This is the first book in the Lakeside library series. Rain Wilmont returns to her family's summer cabin in Lofty Pines, Wisconsin after her husband, Max, dies. Rain realizes that her mother left her to run the towns library by herself. As she prepares to reopen, she finds the body of Thornton Hughes near her cabin. Found near the body is a copy of Rain's grandfathers rare edition book. This naturally makes Rain curious and she and her friend Julia investigate.

What I liked about this book was that it felt natural that the characters investigated. They didn't try to do the job of the police and had a good relationship with the detective. I really liked the characters and the setting. I love that even though so much time has passed that Rain and Julia can pick up their friendship right where it left off. The murder was okay. I didn't figure out who the killer was and I kind of felt like it wrapped up too quickly. Overall this was a great start to a series. I received this book from netgalley and Penguin random house publishing in exchange for an honest review.

This is the beginning of a new cozy mystery series set in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. The titular library is in a cabin on the property of Rain Wilmot's family and is only open in the summer, run by volunteers and filled with donated books. The library is not a main part of the mystery, which is disappointing for those of us interested in little, unique libraries. The apparent murder of an unknown man on her property turns Rain, and her friend Julia, into amateur detectives. The setting is beautiful and the library is promising but the two women became a bit annoying. Hopefully, the second volume coming next year will be better. Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing an ARC.

Murder at the Lakeside Library by Holly Danvers is the 1st book in A Lakeside Library cozy mystery series, and it's off to a great start. Rain Wilmont returned to Lofty Pines, Wisconsin after the sudden death of her husband. Rain's family opens up their library ever summer, so Rain and her friend are busy getting it ready. Unfortunately the women find a dead body outside by the outhouse, which delays the opening. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series, I enjoy the characters, and the book is well written. I highly recommend this cozy mystery.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The setting sounded like a really fun place, and I liked the whole premise of a small library in a lakeside mostly-vacation town, but somehow the characters just didn't do much for me. Some of their dialogue sounded like they were high school or college age kids when they were actually thirty-something professional people. I have to give some praise for the awesome cover of this book. It really does depict a place that's relaxing and somewhere I'd like to visit and read.

The history of the library and the book that Rain's grandfather wrote was cool as was the twist at the end, but the mystery itself just seemed to drag on and on without much hope, and I honestly found myself skimming over some of the meaningless dialogue and descriptions. The descriptions of the lake and homes were fine, but sometimes other descriptions and text ran on and on. I really hope the next book is better, because I did commit to reading that as an ARC as well before I'd even gotten into this one.

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

Murder at the Lakeside Library the first book in the new cozy series, “A Lakeside Library Mystery.” Rain is recently widowed, and she is having trouble getting through the grief and anger. Her husband had cheated on her while they were trying to have a baby just before he died, and she can’t deal with his death, work, and everything else. She sets off to hide out at her family’s lakeside cabin and library in Wisconsin. She reconnects with her childhood friend, Julia, immediately, and some of the older neighbors. But unexpectedly comes across a body near the old outhouse on her first day.

The few characters that are in this book are interesting but have room for much-needed growth. The location of a lakeside cabin that also has a library open to the public sounds lovely. The victim is known in the town of Lofty Pines but not well-liked. He has secrets, and small towns are famous for not allowing people to keep secrets for very long. Rain and Julia decide it is up to them to solve the murder, even though Julia’s brother is in charge of the investigation. There is a fair amount of action throughout the story, twists and turns, and suspects with motives. They do uncover the killer but almost get themselves hurt in the process.

In general, I found this book filled with too much introspection, with not enough background to tell the reader who the characters are or what part they will play in future books. Rain seems to be a bit immature in her way of looking at life, and her difficulties stem a great deal from her inability to express her feelings and learn to handle her issues. The investigation was minimal as far as the police side; why wouldn’t the cabin and library, and even the lake surrounding Rain’s property be sealed off until the police finished their investigation? The killer just didn’t work for me or the motive. I did not like that this story set up a possible love interest for Rain, which is far too soon in the series or with the character’s initial situation.

The lakeside location and library are great for this first book, and there is a town, but it isn’t described in enough detail to make any buildings or businesses stand out or add intrigue for future volumes, and using the library and the lake as the focus makes you wonder where the author can go with such a limited setting. Murder at the Lakeside Library is not a terrible start for a new series, and it has potential, but it will need to grow considerably in the next volume to keep readers interested.

