Killer Research (A Library Lover's Mystery, Band 12) - Hardcover

Buch 12 von 16: Library Lover's Mysteries

McKinlay, Jenn

 
9780593101773: Killer Research (A Library Lover's Mystery, Band 12)
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0593101774 ISBN 13: 9780593101773
Verlag: Berkley, 2021

Inhaltsangabe

Spring has sprung in Briar Creek, but it is not all sunshine and roses, in the newest Library Lover's Mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of One for the Books.

Spring is livening up Briar Creek after a long, cold winter, and newlyweds Lindsey and Sully could not be happier. Even though the upcoming mayoral election is getting heated, everything else in town is coming up daffodils...until a body is found.

Ms. Cole, a librarian and current candidate for town mayor, is shocked when she opens her trunk to discover a murder victim who just so happens to be a guy she dated forty years ago and the founder of the baking empire Nana's Cookies. As the town gossip mill turns, a batch of rumors begins to circulate about Ms. Cole's rebellious youth, which--along with being a murder suspect--threatens to ruin her life and her budding political career. But Ms. Cole is one tough cookie who will not go down without a fight.

Has the campaign for mayor turned deadly? It is up to Lindsey, Sully, and the rest of the crafternoon pals to see how the cookie crumbles and figure out who is trying to frame Ms. Cole for murder and why.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Jenn McKinlay is the award winning, New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly
bestselling author of several mystery and romance series. Her work has been translated
into multiple languages in countries all over the world. She lives in sunny Arizona in a
house that is overrun with kids, pets, and her husband's guitars.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

1


Lindsey Norris pushed a cart full of food toward the back room of the Briar Creek Public Library. It was her turn to provide the eats for the library's weekly crafternoon meeting. She had established the crafternoon club just after becoming Briar Creek's director a few years ago. It was one of many programs she had implemented, hoping to make the library a gathering place for the community.

This particular group was small but enthusiastic, and the women who belonged to it had become some of Lindsey's dearest friends in the small Connecticut shore town. The group met every Thursday at lunch, and they discussed the chosen book of the week while sharing food and making a craft. This week's book was Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and Lindsey was thrilled. She'd been trying to get the crafternooners to read Austen for months and they'd finally agreed.

As she navigated the narrow hallway, she was forced to swerve to the right as an enormous hamburger waddled toward her. Lindsey squinted. Yes, the head poking out of the top of the sesame seed bun was none other than her children's librarian, Beth Barker. The costume thing was nothing new for Beth, as she was known for dressing up as everything from a teapot to a bat for her story times. She was a firm believer in going the extra mile to engage her young audience, which made her reading programs a packed house. None of this was a surprise to Lindsey as she had been Beth's roommate during their information studies graduate school years, and even then, Beth had approached her children's literature courses with the same over-the-top enthusiasm. The burger outfit, though, that was a new one.

"All right, you've got me stumped," Lindsey said. "I know the books that go with a duck costume, a dinosaur and even a rocket, but a hamburger? What are you reading at story time today that goes with this?"

Beth grinned at her and adjusted the lettuce leaf beneath her top bun. "Well, my favorite is Burger Boy but there's also Bun, Onion, Burger. Both books get kids thinking about lunch and food, and eating responsibly. Then for the young entrepreneurs in the crowd, there's Hamburger Heaven, which is all about making a small business into a success."

"Impressive. Picture books always pack a punch of information," Lindsey said. She glanced at her cart. Today's menu to celebrate spring was loaded with egg salad finger sandwiches, cheddar-broccoli tartlets, pesto stuffed cherry tomatoes, and lemon cheesecake squares. "Now I'm wishing I'd just ordered a sack of burgers."

Beth slowly backed away with her hands up as if to ward off an attack. "Don't get any big ideas. I'm made of felt, I tell you," she said. She hugged the pillow-like layers that made up her burger costume to her already large pregnant belly. Then she caught her reflection in the office window behind Lindsey. "Uh-oh, it's like the baby knows I'm dressed as a burger, because I'm suddenly starving-like, I'm going to have a mental episode if someone doesn't put a burger in my hand right now."

"Can't help you with that," Lindsey said. She gestured to the cart. "All I have are finger sandwiches and tartlets."

