I was very impressed with this series starter from a debut author. It was a cozy that stayed away from the genre's trap of using quirkiness as a substitute for substance and instead focused on the mystery. There is some good backstory developed for main character Greer that I think will be useful going forward. The author's bio indicates that they are a librarian, and that definitely shows in the writing of Greer (as a librarian, a pet peeve is inaccurate depictions of librarians and library work in fiction). There is great potential for this series, and this was an excellent start.

An old mansion, with eerie family portraits, tucked-away staircases, creaking floors, and tough-to-close old windows. Throw in windy thunderstorms and a dead body.

Yes, please!

Greer Hogan left her six-figure job in New York City behind after her husband’s murder and began a second career as a librarian in Raven Hill, a village near Albany. When she finds her friend’s body on a small staircase, she worries that she’ll be the main suspect. Armed with her love of mystery novels, she emulates her favorite literary “girl detectives” to solve the murder before she’s arrested as the murderer...or becomes the next victim. Who did it, and how far are they willing to go to bury secrets?

Greer’s curiosity leads her to look into nooks and crannies to find evidence. She uses the skills that make her a good librarian to research the clues she uncovers. And she never underestimates the value of neighborhood gossip.

Hilliard put the cozy in cozy mystery, offering a character and plot that make it easy to curl up and enjoy the story.

Greer Hogan is a likeable though haunted main character whose extreme curiosity makes her an enjoyable amateur detective. The library is a delightfully creepy character that amps up the suspense. The Unkindness of Ravens is a fun read with a character you’ll want to solve mysteries with again.

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for a review.

From the cover, I was expecting a book along gothic lines. That is not what M. E. Hillard was offering. Other than Raven Hill library being housed in an old manor complete with weary groans and creaking floors, a raven, and sudden storms, the creepy feeling does not carry through the book.

Needing a change after the death of her husband, Greer Hogan leaves New York City and an executive-level career to reinvent herself as a small-town librarian. Not allowing herself to open up to too many people, she takes a chance and befriends Joanna Goodhue, a member of the Friends of the Library organization. When Greer discovers Joanna’s battered body at the bottom of a narrow stairway, she must divulge her past before the police uncover it on their own and decided Greer is their one and only suspect.

As a bookish researcher and wanna-be girl detective in the style of Trixie Belden, Greer uses her skills to start poking around. Stepping on too many toes and more than once being told to back off, Greer does what she has to since she feels she owes her friend. Greer is hoping all along that she is on the right track and doesn’t let down yet another person who had depended on her.

The middle is a bit longwinded and more twisty than it needs to be, but eventually, the pieces and gossip start coming together. By the conclusion, the reader realizes that Greer isn’t finished when it comes to her sleuthing ways, and “The Unkindness of Ravens” is just opening the door for Greer Hogan as she contemplates returning to New York City to solve the mystery of her murdered husband.

4.5 rounded up

I received a complimentary ARC copy of The Unkindness of Ravens, A Greer Hogan Mystery #1
by M. E. Hilliard from NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books in order to read and give an honest review.

…a clever suspenseful mystery that is intriguing and highly entertaining…

Atmospheric and suspenseful, The Unkindness of Ravens is a brilliant debut from author M.E. Hillard.

Librarian Greer Hogan is a lifelong fan of mysteries, beginning with the likes of Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew. After the murder of her husband Greer goes from Corporate New York Executive to small town Raven Hill Librarian looking for a fresh start. Her fresh start comes to an abrupt end when she stumbles across the body of her best friend Joanna Goodhue in the library’s hidden stairwell. Although initially she becomes a suspect, the police declare Joanna’s death an accident. Greer’s memories of her husband’s murder combined with her intuition tell her there is much more to the story, and channeling her literary heroes, Greer puts her researching skills to effective use, determined to find justice for her friend. When she begins asking too many questions, she catches the attention of the killer putting herself in their path.