This is a first in a series cozy mystery. Rain has returned to her family’s lake home to recover from the death of her husband. Unfortunately on the first day, a body is found on her property. And to top it off, the rumor mill says he was having an affair with Rain’s mother. Rain’s old friend and pink-haired neighbor Julia is on the scene and is great moral support.

I enjoyed the book and would have enjoyed it more if it was more concise. But it’s the great start to a series with a perfect location.

Nice cozy mystery! This is a new-to-me author and the start of a brand new series. I thought it was a promising start. Sometimes the first books in the series aren't my favorite because there's so many characters to introduce and backstory to fill in. I still found it entertaining and look forward to reading more in this series.

I received this book from the publisher through Netgalley for review and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Series debut starts off with a bang. Rain has returned to her family cottage in Wisconsin after the untimely loss of her husband. Hoping for some peace and quiet to grieve, she is quickly caught up in the details of the lakeside library her parents ran that is attached to the cottage proper. When local real estate buyer, Thornton Hughes, is found in the property and fingers pointing at her parents, who are conspicuously absent this summer, Rain tries to piece together the clues. Book mysteries are always delightful. Rain is a well developed character and one I hope to read more about in the future. The storyline holds you clue after clue. Great summer reading!!

Murder At the Lakeside Library
By Holly Danvers

Summer is the perfect time to curl up in a comfy chair with a cold beverage and a cozy mystery. Murder At the Lakeside Library is a great summer read and checks off all of the boxes for a successful cozy mystery without being formulaic.

The main ingredients for a cozy mystery are an intelligent, intuitive amateur sleuth in a small town or village. Rain Wilmont packs up her belongings and moves into her parents’ cabin in Lofty Pines, Wisconsin, hoping for some time alone to grieve after her husband’s sudden death. Right after her arrival, she is greeted by her old friend Julia, who was preparing to reopen the lending library attached to Rain’s cabin. Rain’s hopes for alone time evaporate when a dead body is found near the outhouse on her family’s property.

Typically, a cozy mystery includes a friend or relative who has access to police reports, autopsies, and other official documents an amateur sleuth would be able to access on her own. Danvers does not disappoint when she introduces Julia’s brother Jace, a police officer who looks like Brad Pitt with shorter hair. Jace would prefer that Rain and Julia stay out of danger but does what he can to keep them safe.

Murder At the Lakeside Library is fun summer reading that welcome the reader to a lovely lake, fun characters, and an appealing mystery. This is the first book in Holly Danvers’ Lakeside Library mysteries, and I’m looking forward to the next one.

This is a nice introduction to a new series. The standard features for a cosy are all there - young, widowed woman returns to the small town where she grew up, falls over a dead body, develops a relationship with a local policeman and proceeds to investigate the murder herself.

The mystery is interesting, the characters attractive and the setting is beautiful. There is also a library involved which is always a good thing. I enjoyed Rain's friendship with Julia and her developing relationship with Jace. These things all add up to the possibility of good things in the future. I have already signed up for the next book.

Rain returns to her family's lakeside cottage which is located 4 hours north of Milwaukee. Rain has recently become a widow. Upon her arrival, Julia, a childhood friend and neighbor pushes Rain to hold the scheduled library meeting that evening.

Just before the meeting is to begin, a dog find the body near the outhouse. Finding out who the victim is, why the victim was killed and who killed him becomes the scope of this book.

We are introduced to characters that will be returning in the next book along those germane to this story.
I found this a well-plotted story with a few twists thrown in. This was a solid first in the series. I am looking forward to the next in the series.

I was given a digital arc provided by NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books. I am not required to leave a positive review. I chose to do so.

A nice start, albeit a tad trope-y, to a new series. Rain' husband has recently been killed in an accident and she's in need of some space so she heads to the family cabin in Lofty Pines, Wisconsin. She isn't expecting to run the community summer library as her mother Willow usually does and she surely isn't expecting to have to investigate the murder of Thornton Hughes, a real estate agent who is alleged to be having an affair with Willow. Luckily, her old BFF Julia is still around and the two of them bond over the case. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. There are a few twists, Julia's brother Jace is a.police officer (and potential love interest) and all in all, it's a pleasant read for fans of the genre.

