THE CRIME THAT BINDS

A Michigan librarian must juggle the three most important things in her life—her fiance; her bookmobile; and her cat, Mr. Eddie—and a fourth, a case of homicide.

The bookmobile gets Minnie Hamilton involved in two murder cases because her patrons enjoy talking and she hears plenty of gossip. She, Eddie, and her new assistant, Hunter Morales, are on a run when a retired judge mentions that a valuable sculpture has gone missing from his family’s lakeside cottage, though he’s not sure it was stolen. Meanwhile, Pug Mattock, a downstater who’s come up early to prepare his cottage for retirement, chats with Ryan Anderson, another regular, a young man who survives on part-time jobs, about sports, beer, and the weather before Ryan gets a text and takes off. Minnie soon learns that he’s wanted by the police for bank robbery and murder, two crimes she’s certain he didn’t commit. Although she must deal with a one-woman campaign to fire the library director and her best friend’s stubborn refusal to take time off in the last days of her pregnancy, the murder of Pug pushes her to investigate. Ignoring the police, who are looking at Ryan as the perp, Minnie finds enough other candidates to give her plenty of alternatives to think about while she’s waiting to see if the killer adds her to their list.

A pleasant character-driven cozy with an adorable cat and enough human suspects to keep things interesting.