindsey must catch the real killer before the book closes on Paula's future


My Review:
Death in the Stacks is a cozy mystery. It's the eighth in a series. You don't need to read the previous books to understand this one, and this book didn't spoil the whodunits of the previous mysteries.

This was a clue-based mystery. Since so many people had secrets that they didn't want Olive to reveal, it was more an exercise of eliminating suspects through alibis than finding clues that pointed to a specific killer. Whodunit had occurred to me shortly before the big reveal, but the author spun things in a way that made me wonder if that person would end up being the killer. The suspense scene at the end was caused by Lindsey and her friends trying to save someone. Lindsey locking herself--unarmed--inside a house with a killer inside and help outside wasn't her most brilliant moment.

There were no sex scenes. There was some bad language. Overall, it was an enjoyable novel.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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