Misfortune blows into North Carolina’s Outer Banks when a dead body in a boat on the shore leaves local librarian Lucy Richardson racing to solve a strange new mystery….

After a successful party at Bodie Island’s Lighthouse Library, librarian Lucy Richardson is ready to curl up with her cat, Charles, and a good book. But her R and R is cut short when she notices some mysterious lights leading a small boat to crash into the coast.

The two shipwrecked seafarers survive the ordeal—but one of them shows up dead ashore a few days later. Lucy finds herself again roped into a murder investigation and navigating a sea of suspects, all of whom had motives to deep-six the deceased. And this time, she has a sinking feeling that finding the real killer won’t be so easy…

Reading Up a Storm by Eva Gates

Lighthouse Library Series #3

Genre: Cozy Mystery
My Rating: **** (4 stars)

I pre-ordered this book and started it right away, but other obligations kept getting in the way of my reading it. I took a little vacation last week though, and finally found the time to finish it. If you are a cozy fan, I highly recommend this one as a beach or vacation read. I’d actually like to take a vacation to Body Island. As I’ve noted in my reviews of By Book or By Crook and Booked for Trouble, I love the setting for this series. Lucy’s cozy apartment at the top of the Body Island lighthouse would be a nice place to live no matter what, but with the library right downstairs, I would love it!

Reading Up a Storm focuses more on characters outside of the library staff, and Lucy has a new friend in this one who is accused of murder. Of course she doesn’t trust that the police will see past her friend Stephanie’s apparent motive for the crime, and is soon getting herself into trouble asking questions and trying to solve the case by herself. She probably figured it out long before I did, but it was gratifying to find that the killer was the person I suspected, for once. 🙂

And for those of you who enjoy a little romance with your cozy mystery – I love where the author has taken the romantic triangle that was developing in the first two books. I can’t say anything more without spoilers, but I was very pleased with the outcome.

About the Author (Read my interview with Eva/Vicki here)

 Eva Gates  is the author of the Lighthouse Library cozy series from Penguin Obsidian, set in a historic lighthouse on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, featuring Boston-transplant librarian, and highly reluctant sleuth, Lucy Richardson. The first in the series, By Book or By Crook, was released in February 2015. Eva is the pen name of bestselling author Vicki Delany, one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers.

http://vickidelany.com/