I loved everything about the book, the literary references, a strong female protagonist, and a creepy Gothic mansion turned Raven Hill Library, which with its secret passages and creepy portraits becomes a character in itself.

Reminiscent of Agatha Christie, M.E. Hilliard has crafted a clever suspenseful mystery that is intriguing and highly entertaining. The plot although a little slow to develop was filled with twists and suspenseful turns, I could not put it down. A must read for those who enjoy mysteries. I loved it and would highly recommend it.

This new series is off to a great start. Set in a quirky library housed in an old mansion in the small town of Raven Hill this cozy got my attention from page one. Greer Hogan, the new librarian, made a major life change after her husband was murdered and went back to get a degree in library science. She moved to Raven Hill to run the library and murder followed her. Being a librarian has a skill set that makes for a great investigator and that's what Greer becomes when she finds her friend dead in the employees only area of the library.
When she starts to connect the new death to others that had been ruled accidental, Greer taps into her Trixie Belden side to find out who wanted her friend, Joanna, silenced permanently. With the locals keeping secrets and the library becoming more creepy every day, Greer hopes she finds the killer before she becomes the next body in the library.
Well drawn characters and a great puzzle to solve, I enjoyed this series debut and stayed up late to finish it..."just one more chapter" became "I'm not going to bed until I know who done it". That's the kind of mystery that earns five stars from me. The next in the series already has a spot on my TBR list. I hope it's not a long wait.
My thanks to the publisher Crooked Lane and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Greer Hogan is a librarian at a library that resides in the old Ravenscroft Manor. We are barely becoming acquainted with Greer when she finds the body of her friend and president of the Friends of the Library, Joanna. This isn’t the first time Greer has come upon a body. We get the story slowly over the course of the book and it’s an unfinished story that probably shows up in a next book.
The mystery of who killed Joanna feels drawn out and the pieces come together slowly.
There are some humorous moments and reference to other amateur detectives. Greer becomes friends with Officer Webber. It was an uneasy pairing but Greer was able to provide useful knowledge.
Greer prefers Trixie Belden to Nancy Drew. She refers to herself as “the Girl Detective”. It felt a bit artificial.
I never did put all the pieces together and the author concealed the conclusions until it was time for final action.
It was an interesting setting and mystery. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book prior to publication.

I came close to not finishing M.E. Hilliard's The Unkindness of Ravens or at least deciding to skim through sections, but I'm glad I didn't. Why did I come so close to giving up? Because it took three-quarters of the book before everything began to click. Why did I persevere? Because there would be an occasional quip or literary allusion from the main character, Greer Hogan, that convinced me she was one character worth getting to know.

Greer's husband was murdered, and the entire experience-- from finding his body all the way through the court trial-- was so painful that she had the strength and will to put it all behind her and start a whole new life. Her experience as a businesswoman and as a librarian makes her especially adept at organizing her days so she has time to be an amateur sleuth. She's also level-headed and has a strong sense of self-preservation. Intentionally putting herself in danger is not her style, and she shares her discoveries with the police. Toward the end of The Unkindness of Ravens, I found myself cheering Greer on to victory, which is always a good sign.

Hilliard created a good, solid mystery, a fantastic setting, and an interesting, likable main character. The action in the book leads inevitably to the next book in the series. What I'm hoping for in that second book is much-improved pacing and more highly developed characters-- especially Officer Jennie Webber, whom I found very intriguing.

Once everything began to click, this book became an enjoyable read, and what's not to like about a public library housed in an old mansion that's so Gothic and Jane Eyre-like that one expects to see the first Mrs. Rochester glaring out from an upstairs window? When all is said and done, I find myself looking forward to meeting Greer Hogan and Officer Webber again soon.

