This is a well crafted cozy series with layering plot lines and characterization evident in this second series entry.

Shelved under Murder finds heroine Amy planning a fundraiser as part of her role as the director of a small public library in Taylorsford, Virginia. When she, her assistant Sunny, and her boyfriend Richard travel to the home of a local artist to pick up a donation, they discover a dead body (done in appropriately enough by a palette knife) and an array of suspects and motives. Amy's skills in research and a degree in art history draw her further into the mystery as does the artwork of her aunt Lydia's long deceased husband.

As with all cozies, the reader must be willing to suspend disbelief and accept that a small town and its inhabitants encounter murder and international white collar crime on a semi-regular basis. However, Gilbert's story makes up for this with well-drawn characters, evolving relationships, and some fascinating background information about the art world.

A quick, fun, and entertaining read that solidifies this series a favorite.

Full Disclosure--Net Gallery and the publisher provided me with a digital ARC of this book. This is my honest review.

This was a great story. Very interesting. The characters are great in this series, I really enjoyed this second book in the series. I really like the author's writing style. I read a lot of cozy mystery series, and this one is unique in many regards. It is becoming one of my favorite. I can't wait for the next in the series, hurry, please.

When a local artist is murdered and forged paintings by the Masters are found, things hit closer to home than Amy and Aunt Lydia realized.

Having lived in Virginia, I felt like I was back home. The characters are relatable and genuine. While this is the second in the series, I did not read the first and this was great as a stand alone. An engaging read. I look forward to reading the first book and future books in the series.

While preparing for a yard sale fundraiser for the library, Library director Amy Webber comes across a local artist murdered with her own palette knife. Since the murder seems to be related to the artist's paintings and a link has been found to Amy's deceased uncle, she feels compelled to find out the truth with the help of her hunky boyfriend.

I love the story and the locale but especially the characters. I see growth from the first book but also room to go.

This was a new author forms and I found it very hard to get into this book and really enjoy it. I'm not sure if it was the writing style or what. I thought the plot was excellent but just could not really enjoy the book. I'm sure others will enjoy reading it though.

Shelved Under Murder is a delightful read. It's the second novel by Victoria Gilbert about a small town librarian who has a penchant for stumbling onto dead bodies. The cast of supporting characters are well developed and assist with the story flow. I like the cozy mystery genre and this adds to the niche. The only component missing, when compared to other cozies, is a dog or cat to add to the story. The mystery revolves around art forgeries and some unpleasant discoveries for Aunt Lydia and Amy.

A cosy mystery with books and dancing, what more could a girl ask for? Really really enjoyable book.Would definitely read moe in the series.

Surpisingly, I really enjoyed this book - much, much more so than I expected. I guess after reading a number of cozies where the protagonist does really dumb things in order to progress the plot, I expected something similar. This book, however, was different. Yes, she ends up finding a body - but her reaction is more realistic in that she doesn't start snapping photos, but tries to avoid it and keeping her friends from experiencing the horror as well. She gets involved in the investigation, but only because she has an art degree, the the police request that she helps until the expert arrives. She gets caught in a life-threatening scenario at the end, but it's innocently, not because she foolishly confronts the killer.

My only compliant about this book is that it's the second in the series, and there was a lot of comments that gave away significant details about the first book (I would say spoilers, but can it be a spoiler for book 1 in book 2?) From a character's point of view, these were valid comments - for example, her aunt, being the kind hearted person she is, would of course visit the person and thus mention it - just not from a reader's point of view.

In any case, I plan to go back to book 1, and look forward to reading book 3!

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley and voluntarily chose to review.

This series is very fun. The dialogue feels a little dated or stilted at times, but honestly, the story is so engaging it doesn't bother me much.

This second library-themed cozy more than meets the promise shown in the terrific first in the series. The book presents a likeable cast of secondary characters. May this wonderful series have a long run. I'll definitely keep up with these.

Shelved Under Murder is such a good mystery. The book is well written with a good plot and quirky cast of characters. I enjoyed the Virginia setting, I could just imagine the trees with their leaves changing. I highly recommend this book to mystery fans.

I received a free copy of Shelved Under Murder by Victoria Gilbert in exchange for an honest review. This is the second book in the Blue Ridge Library Mystery series; the first book in the series is A Murder for the Books. Library Director Amy Webber is preparing for a library fundraiser by collecting, organizing, and pricing donations to sell at a “yard sale.” When Amy travels to a local artist’s studio to pick up some paintings for the benefit, her boyfriend Richard Muir go with her. Finding no one at the studio, Amy and Richard explore the studio while waiting for the meeting. Richard finds more than he was expecting when he finds the artist stabbed to death. A local drug addict was spied in the area at the time the body was discovered, the victim’s husband cannot be located, and art forgeries are found behind a false panel in the studio. Was it robbery, a crime of passion, a way to gain the life insurance money, or part of a criminal art conspiracy?

Though this was the second in the series, this book can be read easily without having accessed the first. However, you may want to read the first book before this one because this story contains spoilers about the first. It was a quick and entertaining read. I liked how the author took the time to wrap up the story and tie up loose ends after the primary mystery was solved.

