September 25, 2017
In McKinlay’s exuberantly entertaining eighth Library Lover’s mystery (after 2016’s Better Late than Never), Olive Boyle, a skeletally thin, middle-aged bully, who has insinuated herself into the political life of Briar Creek, Conn., turns her beady eye on the local library. As the newly elected president of the library board, Olive demands staff changes, dress codes, and the firing of the director, Lindsey Norris, a friend of the person Olive beat in the election. A few hours after a very public argument between Olive and Lindsey at the annual Dinner in the Stacks fundraising event, Olive is found stabbed to death in the library. When a young staff member is implicated in the crime, Lindsey steps in to investigate. She discovers that Olive, besides knowing the dark secrets of practically everyone in Briar Creek, had a few murky secrets of her own. Once again, McKinlay invites the reader into an appealing world inhabited by kind, intelligent people and only the occasional nasty villain. Agent: Christina Hogrebe, Jane Rotrosen Agency.