Something's afoot in Raven Hill and Greer is worried. She moved to be the librarian there (in a spooky old building) after the murder of her husband in a robbery gone wrong. Unfortunately, murder has followed her- she finds the body of her friend Joanna. This is an odd sort of cozy as it doesn't originally convey that way but it's got all the elements. Unlike many others in the genre, however, Greer bonds with Jennie, the police officer investigating the murder and it isn't for romantic reasons. Greer's a smart cookie and I liked the various references to other books scattered throughout. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A fun read that kept me guessing and entertained- and I'm looking forward to more from Hilliard.

Greer Hogan left the city of New York to start a new life and work as a librarian in the village of Raven Hill. She loves reading, especially about smart detectives, such as Poirot and Miss Marple, therefore when a friend of hers dies in in mysterious circumstances, she knows she has to do something to reveal what happened.

The death of Greer’s friend brings back terrible and sad memories. What Greer thought might be a peaceful village and a place to leave those memories behind turns out to be quite the contrary. The library, a place she loves, is now a murder scene. Moreover, the murderer is out there and her own life is at risk. Will she be able to solve this intricate mystery? There’s no doubt Greer will have to "rely on those little grey cells" as one of her favourite detectives used to say.

Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

After the murder of her husband, Greer Hogan reinvents herself. She leaves her job in New York City, returns to school, and receives her degree in library science. From there, Greer begins her new career in the library in the Village of Raven Hill. It’s comfortable, enjoyable, and peaceful - everything she has craved since the death of her husband. But, when she finds the body of her friend in the library, Greer’s world doesn’t seem so peaceful after all. And now she has a mystery to solve.

I so wanted to like (love?) this book. It has books, librarians, and crime all rolled into one. The perfect trifecta. And if that isn’t enough, the library itself is fascinating. However, I was quite disappointed with The Unkindness of Ravens. I never did develop very much interest in the characters, the story often seemed to drag, and the mystery itself wasn’t very compelling. And throughout it all, the main character tried to channel various fictional detectives in order to discover who had killed her friend, while also re-living her husband’s death which had occurred several years before.

The story seemed disjointed and didn’t flow very well for me. However, the best part of the book is the library, which is housed in an old Victorian home. Even so, some of the descriptions of this magnificent building were difficult to imagine.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

This novel is a great start to a new series. I really like the protagonist and thought her to be a strong, independent character. She uses the skills she has learned from reading crime novels to investigate several murders. This story was cleverly crafted.
Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was attracted by the title, and then I went and looked it up! I did not know that a group of ravens is known as an "unkindness" meaning a sort of conspiracy.

A murder mystery, setting is a library and Greer Hogan who has a habit of finding murdered bodies on her doorstep literally opens a door and a body falls out. The story takes off from there with theories abounding as the body count rises and Greer has to also take a step back and think carefully, whether her previous testimony actually sent an innocent man to jail.

This was a good debut novel. Quirky characters and the library setting was particularly good. This was no modern library but a rather character filled scenario with a long history.

It is not often I feel like I was mislead by the title and cover of a book, but here I was. This was a coffee murder mystery ala Jessica in murder she wrote. This was an obvious play on all of those same murder mysterie3s and nothing was really surprising. If you like those cost mysteries then this is the one for you.

“I never faint. I’m not the type.” I was the type who drank too much
and made inappropriate comments. Fainting would be better.
M. E. Hilliard, The Unkindness of Ravens, Kindle Loc. 129

Greer Hogan is a librarian and an avid reader of murder mysteries. She also has a habit of stumbling upon murdered bodies. The first was her husband's, and the tragic loss led Greer to leave New York behind for a new start in the Village of Raven Hill. But her new home becomes less idyllic when she discovers her best friend sprawled dead on the floor of the library.

Was her friend's demise related to two other deaths that the police deemed accidental? Do the residents of this insular village hold dark secrets about another murder, decades ago? Does a serial killer haunt Raven Hill?

As the body count rises, Greer's anxious musings take a darker turn when she uncovers unexpected and distressing information about her own husband's death...and the man who went to prison for his murder. She is racked with guilt at the possibility that her testimony may have helped to convict an innocent man.

