A Larkspur Library Mystery: Book 1
Publication Date: December 6, 2022
She’s used to checking out books. A death? Not so much.
Greta Plank, resident librarian in the small, lakeside town of Larkspur, Wisconsin, prefers her rose-tinted glasses extra rosy, thank you very much. Ever since a family tragedy landed her in Larkspur, she’s kept a happy-or-bust outlook. But Greta’s cheery resolve takes a hit when she finds the town recluse dead at the base of the stairs leading from his deck to the lake. What she assumes is a terrible accident Greta soon learns is something more sinister, and to make matters worse, new-to-town Detective Mark McHenry cites her as not only his primary source for the case, but his top suspect.
To clear her name and return to life as she knew it before the murder, Greta decides to do some clue cataloging of her own. After all, she’s got her master’s degree in library science with an emphasis in research methodology…how hard could a criminal investigation be? With the help of her fellow librarians and her lawyer mom, Greta begins checking out the pages of the murder, uncovering details about the recluse’s rare book collection and Larkspur’s real estate market as she tries to understand why anyone would have authored his death.
But with friends and neighbors stacking up as both victims and suspects, Greta must cross-reference the facts and put a hold on her idyllic worldview if she wants to get the full story without paying the fine of her life.
Death Check Out, the first book in the Larkspur Library Mystery by Leah Dobrinska, is such a clever title as this story is based around a library. It was an ironic story about a library in a book.
I love libraries when I don’t have to do research for school. I love the quiet and the smell of books. It’s soothing to me. I’m such an introvert.
Greta was a character that liked seeing the good in people and tried to have a positive outlook on life. I like those qualities in fictional characters as well as in real life.
Greta also had a solid group of friends to talk to and commiserate with. She had a solid emotional support system and lived in a small town. Her friends played a large part in carrying the story and keeping the plot moving along.
The cop on the case was detective McHenry. He and Greta clashed quite a bit. It led to some interesting reading.
With strong character development and a great mystery to solve, Death Checked Out is a fun, light-hearted whodunit that moved along at a good pace and kept me fully engaged.
Leah Dobrinska is the author of the Larkspur Library Mysteries, a cozy mystery series set in the Wisconsin Northwoods, and the Mapleton novels, a series of standalone small town romances. She earned her degree in English Literature from UW-Madison and has since worked as a freelance writer, editor, and content marketer. As a kid, she hoped to grow up to be either Nancy Drew or Elizabeth Bennet. Now, she fulfills that dream by writing mysteries and love stories. Death Checked Out is her debut cozy mystery.
A sucker for a good sentence, a happy ending, and the smell of books—both old and new—Leah lives out her very own happily ever after in a small Wisconsin town with her husband and their gaggle of kids. When she’s not writing, handing out snacks, or visiting local parks, Leah enjoys reading and running.
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Lori, thank you so much for reading and leaving such a thoughtful review of DEATH CHECKED OUT!
I’ve read Leah’s Mapleton Series and enjoyed her writing o it’s time to check out her Cozy Mystery.