Lucy is a librarian in a lighthouse library on the Georgia coast. She lives at the top of the lighthouse with the library cat, Charles. I've enjoyed this series, both for the library focus and also the portrayal of the cat! Lucy's engagement party is marred by the appearance of her former boyfriend and his mother, who are set on reuniting with Lucy. But, before they get too far, a body is found that changes everything.

I love the characters in this series, but thought that a few of the regular librarians could have been given a bigger part in this episode. However, the addition of the troublesome dog was quite humorous, and helped to make up for that. Overall, a fun read!

Lucy and Conner are finally celebrating their engagement with family and friends but it gets derailed when her ex-fiance and his mother show up. They bring both murder and mayhem with them. Can Lucy save them and her engagement?

This cozy series is a pure joy to read. I love that it takes place in a lighthouse. For us bookwormies it is a dream come true. To live above a library. Can you imagine all those books at your fingertips any time you want! Sigh...

Book eight had a lot going on but never felt bogged down. I was surprised by the killer and did not guess it at all. The addition of the ex-fiance's mother's dog was a fun addition and gave some more life to Charles. He needs a companion every now and then.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher, Crooked Lane Books, through NetGalley. All opinions expressed in the above review are entirely my own.

Lucy and Connor are getting married and to celebrate their engagement, Lucy's parents join their friends at a party. Unfortunately Richard Lewiston III, Lucy's former boyfriend, shows up with his mother in tow. Mrs. Lewiston is emphatic that Lucy must marry her son, no matter what Lucy's explains to her. A drama queen of the first degree, Evangeline insists that Richard and Lucy were made for each other, but tragedy strikes and Lucy is forced to clear Richard and his mother of the crime. Lots of intrigue with other characters too. Another enjoyable mystery in this Outer Banks Lighthouse series.

What I Loved:

Boston meets OBX. We don’t often get to see Lucy’s family or hear much about her life pre-Bodie Head Lighthouse. Lucy left her fiancé and cushy job at the Harvard Library and moved to a small library in a lighthouse, and the rest is history (heh). However, it was so much fun having Lucy’s past and present collide. First of all, it was great seeing Lucy’s parents being so supportive of her life in OBX and the rare moments of affection between them all. In prior books, the tension is always shown, but here, Lucy’s parents really show the power of family and forgiveness. Second, it is so much fun seeing Lucy’s trashy ex and his controlling mother make fools of themselves. As a proud Scorpio, I take great joy in a good “revenge by living a better life” arc, and Lucy showing Ricky her amazing new life is so satisfying. Last, I am a northeast girl myself (New York strong, etc.) and a lawyer, to boot, but I can appreciate the digs at stuffy New England law firms and the toxic masculinity present in big board room firms. Having the murder victim be a sleazy New England lawyer who fell to the wayside was satisfying.

Lucy and Detective Watson. One of my biggest pet peeves with cozies is the often bumbling police force and racist/sexist lead detective. There is none of that in the Lighthouse Library series. Detective Sam Watson is sharp, kind, hard working, and a loving husband who occasionally joins the town’s book club. Him and Lucy have a great rapport, where he regularly reminds her that civilian snooping can get her in trouble/danger while also valuing her keen observation skills and ability to get people to talk to her. Deadly Ever After accentuates their unique relationship even more, with the victim being someone Lucy knew and all of the suspects people Lucy grew up with. I love how much Detective Watson trusts her judgment, while also being constantly worried that Lucy is going to get herself killed.

Fluffy the Dog. Because Charles the cat needed a sidekick and Lucy needed a puppy to save her life.

What Didn’t Work As Well:

Evangeline. As much as I hypothetically know that some people are as odious and money grabbing as people like Ricky’s mom Evangeline, she is almost comically ridiculous here. Talk about monster in law! It was almost exhausting how bad she was.

The murder mystery. With all of the potential killers that seemed too convenient, I ended up guessing who the killer was based on the Agatha Christie method – who was least likely / not suspected? I am not usually good at discovering the killer, so actually getting this time right was a little off putting. The mystery felt ancillary to showing Lucy’s past and her and Ricky resolving their unfinished business. This is less of a detractor for me because I love these characters, but someone who hasn’t read the whole series probably won’t like this as a mystery.

I love the Lighthouse Library Mystery series. Lucy is awesome! A librarian, living in a lighthouse aerie above the lighthouse, who wouldn't want that job! Eva always manages to weave so many side stories into the main story, you are engaged the entire time!

Lucy is a much better person than I, if my ex was still somehow in my life I would be miserable but Lucy somehow manages to make the best of it,

Can't wait for the next book, highly recommend this series to anyone that enjoys a good mystery!

“Deadly Ever After”, by Eva Gates, has all the cozy mystery good things that we expect and love. Library and/or good book references. Check. Murder. Check. Cute dog and/or cat. Check. A charming heroine who helps solve mysteries in her spare time. Check!