Though Greer admires the masters of deduction she reads about in books, she never expected to have to solve a mystery herself. Fortunately, she possesses a quick wit and a librarian's natural resourcefulness. But will that be enough to protect her from a brilliant, diabolical murderer?

And even if Greer manages to catch the Raven Hill killer, will living with her conscience prove a fate worse than death?
Amazon.com

It was the main character’s voice that got me hooked on this book. I liked the main character, Greer Hogan. However, some of her past behavior is not beyond reproach. She isn’t a typical good girl or a typical librarian, whatever that is. Greer wants justice, but some of her motives may not be so pure.

In The Unkindness of Ravens, Greer has starting a new career in a new place when an old occurrence happens—a body falls at her feet. Greer has flashbacks of her husband’s body, but that isn’t the only haunting she has. Greer is consumed by murder mysteries, their images and language. She is able to recall key sentences of her favorite authors and make use of their detective methods. If nothing else, Greer is a pragmatist. She does the best she can do, given the situation.

What I liked best about her? She believes what a young girl tells her, things others would assume to be fantasy.

Please welcome M. E. Hilliard to WWK. E. B. Davis

Why is Greer drawn to Trixie Belden and the entire “girl detective” persona?
Greer was a smart, independent kid who liked to solve puzzles, and she never grew out of that. Many of us don’t! So she sees herself in those characters. As she gets older, she keeps reading mysteries. A lot of amateur sleuths are women, and Greer just knows in her heart that she could solve those crimes if she had to. Fortunately, she’s right.

Raven Hill Public Library is housed in Raven Hill Manor, an architectural gothic-styled building left to the town by the Ravenscroft family. It’s sort of a spooky structure that has resident ravens. Greer thinks it has “quirky charm.” What part does the manor play? It’s more than a set.
I think of the manor as a character. It has a personality, may well be haunted, and seems to be on Greer’s side most of the time. It’s a kind of cranky old relative, and a mystery unto itself. Whether it’s the contents of the attics, or the floors that creak and doors that stick (or don’t) for no apparent reason, you never really know what you’re going to get.

Where are the Helderberg Mountains? Greer can see them in the distance from the town. Is Raven Hill based on another town or does it exist?
The Helderbergs are in upstate New York, a little west of Albany. Raven Hill is fictional, but there are a lot of small towns around Albany and the rest of what’s known as the Capital District. I also lived in small towns in Connecticut for much of my childhood. Raven Hill is a combination of all of them.

When Greer finds a body at the bottom of the stairs to a rooftop terrace at Ravens Hill Manor, she becomes a suspect. Not only did she find the body, but the victim, Joanna, is the only person in town she knew before she moved there. Was it a coincidence that Greer moved to the same town where Joanna lived?
Joanna let Greer know about the job posting. They’d met in college, lost touch, and then reconnected on social media. So not a coincidence, but something of a happy accident that there was an opening shortly after Greer finished grad school.

You use voices inside Greer’s head to bring in backstory. Voices that haunt her from the past—the guy convicted of her husband’s murder, Danny’s voice, Joanna’s voice. Do phrases, both written and verbal, attract Greer’s attention like details caught Joanna’s attention?
She’s a lifelong reader, so words are important to her. If a phrase makes an impression initially, it’s likely to stick, especially if there’s a strong emotional association. Joanna is similar, but she’s a journalist, so for her it’s details that raise questions, or suggest a story.

What is it about rules that bug Greer?
Growing up with a bossy older sister! Also, as you said, she’s a pragmatist, so if a rule makes sense, she’ll follow it. If it doesn’t and it’s in her way, she’ll ignore it, or work around it.

Raven Hill shares the police with other towns. Violent crimes are dealt with by the state police. The state police were never brought in—did the police think Joanna’s death was an accident?
They were brought in, but undercover. Greer finally gets Jennie to admit it, but Jennie won’t tell her if she’s got the right people.

