Second in The Haunted Library cozy mystery series, Read and Gone is a satisfying read during the Christmas holidays and bring a year-round breath of fresh air to those who love libraries and cozy mysteries. Carrie is preparing the library for Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, and getting in the Christmas spirit. This very well-written novel explores the bond women have with their fathers, even those more absent than present, and how one can honor their father while being true to oneself. This reader is delighted to see the special bond we have with our beloved pets, in this case a cat, Smoky Joe.
Carrie, the new head of Programs and Events at the library and former Goth girl, is keeping up with various holiday events. Carrie’s father, a thief, has been a continual source of shame to her. Her mother, who admits to not being maternal, is remarried to a younger guy and living in Hollywood.
Carrie’s father Jim comes to visit. He finds a lock easy to bypass and wakes his daughter up after 3 AM. She wasn’t excited to see him as Jim had been in and out of her life. She was even less excited when learning he wasn’t there to see her. He and Benton Parr, the local jeweler, had done a heist a year or so ago; Parr put all the stones in a safe place. Jim is ready to go to retire and Parr won’t let go of his share of gems. He wants to get his share so he can retire in comfort.
Parr ‘s full-time assistant, Christ, found him murdered one morning in his store before it was time for it to open. Jim was also in the store. He claims Parr wanted to meet him before the shop opened and he came in to find him already dead. He was in the store trying to find the gems, then ran before the police arrived. He didn’t have any stolen merchandise, but he is a murder suspect. Carrie is torn; should she help her father find the gems, maybe help him find the real murderer? Her boyfriend, Dylan, is an investigator for an insurance company. Was he only acting sweet on her to get to her father?
I enjoy the folks in this novel, especially Carrie and Angela, best friends who feel free to be honest with each other. Carrie’s aunt and uncle are the most loving people who nurtured her when her parents were unable to. Each character is effectively defined. I felt the well-defined emotions of Carrie, not wanting to believe the worst of her boyfriend or her father, trying to determine which to be loyal to. The bond between a father and daughter is strong, yet Carrie wants to see if Dylan is really the one.
This story pulled me in from the start and kept me eagerly turning pages. I enjoy the late librarian Evelyn’s secret visits to Carrie; her calm direction helps Carrie think things through. Even though I read the first book in the series, I would have liked to see a little bit more of the backstory of Carrie. There are fascinating plot twists that shine a light on new suspects while eliminating others. I struggled between two people who could easily be the bad guy/ gal and sure enough…I was still surprised, as the author is excellent in creating breath-taking scenes! I was very satisfied with the plot, the characters, the small-town setting, absolutely the library, and how characters change as circumstances call for them to. I highly recommend this cozy mystery as a “not-to-be-missed” novel for any time of year!
From a grateful heart: I received an e-Arc of this book from the publisher and NetGalley, and this is my honest review.

Just when everything was going well in Carrie's life, her dad returns to town in hopes of recovering millions of dollars of stolen gemstones. Stolen years ago by her father and the owner of a jewelry store in town. The secret of the stolen gems (sounds like a Nancy Drew title, doesn't it?) is not really a secret when people begin dying all because of trying to find these gems. And if you were lucky enough not to get killed, you were maimed or injured along the way. Carrie joins the search (and the walking wounded) for the gems and a killer while working full time at the library and getting ready for Christmas.

This is another fun book in the series that includes a ghost in the library, Carrie's cat (who goes to the library with Carrie), and some funny job related situations. It is amazing to see the change in Carrie from when she first came to town and was a goth girl! Now she even has a wonderful boyfriend to include in all her blessings. It's the kind of book you think about long after it is finished, and start wondering when the next one is coming out. Well written and a pleasure to read!