#ShelvedUnderMurder #NetGalley

Well, I suppose I’ll have it eat my own words! I thought the first book in this series worked really well as a stand-alone and questioned if a good second book was even possible. It is! This book really digs into the past and expands the world with characters we met in book one becoming more important. And now that I’ve finished this book, I can definitely see the promise of a third book!

Amy and Sunny are supposed to pick up two paintings for the Friends Library sale, but end up finding the artist’s dead body. As the murder mystery develops, secrets of forgeries and theft complicate the solution. More about art than Library related, but it was just okay.

Amy is the head librarian, who is dating Richard, a dancer and dance instructor. The story centers around an artist, found murdered in her studio by Amy and Richard who were visiting to pick up paintings for a charity auction. They get involved in trying to solve the murder, assisted by Amy's assistant at the library and Amy's aunt. Who do they trust? What does this have to do with the accidental death of Amy's uncle several years ago?
This book clearly is part of a series of books, but I'd not read any others before reading this one. THere were times when the reference to previous events (obviously from earlier books) was a bit tedious, but the author did a good job of filling in the novice reader. The characters are somewhat predictable, as is the plot. I'd pretty much guessed the killer early on in the book. It could use a few more twists and turns to make it a bit more interesting.

This is a sweet, fun cozy mystery, and a great weekend read!!! 3.5 Stars!

Victoria Gilbert offers her second installment in her Blue Ridge Library Mysteries and what an interesting ride! The settings for this book are so adorable, from the winding driveway up to the farm, to the town square hosting the Heritage Festival—Gilbert really has a way with descriptions that make the settings pop right off of the page!

I do want to caution readers up front that this book heavily and frequently spoils the first book in the Blue Ridge Library Mystery Series (A Murder for the Books), so please go back and read these in order if that bothers you. I’m ok reading things out of order, but knowing the whodunit from the first book does make it difficult to recommend reading this first. That said, this book works as a standalone, so if you don’t plan to go back, feel free to jump in here!

The book opens with Amy Webber, Director of the Blue Ridge Library in Taylorsford, Virginia, preparing for the annual Heritage Festival. The Festival attracts tourists from all over to celebrate the history of Taylorsford, and purchase some local arts and crafts. Amy and her colleague Sunny are running errands to pick up items for their sale, only to discover the dead body of a local, renowned artist murdered in her own studio!

The police are on the scene quickly to investigate the murder. As the investigation progresses, the evidence only gets more confusing. Who was the man seen running away from the studio the day of the murder? Why would a local artist who keeps to herself be murdered? And, is there an underground art forgery ring going on with ties to Taylorsford?

Lucky for the police, Amy has a degree in art history, and she’s able to help them look into the potential forgeries and the murder until an expert can arrive. But as Amy investigates, strange characters start cropping up all over town with links to the case. Amy may find that the case hits closer to home than she ever could have imagined. With a number of close calls, Amy finds herself in danger and desperate to help the police solve this crime before another body turns up—maybe even her own!

With a cast of zany characters, some outlandish narrow escapes, and cute settings out the wazoo, this is a book many cozy mystery fans will enjoy!

I found the pacing of this book quite odd. It would be slow for 10-15%, then speed up with action, then return to slow, then speed back up again. I do think readers should give that a chance because I got used to it and let the story just unfold. Often the slower parts are used to develop the characters through dialogue and interactions. Though important, they do detract a bit from the mystery (for instance, Amy takes a mini trip somewhere mid-mystery and it completely derailed the case for me). I think these are used to develop the character arcs for the series, but I do think the author could have done a better job tying them into the mystery more.

Overall, this was a fun, quick read filled with wonderful settings and loveable characters!

I want to thank NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books, and Victoria Gilbert for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Adored this book. Loved the characters and the multi-evel mystery. Love this series. Can't wait to read the next book!

I received a copy of this book form Netgalley for an honest review. This book will be published July 10,2018.
This is the second book in this series and I had not read the first one but that didn't matter! There is enough in the story to get you caught up.
I loved the Fall Virginia setting and reading about Taylorsford. The main character, Amy is likeable, as are, the others in her group. I especially liked her aunt that she lives with.
Gilbert had me guessing till the end as to who had done it.

I was first drawn to this book when I saw that the main character was a librarian but I came to love all the core characters within the first few pages and continued to love everything about the book. While the novel is a cozy mystery, Shelved Under Murder is more complex than most traditional cozies and yet it has a strong traditional feel. The main characters are not perfect and the unpleasant characters are not all bad. It is great to find depth of development in characters in a cozy mystery. In several areas the book did not go where I expected, but I see that as a plus since the plot was fascinating and well laid out. I believe that Shelved Under Murder will attract readers of all mysteries except thrillers.

I was thrilled to receive an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley. It is the first book I have read by Victoria Gilbert but I will be going back to find the first book in the series and watching for future releases. I am excited to share this outstanding novel with friends and other fellow readers.

I love librarians and mysteries, and I was so excited to discover this series. Until I started it and found more romance than mystery. I'm afraid I gave up when I got to Richard whispering into Amy's ear, "There's only one woman I want for everything else, and she's right here." I'm fine with mysteries with a touch of romance, and I know lots of readers like romances with a touch of mystery. This one felt like too much of a romance book to me--couldn't overlook the over-the-top dialog ("Silly girl") and description. Not for me.