Death in the Stacks
3.5 Stars

When the new library board president is found stabbed to death in the stacks, the library's newest hire becomes the prime suspect. Encouraged by friends and co-workers to investigate, library director Lindsay Norris begins delving into the life of Olive Boyle to determine which one of her many foes had had enough of her nasty intimidation.

Series note: There is a great deal of backstory in the earlier books of the series that might make it difficult to read this as a standalone.

While this addition to the series is entertaining overall and the developments in the lives of recurring characters are very appealing, especially Lindsay's relationship with sexy Sully, there are a number of problematic elements.

To begin with, there are two aspects of Lindsay's personality that are rather grating. First, she takes too long to act against the victim's truly vicious comments and actions - polite manners only go so far. Second, her decision to continue sleuthing despite her promise to stop is annoying. Yes, the circumstances may warrant her actions, but it is clear that the author found a way to force the issue.

Moreover, there are very few clues indicating the identity of the culprit and the motivation doesn't make much sense.

Finally, characters from McKinlay's Cupcake Bakery Mystery and Hat Shop mystery series put in an appearance. However, there is no crossover story arc, and their unnecessary inclusion feels too much like self-promotion for my tastes.
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Olive Boyle, the newly elected President of the library board, is not well-liked by anyone in Briar Creek. So when she's found murdered after the library's biggest fundraiser of the year, the list of suspects is long. Topping the list, however, is Lindsey's newest employee, Paula, who Lindsey knows is innocent. Of course, the best way to prove Paula's innocence is for Lindsey to do a bit of investigating of her own.

As the eighth entry in this cozy mystery series, I'm impressed at how well McKinlay uses the formula but still manages to keep the plot feeling fresh and allowing all of her characters to continue to grow as the series goes on. The character of Olive felt almost unrealistically obnoxious, making even the reader a bit relieved that she's the murder victim for this outing, but otherwise the novel was perfectly satisfying. Fans of McKinlay's other cozy mystery series will be delighted to see characters from both the hat shop and cupcake bakery appear in this entry (I don't read those series but know they exist). A solid read for followers of the series. ( )

This series is great, I've always wanted to work around books so this really scratches an itch. The mystery in this one is also especially good. ( )

Lindsey the librarian is organizing a fundraiser for the library, *in* the library - a benefit dinner in the stacks type thing - all while trying to fend off the new president of the library board, who is a nasty Karen type, and also keeping said Karen from bullying the other library staff. She's clearly not the only person who can't stand the woman, because she ends up murdered between shelves at the end of the night. And because so many people hated her, lots of people are suspects, including Lindsey and one of her staff members.
Another solid entry in the series. Kept me guessing until the end. ( )

Everyone's getting hitched! Is this the end of the series? ( )