A DEATH LONG OVERDUE

Murder kicks off a gathering of past and present librarians.

Lucy Richardson loves her job at the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Happy to help plan the 40th reunion of her boss Bertie James’ college class, she curates a special exhibition of artifacts from libraries of the past. At the group’s welcoming cocktail party, Lucy notices tension between some of the old friends. When the party ends, a small group goes for a stroll on the nearby boardwalk, encouraged by a local woman who claims psychic powers. Separated in the dark, they’re startled by a splash and soon find the body of Helena Sanchez floating in the water, stabbed, most likely with a letter opener from the display. Helena was rude and unpopular, but those qualities hardly seem an adequate motive for murder, and Lucy’s only clue is Helena’s response to a withdrawal card from a book in the display containing the name Jeff Applewhite. Research shows that Applewhite vanished 25 years ago, possibly with an extremely valuable necklace stolen from a local woman. In addition to the ladies on the walk, Lucy suspects Helena’s twin sister, who lives nearby and hated her sibling. But proof that any of them did the deed is hard to come by.

A tricky mystery and charmingly quirky characters.