An interesting first book in a new Cozy Mystery series. A bit slow and clunky to start - as first books can sometimes be. I wasn't sure if I was going to like the main character, Rain, but as I continued to read, the story picked up the pace a bit, and I began to engage more with Rain and the other characters. The mystery came to a satisfying conclusion. I'm intrigued enough to want to read the next book in the series. 3 1/4 stars

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, Crooked Lane Books, via NetGalley. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor.

What began as an appealing introduction to a new series quickly fell apart with repeated usages of 'as if', unnecessarily over descriptive situations, and a plot that grew stagnant to the point I began to wonder if the author lost direction. Fortunately, by the end, everything was tied up and retold since I had resorted to skimming.

I hope the second book in the series, Long Overdue at the Lakeside Library (2022), will have a better flow and tighten up the sluggish parts since Murder at the Lakeside Library started with such great potential.

his year my promise to myself was not to start any new cozy mystery series until I finished a few I had going but the cover of this debut series sucked me right on in. I am so glad it did. Is it a perfectly written cozy mystery? No, but for me, it felt very real. Rain is dealing with the loss of her husband and the realization that he was unfaithful. She decides to move back to her hometown and stay at her parents' place while they are away for the summer. Before she even gets unpacked she learns that she is expected to run the summer library for her absentee mom and in the process finds a dead body on her property. Rain is starting to wonder if moving home was her best choice. She really just wanted a quiet place to grieve and lick her wounds.

Rain appears fickle at times but coming from my own experience of grief you don't always think like you normally would. Some days you are lucky to remember to tie your shoes before walking out the door. Rain's childhood friend, Julia, is a tad irritating as she tends to railroad Rain and then afterward apologizes. I wouldn't pick Julia as a friend but she seems to be the right one for Rain.

I hope in book 2, Long Overdue at the Lakeside Library (out 2.2022) that we get to meet Rain's parents and find out what is really going on with them. There is quite a story going on there.

If you love cozy mysteries set by water and involving books this is a series for you. Trigger warning: unfaithfulness, death of a spouse, and murder.

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

This is the debut of the new cozy series "Lakeside Library Mystery Series" by cozy author Holly Danvers. Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity. My review opinion is my own.

Rain Wilmont has returned home after her husband passed away. She is staying in her family home in the coastal small town of Lofty Pines Wisconsin. Her hope is to reinvent the on site library for the community . When a real estate developer is found murdered her Mother is primary suspect number one and Rain hopes to clear her Mother's name while saving her dream of opening the library . As she investigates the deceased she finds he was disliked by many and had shady real estate deals that led many to dislike him. As Rain grows closer to the truth she may be putting herself in danger before she solves the murder.

I enjoyed this new series and look forward to the next in series. The charcters are wonderfully drawn to the story, the setting very atmospheric and the sleuth well crafted. Well done to the author ! Review cross posted .

Murder at the Lakeside Library by Holly Danvers is a fun summer vacation read. The idyllic lake setting in the Northwoods is almost another character in the book, and Danvers warmly brings the sights, sounds, and smells of a Wisconsin lake town to life. When I was growing up in Northern Illinois (almost on the Wisconsin border) we would often visit the Northwoods area & the Wisconsin Dells for our family vacations, and reading Murder at the Lakeside Library brought back so many fond memories for me. Even though I now live in Georgia, I’d love to go back to the Wisconsin Northwoods sometime! Murder notwithstanding haha.

A lot of this book is setting the stage for why Rain has returned to her family lake cabin and how she’s been out of touch with her parents, so that she doesn’t know what to believe when rumors about them start whispering through Lofty Pines. I love how she reconnected to her childhood best friend Julia, who is a hoot by the way, and I had fun watching their friendship pretty much pick up where they left off, with some small gaps of course. It’s good for Rain to have that solid connection when everything else goes a bit topsy-turvy. See, in her mother’s absence, Rain is suddenly in charge of the lending library that’s attached to their cabin and scrambles a bit to deal with all the new information and puzzling questions that arise. Then there’s a murder and all that uncertainty magnifies even more.

