Murder at the Lakeside Library: A Lakeside Library Mystery

This is the first book I've read by Holly Danvers and, God willing, it won't be my last.

The story line is about a young woman who returns to the lake home her grandparents owned which she visited during the summers when growing up. The home is now owned by her parents, but neither is there. She is recently widowed and goes to the lakeside home while grieving and recovering from her loss. The original building was turned into a little library for the residents of the village and a new modern home built next to it. Next door is her childhood friend.

At first I found the name of the character a bit off-putting. She is "Rain" and her mother is named "Willow. She is about 35 years old so would have been born around 1986 when I think celebrities were naming their children things like "Corderoy" but I still found it a bit strange. It is also very odd that her mother, whose maiden name was Russo, would have a name like Willow.

But names aside, the story was very compelling. I enjoyed the various characters. I loved that rain and her friend Julia had so many fun memories of growing up together, even though Rain only spent summers there while Julia was a "Laker" and lived there year round. All of the characters acted and reacted as one would expect given their relationships to each other.

I found two errors of pronoun usage. "You always pushed your father and I away" should read "pushed...me". "Us girls, if we put our heads together, could probably provide...." should read "We....could ... provide." The last thing that was, I'm certain an error in the writing is that we are told one character was trying to link another to "the case, making himself invisible as a suspect." The case was about the murder of the man who was trying to link another - it makes no sense in the scheme of the story to try to keep himself from being a suspect to his own murder! The author must have meant a different character, but then the order of events and actions that were purported to link the other man doesn't fit with the story line. Just something that should have been thought out better by the author - or if nothing else, worded differently.

Another great read from Holly (Quinn) Danvers! Murder at the Lakeside Library is a definite page turner to add to your summer reading.

Sweet summertime mystery

Good start to the series. I liked the setting at the lake and the characters were OK but I didn’t really feel a connection to any of them. I also was not a fan of the TSTL moments within the book but I will read the next in the series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed the setting in a lake community in Wisconsin and liked that the murder happened immediately with the rest of the story dealing with finding the motive and the murderer. I thought it was unusual that two of the characters were talked about a lot, the main characters mom and dad, but never actually appeared in person during the timeframe of the story, even though it took place at their lakeside cabin. The story had an abundance of unnecessary details, description, and repetitious dialogue. Some of the descriptions seemed very childish and out of context, such as “he moved like a sloth from South America” and another one “he’ll open up like a flower.” These had absolutely nothing to do with the storyline, the characters, or the age group (all 30+) of people in the story. It almost seemed as if the author was using fillers like these to just add to the word count of the book. The actual plot was pretty good for a cozy and there was a twist or two at the end that was interesting.
If you are really into cozies, you might enjoy this one, but it was just not one of my favorites.

Rain escapes to her family’s lakeside cabin to regroup after the death of her husband. Unfortunately it is not turning out to be the quiet retreat she hopes for as she finds out her mother expects her to open the library attached to the cabin for the summer. Then a dead body is discovered on the property shortly after her arrival. The dead man turns out to be a close friend of Rain’s mother and suspicion falls on her and on Rain’s father, both of whom are strangely absent from the lake for the summer. Rain and her childhood friend Julia do some snooping in order to clear Rain’s parents and find the murderer.

While this was a quick read, I initially had a hard time getting in to it as I found Rain somewhat off-putting. There was a lot of angst from Rain, more than I would have expected for a cozy mystery. Rain keeps obsessing over her dead husband’s infidelity - that she had already presumably forgiven him for - and getting way too upset over the state of her parent’s marriage and, as a grown woman, showing an almost juvenile squeamishness at any hint of her parents’ sexual activities, whether with each other or other people. The harping on these issues eased as the book went along and the mystery was wrapped up quickly with some bits predicable for the “happy ending”. I’ll try the next one in the series as Rain became more likeable and relatable as the story progressed

I think this book suffers a bit because I read it shortly after a different and absolutely wonderful cozy. In comparison, this just felt very bland. I didn't really get to know any of the characters outside of Rain and her friend Julie - and a great cast of characters is key to a good cozy mystery in my opinion. The mystery was interesting and had twists I didn't predict, but I found myself unable to get particularly invested in the Lakers. While a pleasant read, I won't go out of my way to continue the series.

I received an egalley in exchange for an honest review

This is the beginning of a new cozy mystery series set in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. The titular library is in a cabin on the property of Rain Wilmot's family and is only open in the summer, run by volunteers and filled with donated books. The library is not a main part of the mystery, which is disappointing for those of us interested in little, unique libraries. The apparent murder of an unknown man on her property turns Rain, and her friend Julia, into amateur detectives. The setting is beautiful and the library is promising but the two women became a bit annoying. Hopefully, the second volume coming next year will be better. Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing an ARC.

If I could, I’d give tires 2.5 ⭐️, the writing was clunky and there really wasn’t much to the story of actually solving the mystery. They just kind of get lucky and end up at the right place at the right time, but ultimately the police solve it and then tell what happened.

The description of the area and community are great though, as is the relationship between the two main characters.

Rain moves back to her childhood home on a peaceful Wisconsin lake hoping to find solace after the untimely death of her husband. To her dismay both her parents are away for the summer working and left her to run the unofficial library that’s in an annex of their cabin. Rain decides after reconnecting with her friend Julia that it will give her something to do. When one morning a body of a stranger is discovered on her property. Who was this man. No one knows much about him but rumpus persist about him “cavorting” with her mother. Rain and Julia decide to do some sleuthing and try to solve the murder before Rain’s father becomes the prime suspect.