Jennie Webber is an interesting character. She’s toured Iraq twice. She treats Greer from the start as suspect number one. But her attitude changes after Greer admits to having guilty secrets and asks Jennie what hers are. Why the change? Once Jennie knows that Greer’s not hiding anything to do with this murder, she loosens up a little. She’s clearly got secrets of her own, so she can relate to Greer’s motivation. And they’re both after the same thing—finding the killer. Jennie knows Greer can get information she can’t, and vice versa, so it makes more sense to team up.

Although Miss Marple was right most of the time, isn’t thinking the worst of people a nasty mindset?
I would rate it no worse than cynical, and if you’re after murderers, more sensible than always thinking the best of people.

Sadie Barrett is a smart and observant little girl. The portraits of the Ravenscroft ancestors line the library’s hallways. Sadie claims to see the people in the portraits move and a headless ghost. Why does Greer pay any attention to what Sadie says?
Children are observant, and they also haven’t yet bought into what I’d call the polite lie. They see what’s in front of them, and put it into a context they understand, like something that happened at school, or a book or movie they’re familiar with. What they’re telling you may not make sense from an adult standpoint, but if you meet kids where they are and ask the right questions, you can get good information. Greer knows that Sadie is honest and observant from previous interactions, so she knows that Sadie saw something unusual. She hangs in there with Sadie’s references and gets some good information.

Who said? “It’s easier to get forgiveness than permission.”
I found multiple attributions for that one going back 1400 years, with many variations on it since. The first was to St. Benedict, and the most recent was Grace Hopper. At this point I think it’s a pretty common saying, particularly among amateur sleuths who like to skirt the rules!

When Greer finds a thumb drive Joanna hid, Greer finds notes Joanna made about the library and an old death of a child and then the mother’s death decades later. What made Greer follow the research?
She knows Joanna was a good investigator, and that she wouldn’t have kept that information if she didn’t think it meant something. It’s also the kind of thing she can follow up on easily from the library, the kind of research she’s good at doing. Since Joanna ended up dead at the bottom of a staircase, Greer knows she was onto something, and this is all she’s got to work with. It takes her a while to make it all hang together, so she waits before going to the police.

Is Ruth Rendell a favorite author of yours?
I’ve read plenty of her books, but not lately. I didn’t remember An Unkindness of Ravens, though I know I read some of the Inspector Wexford series. Our titles are thirty-five years and one word apart!

You finished the book with a set up for the next. What is the next titled? Can you give us the blurb?
With the disclaimer that it’s early days and all subject to change—the title for book two is Shadow in the Glass and the first draft of the flap copy is as follows:

Librarian Greer Hogan is on hand to celebrate her old friend Sarah Whitaker’s nuptials at the Whitaker summer home on beautiful Mirror Lake, just outside the upstate New York village of Lake Placid. But Greer has an ulterior motive—to gather information that could reopen the investigation into her husband’s murder, a crime for which she believes an innocent man went to prison. Her plans come to a shuddering halt when a wedding guest goes missing and turns up dead in the lake. The guest, Brittany Miles, was an employee of the Whitaker family whom Sarah had long suspected was up to no good at work.

The police have no leads, but Greer—an avid reader of crime fiction who possesses an uncanny knack for deduction—begins her own investigation. She learns that the victim was seen with a mystery man right before she disappeared. Then the autopsy reveals that she didn’t drown in the lake after all—she was killed somewhere else, and her body dumped in the water afterward.

The suspect list is as long as the guest list itself, with no apparent motive. Now, Greer must rely on the wisdom of her favorite fictional detectives to tease out truth from lies—and keep herself out of the killer’s sights.