The mystery is well done, with a couple of suspects that are very close to Rain’s heart, and a long held family secret that further muddies the waters. She and Julia are more of a Lucy & Ethel crime fighting duo than Nancy Drew & her chums but they are highly entertaining in the process – and maybe a bit savvier than their TV counterparts. I enjoyed the way Danvers added Julia’s brother Jace to the mix – a police officer for Lofty Pines and a potential romantic interest for Rain in future books, I’m guessing. This allowed Rain & Julia some security even when they took dumb risks (as all cozy mystery sleuths are wont to do) but also added extra layers to the mystery because Jace wasn’t handing out unauthorized updates willy-nilly.

Bottom Line: Murder at the Lakeside Library is a cute start to a new cozy series! I loved the Wisconsin Northwoods setting, as it brought back delightful family vacation memories from my childhood, and the author did a great job of making it come alive for readers. While I thought the dialogue between Rain and her childhood summer bestie Julia was sometimes too old for women in their 30s – and there was some repetition of information throughout – overall I enjoyed the writing pace & style. The murder mystery is intriguing & mixed with unanswered questions and a dose of family drama, and readers will embrace their inner Nancy Drew to put all the pieces together. The bonus of a lakeside library attached to the side of Rain’s cabin is icing on the cake for bookworms!

(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book)

Dollycas’s Thoughts

In this first Lakeside Library Mystery, we meet Rain Wilmot. She has come home to the family’s cabin in Lofty Pines where she reconnects with her childhood best friend Julia. She hopes for a relaxing solitary summer to start to heal from the grief of losing her husband. Her friend Julia has other ideas. She expects Rain to open the library that is part of the family’s cabin. Rain’s mother usually runs the library but is traveling with no plans to visit Lofty Pines this summer. Julia has big plans so she needs Rain on board and opening the library.

Julia’s plans go seriously awry when they find a very dead Thorton Hughes on the property. Hughes, a real estate developer, had some big plans of his own and had made a few enemies around the area but he was apparently close to Rain’s mother, Willow. Her absence in Lofty Pines this year is questioned and some people think she had something to do with the man’s murder.

Rain decides to do some investigating of her own while rumors fly. She needs to be careful of she could be the next dead body found in Lofty Pines.

I was immediately drawn into this story by the author’s descriptions of Wisconsin’s beautiful Northwoods. I have been to several places like Lofty Pines, none that had a library in one of the cabins, but Ms. Danvers’s descriptions rang true and made it very easy to picture the setting.

I liked Rain and totally understood her need for a quiet place. I also understood Julia’s quest to not allow her friend to wallow in her pain, but boy, that Julia is a pushy woman. She made plans and expected Rain to just fall in line. There was one scene where Rain spends the night in the library and Julia arrives the next morning like a bull in a china shop. I wish Rain would have responded in a stronger way. More insight into Rain and her adult life would have been helpful. We know that the cabin was a special place for her but because her husband didn’t appreciate the area they rarely went there. Again, she allowed another person to make decisions for her. Her behavior really does show a pattern.

I did love the “Laker” attitude. The people that own property in the area and spend every summer there or live there full time are a very cool group. They reach out to help each other whether it be doing a little yard work or bringing treats to share on the deck or just have a listening ear when needed.

The mystery was a little murky for me. There was a bit of repetition and Rain seemed unfocused at times but again she is dealing with a loss and then found a dead body that was oddly connected to her family. Of course, she does get some assistance from Julia, and an elderly library volunteer Marge. They know the people and all the connections that Rain is now unfamiliar with because she has been away so long. The author has a very descriptive writing style but here some of the narration and descriptions get to be too much. I found the treasure found in the library to be a very interesting twist, revealing something important that did move the story forward.