This is the eighth book in the Lighthouse Library Series, but my first to read in the series. It was a quick and enjoyable read, and though I hadn’t read the previous books, I didn’t miss a beat.

The book begins with a party celebrating the engagement of Lucy the librarian and Conner the dentist/Mayor. As the party is winding down, Lucy’s ex, Richard Lewiston III and his mother shockingly arrive at the party. Making no apologies for being an uninvited guest, the mother states her intentions of having Lucy marry her son. If that wasn’t enough, the murdered body of Richard Lewiston II was soon found. And so, the sleuthing begins!

The mystery wasn’t overly complicated and yet there were some surprise twists. Highly recommended if you enjoy cozy mysteries.

Thank you to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books, and Eva Gates for the ARC in exchange for my honest review! ❤️️

Deadly Ever After by Eva Gates is the 8th A Lighthouse Library Mystery. I thought this story was well-written with developed characters. The story moved along at a quick pace with vivid descriptions. It is always a pleasure to visit the Outer Banks where Lucy Richardson works at the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library. She lives in her Lighthouse Aerie and will miss it when she marries. Connor McNeil and Lucy are engaged with plans to wed the following year in August. They have been searching for a home to purchase with no success. I love the characters in this charming series. They are a friendly bunch who care for one another. I like how the library staff are there for one another. The descriptions of the library are delightful. I would love to live in an apartment above the library. I, like Lucy, imagine the characters come alive at night when the library is empty. Lucy will miss her cozy abode. The whodunit was a fun one to solve. There are several people who could have offed the victim. The clues are subtle and can easily be missed. There is humor scattered throughout the story. Lucy manages to get herself into sticky situations plus doing things she does not want to do. There are subplots that enrich this book. Charlene is smitten with a visiting researcher, but Lucy fears she will get her heart broken. Bertie and Louise Jane are spending quite a bit of time behind closed doors. Connor and Lucy are trying to find a home to purchase. Lucy’s mother was very gracious. She is a kinder soul than I. I cannot imagine looking after Evangeline. Deadly Ever After can be read as a standalone, but I recommend reading all the books in this engaging series. It will allow you to get to know the characters and see how far they have come since By Book or By Crook. I look forward to my next visit to the Outer Banks. Deadly Ever After is an entertaining cozy mystery with engagement party poopers, house hunting hardships, book club conversation, a misty marsh, flashing lights, a terrible threat, and an affectionate fiancé.

I sooo love this series. It's one of my all-time favorites, and I'm so glad it didn't end with the 3rd book. I love Lucy and Connor and all of the people in the library. These books never disappoint, they are always a delight to read!

First book I have read by Eva Gates. I enjoyed the book. I liked the main character of Lucy, but felt some characters were superfluous. Those characters fell kind of flat to me. I would recommend this book to others!

This is a Cozy Mystery, and this is the 8th book in A Lighthouse Library Mystery series. This is one of my favorite cozy mystery series, and this book I think is one of my favorite book in the series. I love the mystery of this book, and as always I love the characters of this book. Lucy Richardson and Connor McNeil is finally getting married, and in this book they had their engagement party...of course a dead body shows up. Lucy gets in the middle of it, but I love how Lucy tries to figures things out. I also loves the Outer Banks setting. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Crooked Lane Books) or author (Eva Gates) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review about how I feel about this book, and I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

4.5 stars

This is the 8th book in the Lighthouse Library series.

Lucy and the team are back just in time to celebrate Lucy's upcoming wedding to Connor. Looks like Lucy's tenure in the Lighthouse apartment is up and a transition is about to occur. A new wedding would mean new digs and Lucy struggled a bit with letting go.

But before the transition can happen, a dead body is discovered at her engagement party. Lucy once again finds herself in the middle of the action. The mystery is compelling and the characters just stick with you.

This book is a good segway from one point in life to another. I am curious how future investigations will look and how intimately the library will be in the series in the coming books.

Definitely pick this up if you are a cozy mystery lover.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title. Opinions are completely my own.

"I love being alone in the library after
closing. I believe that when it’s very quiet,
I can hear the rustle of conversation as the
characters chat to each other, the wind
moving through the sails of ships of old, the
chug of a steam-powered train passing through
the countryside, or the roar of jet engines
bearing a heroine off to adventure."

Eva Gates has again hit a homerun - a cozy mystery that invites the reader to spend time visiting the North Carolina’s Outer Banks wondering when the next murder will occur. The author reminds us again that the lighthouse truly exists, though it is not a library, and can be visited on our vacation. We can then climb the 214 steps to the top to see the view of the ocean, the marshland, and communities that make up Nags Head.

