Book Review: By Book or By Crook by Eva Gates

Lighthouse Library Mystery Book 1

Get bound up in murder in the first Lighthouse Library mystery!

For ten years Lucy has enjoyed her job poring over rare tomes of literature for the Harvard Library, but she has not enjoyed the demands of her family’s social whorl or her sort-of-engagement to the staid son of her father’s law partner. But when her ten-year relationship implodes, Lucy realizes that the plot of her life is in need of a serious rewrite.

Calling on her aunt Ellen, Lucy hopes that a little fun in the Outer Banks sun—and some confections from her cousin Josie’s bakery—will help clear her head. But her retreat quickly turns into an unexpected opportunity when Aunt Ellen gets her involved in the lighthouse library tucked away on Bodie Island.

Lucy is thrilled to land a librarian job in her favorite place in the world. But when a priceless first edition Jane Austen novel is stolen and the chair of the library board is murdered, Lucy suddenly finds herself ensnared in a real-life mystery—and she’s not so sure there’s going to be a happy ending....

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My Review:

This book was fun. Highly improbable, especially with the TARDIS-like dimensions of the lighthouse housing the library, but still loads of fun. I find it’s always interesting when my favorite character in the book is one of the animals, and Charles was definitely the star as far as I was concerned. I’m not sure if it’s because the library cat was just that over the top or if the rest of the cast wasn’t dynamic enough to oust him from the top spot. I give huge credit to the author, at no point was I able to outthink the plot, which frustrates me but also makes me very happy. I’m not a fan of the current love-triangle that’s being set up for Lucy’s love interests, but since it’s fairly low key right now, I’m willing to give that unpleasantness a passing grade. There's just something that keeps me from loving this as much as I was hoping to. There's a lightness of spirit and sense of fun that I was hoping to find here that I wasn't able to. I am, however, looking forward to seeing what’s next in the series. I read a borrowed copy of this book.