I would like to thank Crooked Lane Books and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Evelyn the ghost and Smokey Joe the cat (stay with me here!) are two minor but also critical characters in this second installment in a fun cozy series featuring Carrie, a librarian. This time around, she's stuck between her dad- a jewel thief-and her love interest Dylan- and insurance investigator and, of course, the idea that her dad might be a murderer. What a time for him to show up! This is good cozy reading, with an intrepid heroine, a little romance, a little paranormal, a cat, and a slightly twisty but not too hard mystery. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. You'll be fine starting with this one if you did not read the preceding book and then you, like me, will be looking forward to the next one.

It is Christmas time and Carrie Singleton has settled happily into her position coordinating events at the library and into her newfound relationship with Dylan. It seems like smooth sailing until the arrival of her father, Jim, a mostly retired thief.
Her father's arrival stirs up old feelings and worries, which are exacerbated when the owner of the town's jewelry store, Jim's former partner Benton, is murdered.
Carrie gets involved in the investigation in an attempt to keep her father out of mischief, and finds herself hurtling into danger as bodies pile up in the search for an elusive cache of jewels and the murderer.
Read and Gone is an excellent second installment of the Haunted Library series. It can be read as a stand alone novel, but it is even more enjoyable after reading the first book in the series, Death Overdue.

This was just as good and maybe even a little more exciting than the first one since there were different people going after some stolen gems since a huge reward was being offered by the owners.

Carrie Singleton's dad Jim was back in town, and Carrie was worried that he was still up to no good since his line of worked happened to be stealing things. He was actually back for his half of the gems he helped a friend steal. Only when his friend turned up dead and he happened to be at the scene, Jim was taken in for questioning. He was let go into Carrie's custody, but with another rough thug in town and a couple more murders, it seemed like no one was safe. Even Carrie herself was whacked on the head while looking for the gems--had she found them, she was going to turn them over to Dylan, her insurance investigator boyfriend who would take them to the rightful owner. In the meantime, Christmas is in full swing at the library with parties, programs and finally the staff party. Smokey Joe, who belonged to Carrie but was the library cat, was having a feast racing through the library since a family of mice had been born.

Everything wrapped up nice and clean at the end with an awesome Christmas Eve feast at Harriet and Bosco's house. I hadn't quite guessed the killer this time. This was a really well-plotted and at times seemed like a little bit of a confusing mystery, but it was all explained eventually. I love books that take place at Christmas and I could just picture the library tree and decorations as well as Carrie's Christmas tree. I can't wait for the next book since Carrie is in a really good place with Dylan and even in her relationship with her dad.

Just about any book that includes a mystery, books, a ghost and a cat gets my attention. When it's an entire mystery series and it's well written - you got me. This series got me. Even though I wished for more ghost and cat throughout the story, what was offered was very good.
Things aren't looking too good for Christmas this year for Carrie, employee of the Clover Ridge library. In the middle of the night, somebody breaks into her home and it turns out to be her father, a thief. Turns out he wants her to help him recover his half of the $7 million in gems from a previous heist. Carrie says no way! Not so easy to do, in fact. Her father is later prime suspect #1 in the murder of his ex partner when the man, who is a jeweler, is found dead in his store. Can you say treasure hunt? Those gems have to be someplace and $7 million is a very attractive number in anybody's book. Too bad Carrie ends up on the wrong side of this hunt when it turns out that her boyfriend, Dylan, an insurance investigator, is on the hunt, too. Carrie wants to prove her father innocent of murder and not ruin her relationship with Dylan. Along the way, more bodies stack up and somebody is out to stop Carrie, permanently.
Carrie gets help from her cat, Smokey Joe and Evelyn, the resident ghost and manages to solve the mystery and deal with her family issues. The mystery was well crafted and there were enough twists and a turn or two to keep me guessing. I was a happy reader. I will definitely be reading the next in this series.