"How very Austen of you," Beth said. She leaned in close to examine the cart, and gingerly took one of the egg salad triangles. "Turns out the baby isn't that particular. This is just for taste-testing purposes, natch."

Lindsey laughed. "Of course."

"Ermagawd, so good," Beth said. She devoured it in two bites, and a look of sublime bliss crossed her face.

Lindsey took a napkin and put another sandwich and a tartlet in it. Then she handed it to Beth and said, "To tide you over during story time."

"You're a goddess, have I told you that lately?" Beth asked.

"Yes, when I approved your summer reading program budget last month," Lindsey said. "But for the record, it never gets old."

Beth grinned. The distinct sound of a toddler giggling emanated from the main library, drawing her attention, and she said, "I hear my crowd arriving. Gotta bounce. See you at crafternoon."

"Break a burger--or would that be a bun?" Lindsey called after her.

Beth stuck an arm out of her costume and bent it as if to make a muscle while cradling her food in her other hand.

Lindsey watched as Beth waddled across the library to the story time room. Her burger bun swung like a pendulum as she tipped from side to side while walking. Beth's baby was due in two months, which was a scheduling challenge for her as she juggled being the children's librarian while also acting as the campaign manager for Ms. Cole, the head of circulation at the library, who was running for mayor of Briar Creek and the Thumb Islands.

It was no small task to make over the image of the woman formerly known to the library staff as "the lemon" (for her puckered disposition and old-school ways) into a viable candidate for mayor, but Beth was giving it her all.

Lindsey wheeled into the crafternoon room to find Paula Turner, a library clerk, already seated at the main table. She was a crafter to her core and was setting up the day's project supplies. Not being crafty by nature-a major understatement-Lindsey glanced with mixed emotions at the table, namely one part curiosity and one part dread.

"Happy crafternoon," Paula greeted her. "Since it's your week to host, and I know you don't love crafting, I picked a super easy Austen-inspired craft. Ribbon bookmarks."

Lindsey glanced at the piles of materials in front of Paula. Velvet and lace ribbons of every conceivable color, ribbon clamps and loads of charms in silver and brass and some beads and crystals, too. She saw an old-fashioned key, a jade bead, an open book, a teardrop crystal and an antique portrait of Jane Austen in a frame no bigger than a quarter. She immediately felt her spine relax. Lindsey picked up a length of lavender velvet and ran it through her fingers. This seemed like something even she could do.

She grinned at Paula. "You might make a crafter out of me yet."

"That's the goal," Paula said. Her thick braid was currently dyed a fabulous shade of turquoise, and the sleeve of tattoos that ran up her arm was colorful and book inspired. There was no doubt that she gave the library all of its coolness.

"Lindsey!" A breathless Ann Marie Martin appeared in the doorway. "We've got a situation!"

Lindsey glanced at Paula and gestured to the food. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all," she said. "I'll keep watch."

"Thank you," Lindsey said. She hurried to the door and fell in step beside Ann Marie, her library assistant, as she led the way back to the main library. "What's the situation?"

"Mayor Hensen is here," Ann Marie said. "He and Ms. Cole are having an impromptu debate right in the middle of the library."

"Oh, no," Lindsey said.

They were six months out from the local election, and things were heating up. The town of Briar Creek had no term limits, so the incumbent, Mayor Hensen, was planning to run for his third term. So far, he had refused to debate Ms. Cole publicly and could most often be found at the country club, schmoozing with his cronies. He seemed to feel that Ms. Cole was no threat to his campaign, and therefore couldn't be bothered to treat her as a real opponent.

Lindsey suspected he was in for a bit of a surprise given that the turnout for the upcoming election looked to be higher than usual, and much of the town's younger generation was actively engaged and looking for a different sort of leadership. Sadly, since Mayor Hensen was technically her boss, Lindsey had to remain completely neutral whenever she was on duty at the library, even though privately she was one hundred percent Team Cole.

"I'd deal with it myself but one of our computer terminals is missing a...

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Verlag
Berkley
Erscheinungsdatum
2021
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0593101774
ISBN 13 
9780593101773
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Anzahl der Seiten
304
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
preigu
mail@preigu.de

Lengericher Landstr. 19
Osnabrück
49078
Deutschland

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