An atmospheric read set in upper New York State. Our Sleuth Greer, is new to librarianship, after
changing careers. Her high driven world seemed senseless after the murder of her husband. She tells us,"So, I went to the place where I always felt safe and happy--the library. More precisely, library school." She is the new librarian at Raven Hill Manor, a gothic jumble filled with nooks and crannies, and well loved books. She feels at home in Raven Hill, having her good friend, Joanna Goodhue, to help introduce her to the village. Greer's peaceful life is abruptly changed when she discovers the body of her friend sprawled at the foot of stairs. The police want to rule in an accident, Greer thinks otherwise.
Using her research skills and powers of observation, Greer tackles the job of uncovering mysteries from both the past and the present. Set in the cozy format, this debut novel brings a much darker menace than most. This is more Christie than cozy, and is a very welcome addition to any mystery readers shelf.

This great start to a new cozy mystery series has all the elements I love in such novels. A murder in a library in an old manor with a gothic vibe, a smart librarian who is keen to sleuth around and play amateur detective, a small town full of gossips and people with long memories and of course the local police who keep the investigation close to themselves.

Greer Hogan is the 'new librarian' (she fears she'll be the new librarian until the day she dies) at Raven Hill library in upstate New York. She left New York City for a fresh start after her husband was killed in a bungled burglary. After going to graduate school and retraining as a librarian she was pleased to land a job in a small town where she had a good friend, Joanna Goodhue. But now she's found her friend's body in the library and it doesn't look as if she died of natural causes.

Greer is a keen reader of crime novels and can't help collecting clues and drawing up a list of suspects to investigate. She sees herself as more Trixie Belden than Nancy Drew or Miss Marple and with her subtle snooping and eavesdropping and logical mind is able to arrive at several theories for Joanna's death.

There is much to like in this debut novel. A clever, amateur detective who enjoys books, has a sense of humour and no major flaws (despite the tragic death of her husband) is refreshing. I also enjoyed that the police were not only friendly and helpful, but listened to Greer's theories and the odd things she reported to them and were concerned for her safety. The manor house bequested to the town for use as a library is very atmospheric and perfect for creeping around gothic stairways during a stormy night and provides plenty of suspense for the novel. I'll definitely be looking out for the next instalment in this series.

This debut mystery stars Greer Hogan who came to librarianship after a previous career in the cosmetics industry in New York City. Her guilt about the death of her husband in an apparent home invasion caused her to look for a new career and new city. Now, she is happily settled in her new job as a librarian at Raven Hill Manor in a small New York town.

She has connected with an old friend from her college days who is also a recent resident of the town and who is active in the Friends of the Library. When she discovers her friend's body after an apparent fall, she decides to find out what happened to Joanna for two reasons. She wants justice for her friend and she doesn't want to be considered a suspect. Finding two dead bodies can be really career-limiting!

Greer is a devoted fan of mysteries and their detectives and needs to channel the things she has learned from all those fictional detectives from Miss Marple's nose for gossip to her own personal favorite Trixie Belden's use of teamwork. I really enjoyed the number of books and detectives that Greer mentioned throughout the book.

The story required Greer to look into the past of the town and the people and to try to retrace the path Joanna forged to figure out who the killer was and why Joanna was killed. There was a nice array of suspects from Joanna's husband to her colleague at the television station where she worked to a woman who was opposed to Joanna's support for a new library building.

I really enjoyed this debut and look forward to more from the author.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review.

Greer Hogan is a librarian I'd like to be friends with and as someone who has come into librarianship as a second career in my late 30's, I felt a connection to her character... though thankfully I don't happen to stumble upon dead bodies. With Hilliard being a librarian herself, it was nice to see a realistic depiction (outside of the murder) of library life in a small town.

Greer is a fan of Agatha Christie, Nancy Drew, and the like so this novel is chockfull of literary references that readers may or may not get (there are also plenty of references to that famous orphaned wizard boy in England, you know the one). While they were appreciated, there was also an overabundance of them and many went over my head as I'm not well versed in classic mystery novels.