Another great book in the Haunted Library series. This is book 2 and Carrie is happy and loving her job in small town, Clover Ridge, CT. When she catches someone breaking into her house she is surprised to find it's her dad. He's been out of the picture for years, on the run for a jewel robbery. Her next surprise is discovering her boyfriend is an investigator for the insurance company looking for the lost jewels. When a local is found murdered she has more suspects than she can handle but with the help of Smoky Joe, her cat she does save herself and her dad from becoming the next victims. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Read and Gone has a decent premise- Carrie's estranged father reappears in her life after many years, and his sudden arrival due to an interest in some fenced gemstones is linked with several murders in town. It's a Christmas themed story, so there's lots of holiday cheer and events. I enjoy the perspective of Carrie's jobs in this series- there are some clever ideas for programming, though I wonder what kind of budget this small town library has, as it seems apparently endless. However, I think the "twist" of adding in a ghost to this series is completely unnecessary, and actually kind of detracts. Evelyn is not essential to the storytelling and crime solving, but since this is the "Haunted Library" series, I don't know how the author can get away from it.

Carrie Singleton's father, Jim, who had been absent most of her life, and makes his living as a thief, is back in search of his half of seven-million dollars worth of gems that he and a local jewelry, Benton Parr, stole.

Jim asks for Carrie's help in finding the jewels so he can leave town. She refuses, and when his partner, Benton, is found dead, the local law think Carrie's father is the murderer. When he's released into her custody after being interrogated, he comes to her house and goes on an errand, and ends up in the hospital.

Thus starts an adventure where Carrie tries to find the gems, enjoy her job at the Clover Ridge Public Library, keep track of her cat, Smokey Joe, who is the library cat while Carrie is there, and deal with her developing relationship with Dylan, her insurance investigator boyfriend, who is also after the gems.

There were parts of this book that I really liked, and parts that sort of ticked me off. I love the setting of this book, the library, town, and the residents. All these elements are intriguing and really pulled me into the story. The mystery was good, and I didn't figure it out until the last fifty pages or so, which is always a plus for me

On the minus side, I felt the author overused exclamation points, and that annoyed me the more the book went on. Someone was calling! Someone was at the door! It just seemed odd to me, and in the last third of the book when I saw an exclamation point I groaned. I also felt as if she responded to her problems with Dylan rather harshly. It could go back to her relationship with her father, who was gone for much of her life, but it still annoyed me.

I would also have liked the ghost to play more of a role. She just seemed like a sidekick that appeared every once in a while. But I did love Smokey Joe. A library cat is a perfect character, and he played his part brilliantly.

Overall though, I enjoyed the story. As I said, I like Carrie and I look forward to seeing her in future Haunted Library stories.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

Where are the haunts in Read and Gone, the second book in the Haunted Library series?

Carrie has her life on track. She has a boyfriend, a job as a library events coordinator and a cute cottage where the rent is cheap. So she isn’t happy when her thieving ex-con father, John, reappears one night after breaking into her house.

Within 24 hours, John is a person of interest in both a murder and a million dollar jewel heist. When he gets left for dead in a parking lot, he is hospitalized with a concussion for a week. John asks Carrie to find both the murderer and the gems stolen by the victim.

Since this is the second in the Haunted Library series, I expected more interaction with the resident ghost. She has basically a walk-on part. Her frequent clothing and hair styles changes are discussed. She dispenses some obvious advice and vanishes. Not having read the first in this series made it difficult to understand the motivations of the multitude of characters. I would highly recommend reading this series in order.

The lack of a paranormal plotline and an overly familiar mystery plot made Read and Gone a miss for me. 2 stars.

Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for an advance copy.

This is the second installment of the Haunted Library series. Carrie Singleton works for the public library and is the head of the special events at the Library. One night, Carrie stops an intruder who turns out to be her Dad Jim who is in town to get his share of a jewelry heist that he worked with the local jeweler Benton Parr. Benton is avoiding Jim and Jim is determined to get his share of the jewels. Coincidentally, Carrie has an event in which Benton Parr is the presenter. Of course, she must hide her feelings knowing he is thief. The event is a success and as she is closing up she overhears Benton being threatened by a jealous husband. The next morning he is found dead and her father is found at the scene. Carrie investigates the twists and turns trying to determine who is the culprit and keeping Jim’s role in the heist a secret. Then she finds her new boyfriend Dylan is working on the jewelry case. She feels betrayed and is back and forth if she wants to continue in their relationship. This really was a fast paced mystery that had lots of twists and turn. Looking forward to the next installment.