I did have a few issues with the story but Murder at the Lakeside Library was a very entertaining read. It has laid the groundwork for what I hope will be a long-running series. I really liked how important literacy was to Rain’s family going back to her great grandfather, himself an author. The library is a wonderful family legacy. That gives this series a grand uniqueness that cozy readers will love.

This is the first book I've read by Holly Danvers and, God willing, it won't be my last.

The story line is about a young woman who returns to the lake home her grandparents owned which she visited during the summers when growing up. The home is now owned by her parents, but neither is there. She is recently widowed and goes to the lakeside home while grieving and recovering from her loss. The original building was turned into a little library for the residents of the village and a new modern home built next to it. Next door is her childhood friend.

At first I found the name of the character a bit off-putting. She is "Rain" and her mother is named "Willow. She is about 35 years old so would have been born around 1986 when I think celebrities were naming their children things like "Corderoy" but I still found it a bit strange. It is also very odd that her mother, whose maiden name was Russo, would have a name like Willow.

But names aside, the story was very compelling. I enjoyed the various characters. I loved that rain and her friend Julia had so many fun memories of growing up together, even though Rain only spent summers there while Julia was a "Laker" and lived there year round. All of the characters acted and reacted as one would expect given their relationships to each other.

I found two errors of pronoun usage. "You always pushed your father and I away" should read "pushed...me". "Us girls, if we put our heads together, could probably provide...." should read "We....could ... provide." The last thing that was, I'm certain an error in the writing is that we are told one character was trying to link another to "the case, making himself invisible as a suspect." The case was about the murder of the man who was trying to link another - it makes no sense in the scheme of the story to try to keep himself from being a suspect to his own murder! The author must have meant a different character, but then the order of events and actions that were purported to link the other man doesn't fit with the story line. Just something that should have been thought out better by the author - or if nothing else, worded differently.

I will be getting a hard copy of this book as soon as I can to give it a better review. The format of this book was hard to me to read that is why I will be getting a copy.

I loved this start to a new cozy mystery series! I felt instantly transported to Lofty Pines and when I finished, I felt like I had been on a vacation to the log cabin. And the lakeside library? I want one! I can't wait to read more in this series. Well done!

This one didn't really grab me, but willing to give book 2 a try. I don't know why I couldn't get into it. The town seemed nice, I didn't find any of the characters annoying. The mystery seemed like it should be interesting since multiple things were going on throughout the book.. I will revisit this book at another time to see if it was just where I was at when I was trying to read it.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy to read and review.

This is a great start to what promised to be a fun series. For anyone who has ever spent time in a cottage by a lake, you will feel like you are coming home. It is the perfect cozy mystery to read on the dock or laying in a hammock. I love the idea of a seasonal library at the cottage. The fact that the library holds clues to a murder was also so much fun! I look forward to to reading more in this series and watching the characters develop.

If you are looking for a book to read by the lake this summer, here it is!

Our main character, Rain, is newly widowed and decides to move back to her childhood lakeside summer home for some time away from the big city. Upon arrival there is a dead body discovered and Rain is wondering what the dead guy's connection is to her family. This of course leads to uncovering family skeletons and a little danger to herself.

I was given an eARC by the publisher through NetGalley

Read my full review: https://bit.ly/3rm1XJm

Review posted on: Goodreads, my blog, Twitter, Amazon

My opinion: This was a light, but highly enjoyable read. I wouldn't go as far as to call it a cozy, but it is on that spectrum.. It is definitely the perfect beach read. While this is normally not my style of read, I do believe this is a series I would definitely continue when looking for something a bit lighter.

The author developed her characters beautifully and the story flowed smoothly. I found it to be atmospheric perfect for a mystery without going overboard.

This is the type of book that IndiePicks Magazine and Patomi Media Group was developed to highlight.

