Fatal First Edition

December 1, 2023
A murder on a train carries echoes of another fateful railroad trip. Library director Lindsey Norris and her husband, Mike Sullivan, are in Chicago attending a conference. During a book restoration lecture on the last day, someone leaves a bag under Lindsey's seat containing a first edition of Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train inscribed from the author to Alfred Hitchcock, making it potentially very valuable. Lindsey turns it over to conference head Henry Standish, a man with a checkered past that's earned him multiple enemies. Lindsey and Sully, along with Henry and many other conference participants, had taken a train from the East Coast to Chicago for the conference; now, as they settle into their roomette for the return trip, prospects for a pleasant ride turn sour when Lydia Armand--who took over Henry's job after he was accused of fraud--turns up. That night, after some nasty verbal jousts, Lindsey hears thumping noises from the next compartment and sees a person shrouded in black in the passageway. The next morning, Henry is found murdered in his compartment. Upon the arrival of a dangerous snowstorm, the police remove passengers to a local inn near Briar Creek, Connecticut, Lindsey and Sully's hometown, while they investigate. When the valuable book turns up in Lindsey's laptop bag, she takes it to the police, while Sully, a boat captain, heads out in the storm to deliver food to nearby islands. Much to her consternation, Lindsey is unable to contact Sully, and a search discovers his boat drifting offshore. Clues from the boat indicate that Sully may have been spirited away, and Lindsey resolves to search for him while she seeks a motive for Standish's murder. Plenty of hair-raising adventures combine with more cerebral pursuits in this enjoyable tale.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 19, 2024

Although Lindsey Norris is now the library director in Briar Creek, CT, she used to work in archives. Attending a popular library conference in Chicago, Lindsey and her husband, Sully, are ready to hear the keynote from famed book restoration specialist Brooklyn Wainwright. Then Lindsey is shocked to discover an early edition of Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train under her seat. After Brooklyn appraises the book as a genuine, and valuable, first edition, Lindsey and Sully give it to the conference chair for safekeeping. On the train back home, rumors abound that the Highsmith book has gone missing, and then the conference chair is found murdered in his train compartment--next door to Lindsey and Sully. The book is soon found planted among Lindsey and Sully's luggage, and they know they must discover the truth before they reach the end of the line. Some of this novel's action points require readers to suspend their disbelief, but cozy mystery fans will be intrigued by the twists. VERDICT Fans of McKinlay's library-themed series may wish for more scenes set in a library, but returning characters still manage to show up in this 14th series entry, after The Plot and the Pendulum.--Kristi Chadwick

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February 9, 2024
Librarian and former archivist Lindsey Norris and her husband Mike ""Sully"" Sullivan attend an archivist conference in Chicago where Lindsey finds a first edition of Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train, inscribed to Alfred Hitchcock by Highsmith, under her seat at a program. She turns it over to the conference director who is later murdered on the train they are traveling on to return home. A major blizzard traps passengers in Briar Creek, Connecticut, Lindsey's hometown, where the chief of police puts them up at a local inn. When boat captain Sully disappears on his way to deliver supplies to the outlying islands, his boat found drifting in the bay, Lindsey is gutted. She explores suspects' motives and begins to believe Sully's disappearance may be connected to the murder. She works, along with her good friends, the "crafternooners," to uncover a killer and locate her husband, against the wishes of the chief of police. Details of archival work and librarianship, plot twists, small coastal town life, and the beautifully described blizzard define this cozy.

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