A paranormal bookclub in the making at an old library? This was an ok cute quick read. ( )

As the new curator of the First Edition Society in Bath, Haley Burke has her hands full trying to raise the society’s visibility while keeping peace with its secretary, Mrs. Woolgar. The two women are thrown together a lot, as they not only work together at the society, but also live on the society’s premises. Mrs. Woolgar has a basement flat, while Hayley is upstairs from the library.

The society library houses first editions of Golden Age mysteries. One of Hayley’s new initiatives is allowing a fan fiction writers’ group to meet in the library on Wednesday evenings. Mrs. Woolgar does not approve. When one of the writers’ group members is found dead in the society library, Hayley is forced to take an interest in the investigation to clear the society from suspicion. Did I mention that Hayley’s specialty is 19th century literature, and she’s never read a Golden Age mystery? She’ll get a crash course in detection in the course of the novel.

Although it wasn’t too difficult for me to guess the killer’s identity, the author did a decent job of casting suspicion on several of the characters. The plot is nicely paced, and it’s not overly weighted with character development as so many other first-in-series cozies are. The Bath setting will be a draw for many Anglophile cozy fans, so it’s disappointing that the author doesn’t take better advantage of the location. Hayley spends an awful lot of time in Waitrose, and it’s a chain supermarket not unique to Bath. ( )

An adorable mystery story, rather forgettable a few days after the fact. The protagonist is new to her position in a rather stuffy private library, Lady Fowling's First Edition Library. When death is found in the library, the mystery of who and how is on. The story is engaging enough that I've taken out the second title ( )

Hayley Burke has found her dream job, as the live-in curator of Lady Georgiana Fowling’s First Edition Library at Middlebank House in Bath, a home she shares with the late Lady Georgiana's secretary, Glynis Woolgar. But Hayley has a secret: despite having worked as an assistant to the assistant curator at a previous job, she herself has no knowledge whatsoever of the content of the First Edition Library, that being female authors of the Golden Age of mystery writing, back in the 1920s and 1930s. She figures that she can “fake it ‘til (she) makes it,” but her plans are thrown asunder when one of the members of a rather unlikely fan fiction writing group turns up murdered in the library. Upon her first reading of an Agatha Christie novel, Hayley decides to go full-on Miss Marple and attempt to solve the crime herself, an undertaking of which the local police do not approve…. This is the first in a projected series of cozies featuring Ms. Burke, and it’s got all the requirements for a good cozy: outstanding setting (both the city of Bath and the house itself), spunky but amateur sleuth, complicated love life complete with new love interest, assorted eccentric characters and, above all, a murderer bent upon mayhem. I enjoyed the fact that the main character becomes a mystery-book zealot after reading one Agatha Christie novel (after all, there’s no zealot like a new convert!) and I also wanted to slap her for letting her grown daughter walk all over her; both characteristics are enough to keep me reading, and I’ve already bought the second book in the series. I wouldn’t call this book groundbreaking, but it’s a good deal of fun; mildly recommended. ( )

Hayley Burke has gotten a great new job. She's been hired as the curator of the First Edition Library in the former home of Lady Fowling who was a collector of mysteries written in the 1930s by the likes of Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers. Lady Fowling herself was the author of some mysteries. The job comes with lodgings which is quite a perk for a divorced woman with a daughter at university.

There are a couple of problems with Hayley's dream job. Mrs. Glynis Woolgar was Lady Fowling's secretary until her death and feels that she has to keep things as they are which thwarts Hayley's plans to make the library more relevant. Second, Hayley doesn't know anything about mysteries written in the 1930s since her degree was in 19th Century literature.

Hayley has convinced the Board to allow a group of writers who specialize in fan fiction using some of Agatha Christie's characters to use the library. She might be regretting that decision though because they are constantly arguing and seldom leave the library as neat as Mrs. Woolgar would prefer. She regrets it even more when she enters the library one morning and discovers the body of Trist - the leader of the group.

At first, Hayley is quite content to leave the investigation to the local police. Detective Sergeant Ronald Hopgood and Detective Constable Kenny Pye seem to be quite competent. That isn't the same for the author group. As writers of mysteries they feel that they have a lot to contribute to the investigation. Hopgood wants Hayley to get them to back off.

Hayley is also dealing with a threat from Lady Fowling's sleazy nephew who is determined to overset the trust and take over the house and all its contents himself and isn't above using some blackmail to get his way. She also has to deal with her boyfriend Wyn who is so busy working on his robot in London that he doesn't have time to offer her support during the troubles in Bath. And she meets a new man who has so much in common with her as she works to set up some literary salons in concert with the university.

I enjoyed this cozy mystery. The characters were interesting people. Hayley is the sort of person who is easy to identify with. The plot was complex enough to keep my interest and leave me guessing about the mystery. I liked the setting in Bath and in a home that is now a library for mysteries. ( )