Rain Wilmot has moved from her home in Milwaukee and headed for the family cabin in Lofty Pines, Wisconsin, for some relief from her grief and anger, following the death of her husband, Max. She hopes for a bit of peace and working in the library that used to be run by her mum, Willow seems to be ideal for her. As the date of the library reopening to the public draws nearer, an extremely reluctant Rain discovers a dead body. It is Thorton Hughes - a property developer and the finger of suspicion is on Willow and Rain's dad, Stuart whose absences from the library over the summer haven't gone unnoticed.

I really enjoyed reading Murder at the Lakeside Library with its smattering of humour. I delighted in Rain and Julia's friendship and the beginnings of something between Jace (Julia's brother) and Rain. The mystery itself was well done and the red herrings kept me flipping those pages. I'm hoping to meet Rain's parents in future instalments.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Crooked Lane via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

Great debut for the mystery readers out there. Written well with marvelous characters that lead you on a merry chase of intrigue and adventure. This is a great book to take out to the hammock and enjoy a wonderful summer day.

I received an ebook ARC from Netgalley and this is my voluntary, honest review.

I think there's a lot of potential in this series and I liked Rain and the library.
I found Julia and the neighbours a bit overbearing even if I liked them. The mystery kept me guessing and it's full of twists and turns.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

There was a bit too much family stuff thrown in at the beginning of the story. These issues are never resolved nor adequately dealt with. Since they were brought up, they should have been. Having read the second book first I know they aren't dealt with there either. It added nothing to the story, just made the first half drag a little.

I also had problems at the end with how the suspect is caught. I believe I had similar issues with the second book at this stage as well.

The story and relationship building was good enough to keep my attention though.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this first book in the series though I did figure out who done it before the heroine did. The summer lake house setting reminded me of summers as a kid at the family lake house without the murder part.

**** Murder at the lakeside library
This is the first book in a promising series. As with a lot of first in series the story isn’t complex as you are getting to know the characters and town. The mystery moves at a smooth steady pace with a few twists and turns. The characters are likable and some a lot of development throughout the book. I look forward to reading the next book.

All thoughts and opinions are my own, and in no way have I been influenced by anyone.

A cozy mystery set on the quiet shores of Pine Lake, WI, where Rain Wilmot plans to spend the summer in her family’s heritage cabin, licking her emotional wounds after her husband’s untimely death. No sooner has she arrived, though, than she realizes her mother has basically dropped her in it, leaving Rain with the responsibility of the library attached to the cabin, which the entire community relies on when all the summer residents arrive. Rain’s just getting to grips with that - and reconnecting with old friend and neighbour Julia - when the body turns up, a man Rain’s never seen before in her life, dead behind her outhouse with one of Rain’s grandfather’s books on him.

The mystery part of this is really cool and intriguing. I was fascinated with the story of Rain’s grandfather writing a semi-autobiographical story about his lost love, and the far-reaching effects of it in as small a community as the ‘Lakers’. As this is the first of a series, I suspect Julia’s brother, police officer Jace, is eventually supposed to be a love interest for Rain, but at the present time she’s emotionally in no fit state for it anyway.

I did have some issues, however, with Rain herself, particularly her friendship with Julia. For two women in their thirties, they acted like a pair of teenage ditzes with absolutely no regard for their own safety. Who goes out on a lake at any time without even one mobile phone between them to call for help if they need it, never mind when they are literally going to spy on a suspect? There was also no real explanation of what Rain’s future plans were… had she left her job, taken a sabbatical or compassionate leave, or what? It’s never explained. She’d sold her condo in Milwaukee but didn’t seem to have any future job lined up or anywhere to live beyond the summer cabin, and for an accountant seemed to be extremely impractical.

I read an ARC of this which had a LOT of typographical and grammatical errors. If you have a lake called ‘Pine Lake’ then it should always be ‘Pine Lake’ and not sometimes ‘Pine lake’, for example… I’ll give the publisher the benefit of the doubt and assume these will be corrected before publication, but it was noticeably badly proofed, even for an ARC. The book should be in a lot better shape than that before it goes out to reviewers. I couldn’t judge if the writing was really any good because the grammar and typos was such a mess.

Overall, I’ll give this three stars.