Overall though, the setup of the mystery was intriguing, there were plenty of Christie-esque red herrings to keep the reader guessing, and the climatic events were solid. This novel was a delightful mix of mystery and thriller and I do hope that readers will be able to follow Greer in further exploits.

loved this! Dark and atmospheric, a library in a spooky old manor house, a hint of the supernatural - it's all there to set the scene right from the get-go. Greer Morgan, after losing her husband Daniel to a murder in New York City, became a librarian and has found herself in the village of Raven Hill, a small town full of secrets.

Within the first few pages, Greer stumbles across the body of her friend Jenny, lying dead on the stairs to the attic of the manor house (where the library archives are kept). Greer, aware of the suspicious nature of the murder of her husband, is initially cautious with the police but is soon caught up in the mystery surrounding her friend's death. She becomes 'girl detective' and throughout the book, we are treated to clever deductions, music and book references, and a range of great characters, suspects and motives.

This was really well done, especially for a first in a series, and although I did ping the murderer there are enough clues and red herrings throughout to keep you second-guessing yourself about it all.

Can't wait for the next book in the series!

It's been a while since I've picked up a cozy mystery so The Unkindness of Ravens called to me in a lot of ways: creepy manor, girl detective, and a murder. Three of my favorite boxes checked, and a brand new author who is also a librarian. So I had high hopes for this book and was very excited when I was approved for an early copy.

And this book didn't disappoint. It is everything that you love about a cozy murder mystery. The plot moved very quickly, and it was a book I wanted to pick up every chance that I got. It was also really hard to put down because every time I got to a point where I thought to put this down and do other life things, another curveball was thrown my way. Another piece of evidence. A new suspect. Something to keep me glued to my screen.

I loved Greer as the main character as well. We meet after she's pivoted her life around after the loss of her husband, and it's that loss that drives her to be the girl's detective when she finds the body of a murder victim in her library. My favorite thing about Greer is she knows what she's doing is dangerous, and does everything she can to make sure anyone helping her solve this murder is safe. But, she also does her best to protect herself. It's not always the best, but at least she's aware of the danger. She's also brilliant, backups all her data, does her research, and shares her information with the police.

My pet peeve with these is always when the character playing detective doesn't include the actual detectives. Greer isn't like that. She shares her information as she goes, never showing her full hand, but never excluding them either. This plays one of her favor in the last few chapters.

The small-town aspect of this story was the perfect setting. In a town where everyone knows everyone, but the secrets run a mile long, is always a favorite of mine. The difference for me was just how much the town seemed willing to help Greer solve this murder. Add on the fact the library is placed in a creepy old manor house, all of this worked in the story's favor. The small-town vibes left you wondering who was hiding what, and maybe the manor was really haunted. Could it have been a ghost? It all kind of put the cozy in a cozy murder mystery.

I also loved all the book references from some of Agatha Christie's detectives to the great detective himself, Sherlock Holmes. Not just quotes, but small references and nods to the characters and stories. I loved those so much because I was raised on those stories. From Great Grandmother to my Ma, I come by my love murder mysteries legitly. So I thought each little Easter Egg as they were a lot of fun, and since Greer is a librarian it made sense that she'd references these moments.

Lastly, I thought the lead-up to the mystery itself was solid and well thought out. I was following along with each clue that Greer found, making my own murder board in my head as the story went on. About halfway through I had a pretty good idea where the story was headed, and the closer to the end I got the more I knew I was right on the track. I also thought the ending was very fitting and the conclusion was satisfying. All of the loose ends were tied up, and it's always nice to know also were blaming the characters.

So, why only four stars instead of five? My only complaint about this book was there were a lot of Harry Potter references in this book. The first one that pops is while Greer is talking to a child so I forgave it. But, after that Greer makes several throughout the book, and they were easily avoided with other literary references. But, other than that this is a great book, and I'm interested in the next books in the series. I think I know where Hilliard is going to take it and they have my attention.