When a middle-of-the-night intruder wakes Carrie and she discovers that it's her father, who has been on the lam most of her life, she knows something's up. When she refuses to help him recover his share of some stolen gems, he leaves again, but ends up as the prime suspect in a local murder. Carrie sets out to prove his innocence and to find the jewels, but what will be the consequences of her quest?

The first book in this series was only so-so for me, but I rarely abandon a series after just one book. I wasn't sure what to expect but gave the series another chance. Although I'm intrigued by the setting, the characters and their developing relationships, I'm not sure I'll continue the series. I found the writing style a bit awkward, but the biggest stumbling blocks are Carrie's repeatedly putting herself into situations that any reasonable person would avoid and putting her trust in questionable people. I found myself shaking my head in disbelief too many times to really enjoy what I was reading.

This is the first time I’ve read anything by this author and I don’t think it will be the last! I was immediately captivated by the characters and read the entire book in one sitting!

In this book, we meet Carrie who has a great job at the local library that she really enjoys. She lives in a nice cottage she loves with her cat Smoky Joe, who she rescued and has made the library cat. Smoky Joe is a hit at the library. She’s also dating Dylan, who seems to be a hot catch! Her life is perfectly perfect. Until her jewelry thief father shows up one night, after many years absent, asking her help in getting his share of his latest jewelry heist.
Carrie is a law abiding citizen (well she tries to be) and is appalled her father would ask her to be involved. Then she finds out that her love interest is investigating the heist and is attempting to find the stolen gems. A local businessman turns up dead and the investigation turns to her father. Her father then gets hurt and another dead body appears. Carrie decides to try to find the gems herself before more people die or get hurt looking for these gems.
But will she lose the man she loves? Will she betray her father? Will she find the gems before anyone else dies? Or will she get hurt in the process?
I loved this cozy mystery! You’re really kept in suspense until the near end and it wasn’t that easy to guess whodunnit!

This book was provided to me by Crooked Lane Books through NetGalley for my review.

#ReadAndGone #AllisonBrook #HauntedLibraryMystery #CrookedLaneBooks #SmokyJoe #LibraryCat
#Ghost #CozyMystery #Whodunit #NetGalley

Carrie Singleton is the Programs and Events manager at the Clover Ridge Public Library and is one of two people who can see and speak with Evelyn, a former library employee and ghost. In this second Haunted Library Mystery, Carrie’s father Jim Singleton comes to visit and get his split of a $ 7 million gem robbery from Benton Parr, a local jeweler and his partner in this crime.

Bad news is that Jim is found standing over Benton’s murdered body in his jewelry store by Chris, an employee. Then Jim is found severely beaten and unconscious in a restaurant parking lot early one morning and hospitalized. There are a couple more murders. And it seems everyone in Clover Ridge is looking for the gems – the is a $500,000 reward for their return. Another distraction is the fact that Carrie feels betrayed when she finds out her boyfriend, also her landlord and an insurance investigator, Dylan Avery is investigating the gem robbery and wants to question her father.

The complicated story is well conceived and executed. Allison Brook skillfully brings her characters to life, maintains a strong pace and keeps the suspense just tight enough to pull the reader through the pages. Be on the lookout for Smoky Joe, a stray gray cat that adopted Carrie and now serves as the Clover Ridge Library Cat as well as taking care of Carrie at home.