It is within this lovely setting that we discover that Boston lawyer Richard Eric Lewiston the Second has been murdered on the back steps of one of the community's best restaurants. The suspects are numerous. including family, friends, mistresses, and a few others. Assistant Librarian Lucy Richardson will again be thrust into a murder mystery that she does not want to be involved in but must be involved in to protect the reputation of those she cares about.

It was not clear whether this will be the last of the series (I hope not), but is worth reading regardless. It held my interest while I attempted to finish the book in my allotted four days. This is the second book I have read in this series, but the book has no immediate holes if a reader would have missed previous volumes. I give this cozy mystery 5-stars.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are mine alone.

I just discovered that this author also writes as Vicki Delany and she has written a bucket full of books. This is a good thing because she writes really well so I have lots to look forward to.

Deadly Ever After is a pun on the phrase "Happily ever after" and is very apt as the two main characters, Lucy and Connor, are about to be married. The book opens at their engagement party which takes place on the beach and sounds wonderful, until Lucy's ex arrives and there seems to be trouble on the horizon. Of course, as in all cosies, there is a murder and Lucy has to do a little investigation herself.

There is a library in a lighthouse, a very intelligent cat and a fluffy dog who plays a very important role. As I said earlier, the author writes well which includes realistic dialogue and putting her main character in logical situations. Events never become silly.

This was a fast and very entertaining read. I hope there will be a book 9 for Lucy and Connor to make it to the altar.

I love this series! A great cast of characters and very well written. Looking forward to the next one. Thanks to NetGalley for the privilege to read and review this book.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

The last book, A Death Long Overdue ended with Lucy Richardson and Connor McNeil getting engaged. This book opens with an engagement party thrown by their friends and family. Right as the party is wrapping up Lucy’s former boyfriend, Richard Eric Lewiston III, his mother and her dog, Fluffy, come walking down the beach full of explanations for their late arrival to a party they were not invited to. Evangeline Lewiston is a woman on a mission. A mission to get Lucy to cast Connor aside and get back together with her son Ricky. Lucy has no interest in the woman’s plans or her son.

In a last-ditch effort, Evangeline invites Lucy and her family to a dinner party at Jake’s Seafood Bar. She isn’t put off at all that Connor arrives with Lucy. Lucy just wants to get the evening over with and the Lewiston’s back on the road home to Boston. Instead, the dinner ends when a dead body is found just outside the restaurant’s kitchen door. The victim’s identity is quickly revealed and it means no one will be heading back to Boston anytime soon. Lucy knows if she wants to get on with her life with Connor she needs to emulate Sherlock Holmes and catch the killer as quickly as possible. Oh, the library’s classic reading group is reading The Hound of the Baskervilles too, maybe Mr. Holmes will have some insight to help Lucy solve the case.

This truly is one of my favorite cozy series because it takes place in my favorite fictional library. the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library is a magnificent place that can only exist if you let your imagination take over and enjoy the unique library to its fullest. I would give anything for it to be a real place because I would pack my bags to visit it today. The best vacation our family ever had was to the Brunswick Islands, specifically Caswell Beach in North Carolina. We traveled quite a bit of the coast visiting the lighthouses and would love to return and maybe stay in Nags Head.

The genuine characters are another reason this is a favorite series. They are caring individuals who not only care about each other but the Outer Banks, Bodie Island, and its Lighthouse Library. Lucy and her mom bend over backward to help and support Ricky and Evangeline throughout the entire course of the investigation. Heck, Lucy even takes Evangeline’s dog Fluffy home to her Aerie after the pup is kicked out of the hotel, much to the library cat’s Charles’ ire, at first.

Ms. Gates always delivers a top-notch mystery too. She knows how to set the scene and drops clues in a way that keeps her readers on their toes. She sets up some epic twists that can turn most theories inside out, Her stories are a real treat to read. The pace is quick and the subplots always add so much to the story. Right now, Lucy and Connor are looking for a home to share their lives in before they really make any concrete plans for their wedding. and it is not an easy task. This subplot has an excellent twist of its own that I really enjoyed.

Each new book in this series becomes my new favorite as Deadly Ever After is now. I am sad when I read the final page because each visit to the Outer Banks ends much too soon. Until next time . . .

Librarian Lucy is looking for a house for her fiance and herself to move to when they marry; she will have to leave her lighthouse apartment above the lighthouse library. Her previous boyfriend and family turn up to mess in the engagement celebration and his father is discovered murdered. Cozy with only one corpse. However, lots of unpleasant characters including the former boyfriend. Deadly Ever After as the title suggests.

Deadly Ever After by Eva Gates is a Lighthouse Mystery and a good one. The story starts with Connor's and Lucy's engagement party taking place on the beach. Josie had catered it and both sets of parents were there and it was perfect until up the beach strolled Evangeline and her son, Ricky. Evangeline was the wife of Lucy's father's partner and Ricky was a lawyer as well and had for many years been Lucy's boyfriend. That had been the situation because it was what everyone expected but Lucy and Ricky had figured it out and Lucy had left Boston for her better life and reconnected with Connor. Everyone had accepted that except Evangeline. Before leaving for the evening Lucy and Connor had been railroad into a family dinner on Monday evening, which included Evangeline and Ricky. Plenty happened in between but suffice it to say that Ricky's father was found dead outside the restaurant and neither Ricky nor Evangeline had alibis. Sam Watson was not excited to accept Lucy's help solving a murder again, but he did.

This is a lovely series set on the beach with Lucy living above the library in a lighthouse. Her fiancé, Connor, is the mayor and a dentist and they are looking forward to a wonderful life. At present they are looking for a house to buy, which is proving to be a challenge between what they want and what they can afford. Lucy has made peace with her mother and their relationship is healing. Josie and Jake are settling into their marriage well and the library is running smoothly. Oddly, Lucy didn't believe that either Ricky or his mother were murderers but she could not figure out who was. This is a lively series in which there is always plenty of activity. Lucy works hard and has lots of friends and many activities, most of which Connor is up for as well. This puts the term cozy in to cozy mystery. It feels like going home and being welcomed with open arms. I highly recommend it.

I was invited to read a free-ARC of Deadly Ever After by Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #netgalley #deadlyeverafter

Oh my goodness, this was so good! One of my favorite book couples got engaged in the last book in this series, and this book continues with Lucy and Connor's engagement party kicking things off. Everything was going along just fine until the body showed up in Jake's alley.

There were a lot of secrets, motives and possible suspects that Lucy wanted to sift through and like always ended up getting a little too close to the truth even if she didn't realize it. At least for once, the murder wasn't at the library itself, but Lucy felt invested because of her mom feeling like she needed to support an old frenemy. I liked the little side stories of Charlene doing research with a handsome British guy, then Connor and Lucy kept looking for a house. Both had great outcomes and resulted in an awesome book hangover!

The showdown was pretty epic, and I loved how it tied in perfectly with Lucy's book club's selection of "The Hound of the Baskervilles." This is another series that doesn't just cut off and finish when the killer is caught. There's always that satisfying ending involving most of the characters. All I can say is, I'm anxious for the next book and wish we didn't have to wait a year!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by the publisher via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own.

"Is there anything more perfect than a day at the beach?" How could anything go wrong with an opening line like that? Plenty as it turns out. Librarian Lucy Richardson is finally getting engaged to Conner McNeil, dentist and mayor of a small community on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Family and friends are gathering on the beach to celebrate when Richard Eric Lewiston the Third and his overbearing mother crash the party for the sole purpose of convincing Lucy to marry 'Ricky' instead!

From there it isn't long until a body appears and the happenings in this quiet little town again force Lucy into the role of amateur detective (for the 8th time in the series). The suspects pile on and with twists, turns, and a little humor, eventually good triumphs over evil.

WHAT I THOUGHT: I always say I'm not a cozy mystery reader but this is my second by this author in the past year! I love the idea that Lucy's library and home is in a lighthouse. Eva Gates knows what her readers want and gives it to us in a well-written way that doesn't talk down to readers but includes us in the fun. Along the way she works in the names of books and bits of information the reader will recognize. It's not a unique approach but it's well-done here. The book club is reading "The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and there are shout-outs to fellow cozy writers Ellen Bryon and Essie Lang as well. P.S. In this 8th entry in the series, there is still Charles Dickens (the cat) and now a dog (Fluffy) just to cause added confusion!

BOTTOM LINE: There is nothing more delightful than an enjoyable cozy series. I'm guessing that starting at the beginning with #1 and getting to know the characters would be even more fun. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for cozy mystery readers!

Disclaimer: A copy of "Deadly Ever After" was provided to me by Crooked Lane Books/Net Galley for an honest review.

Another enjoyable cozy mystery in the Lighthouse Library Mystery series. While some of the details in this novel come from events in earlier novels, it read pretty well on its own.

The quirky characters are what make the plot enjoyable. Gates does a good job balancing the character movement with an ongoing investigation into murder. Lucy and Connor getting ready to plan a wedding are contrasted with a body found behind a favorite local restaurant.

I like the frequent snappy dialogues and pithy comebacks. I like Lucy being relentless in solving the mystery in her amateur but effective way. My favorite characters, though, were Charles, the library cat, and Fluffy, the yappy but protective little dog. Their actions were fun.

The setting of Nags Head is wonderful. The library is in a lighthouse and Lucy lives in an upper floor. Quirky library patrons and board members make for more fun. And then there is the spooky marsh area and mysterious lights at night.

This is a fun cozy mystery with interesting characters, a good setting and a bit of suspense. There is nothing sophisticated nor especially enlightening in this novel. It's just a fun mystery.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.