Carrie Singleton is enjoying her job at the Clover Ridge Library and things are heating up between her and Dylan. Carrie's cat, Smoky Joe is now one of the main attractions at the library, and Christmas is rapidly approaching. Late one night Carrie is awoken to find an intruder in her cottage - it turns out that the intruder is her absentee-thief of a father. She is less than thrilled to see him and even less thrilled that Dylan has been trying to figure out his whereabouts in relation to some stolen gems. Her father, Jim's, partner in crime is found murdered and Jim is the only person in sight when the police show up.

This book was really intriguing and kept me guessing the whole time. I had inklings about the killer, but kept second guessing myself. I was glad to see that Dorothy wasn't a huge problem for Carrie in this book as she was in the last book and Sally, her boss, and her are now good friends. I really enjoy beginning a series and then seeing how the characters develop throughout.

One negative is the ghost character, Evelyn. I really wish her story was fleshed out more because I'm not entirely sure what her purpose in the story is. I feel that the story wouldn't have been much different if she wasn't mentioned at all. She is always wearing different outfits and her hairstyle changes, but she doesn't tell Carrie how a ghost can accomplish those tasks, even though Carrie asks her.

I voluntarily reviewed this book on Netgalley. #readandgone #netgalley

I will post to Amazon once this is released.

A fun small town cozy. Seems everyone is looking for the stolen gems. Carrie’s dad Jim comes into town to get his half from his partner, who is the first to end up dead.
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Read and Gone is a great cozy mystery that takes place during the Christmas season. It is the second in the series and I could tell that I was missing some background information but it didn't hinder me from enjoying this book. Carrie Singleton is head of Programs and Events Coordinator at the library in Clover Ridge and has been for the last several months, since moving to town to live with her aunt and uncle. Now she is living in the cottage on the property owned by her boyfriend, Dylan Avery. Neither of her parents have been great at parenting, especially her career criminal father, Jim, who shows up at her house on the night of her birthday party. Jim is back to find some gems he and his partner and jewelry store owner, Benton Parr stole. When Jim is found standing over Benton's body in the jewelry store, things don't look good for him at first. Dylan works for a company recovering stolen art and jewelry. This causes some friction between Carrie and him when she realizes that he may have used her to get close to Jim. It soon becomes apparent that others might have a reason to kill Benton, including his wife or the husband of the woman he was having an affair with. But as other people are killed, the pool of suspects grows larger.
Festivities are going on at the library for the holiday season so Carrie has to juggle her investigation in the murder with her job at the library. The story is filled with some interesting characters, including Evelyn, a ghost that only Carrie and her young cousin Tacey can see, her cat Smokey Joe, who spends his days at the library, and others. The library sounds like a lovely place to work, especially during the holiday festivities.
I received a complimentary ARC from Crooked Lane Books through NetGalley. Opinions and thoughts are mine only.

A fun read involving a librarian and her cat. Carrie’s long lost father returns at Christmastime (she finds him sneaking through her house looking for valuable gems) and quickly draws her into a murder mystery that involves paranormal elements, a cozy library setting and a cat that offers assistance when things get tricky. A fun holiday read!

Book 2 brings Carrie a little more than she was ready to handle. Her dad comes to visit unexpectedly and he brings all his questionable friends and lifestyle with him. While Carrie comes to grips with her mixed feelings regarding her dad, she also comes to appreciate the changes in her life since she settled in Clover Ridge. Her new boyfriend Dylan shows that he knows her better than she thought and he's not about to let her mixed feelings about things push him away. He does admit he maybe should have handled some things differently though (can't say more or SPOILERS). Carrie is definitely making headway in putting down roots for her first time and in this book, she realizes how important they are to her already.

Once again, we get to see all the characters grow in their setting and the new characters are as well-rounded as the old ones. The intrigue kept the pages turning and the bodies falling. Overall, it was an excellent book and I cannot wait for the next in the series.

Thank you to Allison Brook, NetGalley, and Crooked Lane Books for the chance to read this wonderful book and share my thoughts and opinions with others.

I was attracted to the cover of this book then thought it looked interesting. I enjoyed all the twists and turns and will look for more from this author!💍