(3.5 stars, rounded up)

After the unexpected death of her husband, with whom she had a somewhat rocky relationship, Rain returns to her family's waterfront cabin in Wisconsin. Intending to spend the summer there relaxing and regrouping, she quickly realizes that the residents of this small community expect her to open and run the informal library that her mother used to run. When a man is found murdered on the property and Rain's parents seem to be at the top of the list of suspects, she takes it upon herself to solve the case.

This is the first book in a new series, and it appears to be the author's debut novel. That was a surprise, since I found it to be much better than most author debuts, and better than many of the first-in-a-series books I've read over the years. There were a handful of little things that bothered me about the book, and I hope the author addresses those in subsequent books.

The setting sounds like an ideal place to spend a summer – on a lake in a somewhat remote area with friends living nearby, and a library whose collection includes some of your grandfather's books. I would love to spend a week or two (or more!) there, but only in the summer; Wisconsin winters can be harsh 😊 The characters in this story include a wide array of circumstances and backgrounds, although it did seem a little convenient that Rain knew most of them from when she grew up in the area, so she didn't have much of the getting-to-know-you thing to deal with. The mystery was well written, and although there weren't many serious suspects, I was taken totally by surprise by the identity of the killer, and I would never have guessed the motive at all. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.

New author for me and what a wonderful series. Looking forward to more books from this author. I highly recommend this author and her books

This cozy mystery is author Holly Danvers novel that takes place lakeside in Wisconsin. It is atmospheric and draws in the reader so that you feel you are a 'laker' (Lakers are people who grew up and reside in Lofty Pines). Good character development, love our main character and her friend Rain and Julia, easy to follow, very enjoyable. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review. 4 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for kindly providing me with a digital copy of this book for review.
This is the first book in a brand new cozy mystery series, which instantly caught my eye with the word library in the title. I’m sure I’m not the only bookworm that this instantly appealed to!
This book does a good job of establishing our main character Rain and her backstory. This is a tried and tested storyline of someone returning back to their home town to help them recover from a trauma, in this case, the death of Rain’s husband. The relationship with Rain’s best friend is nicely written and that is something that I’d be interesting to see grow and develop in future books. And it’s not usually a cozy mystery without the possibility of some romance in the air, and of course this is the case here.
I enjoyed the mystery although I did find it a bit of a slow start, although this is quite often the case in brand new series where many things have to be set up and explained. The end was full of twists though and I think it was a rewarding ending. I would be interested in reading the future books in the series.

I was excited about a cozy mystery set around a lakeside cabin library in Wisconsin. Unfortunately I really didn’t connect with Rain or any of the secondary characters. And I felt that the beginning of the book suffered from too much description and dialogue which slowed down the pace of the story. However, the last quarter of the book was more focused on the action of solving the crime and really moved. And Rain seems to have had a shift in attitude at the end of the book which should make her a stronger character in the second book in the series.

Rain has recently lost her husband in a motorcycle accident and travels to her family's northern Wisconsin lake home to make a fresh start. She reconnects with a childhood friend and learns that her family's library is hers to manage for the summer. That surprise, combined with the appearance of a dead body, complicate her return to a place with many childhood memories. This is a typical cozy mystery with typical characters and a relatively decent plot. There were enough red herrings to not spoil the ending. Having grown up near a lake in Minnesota, this brought back lots of similar memories and I enjoyed that!

A great beginning to what I believe is going to be a very fun series.


Rain is at a very low point in her life. Recently widowed and dealing with issues that cause a tremendous amount of mental and emotional strain. Returning to her family's lakeside cabin should be a place where she can come to a sense of peace with what has happened to her. Her return finds her bombarded with childhood friends and other members of the community. The reason is double fold not only wanting to see here but pushing for the opening of their little community library. A little overwhelmed and a bit out of sorts, Rain reluctantly agrees to begin the process of opening the library. however things just keep seem to be happening to her because as talk of opening the library begins they find a body up on the property. Rain’s world is shaken a bit more when town gossip gets the best of her.


Murder at the Lakeside Library is a great beginning to what I’m sure is going to an entertaining series. Rain Wilmont is pretty complex for a cozy character but that made me like her. She is all tied up in her head but wants to do what is right. Julia jumps right in with Rain like they have never missed a moment of time together. They become very much ride or die friends by the end of the story. Jace and Rain have some very nice moments together. As for the mystery, it kept me on my toes. Rain’s attention to detail is one of the things that help work this mystery along. I would have liked a little more attention on the actual library connected to the cabin however this has been a crate set up for the series. I hope that we will get inside that treasure a little more as we progress.

Murder at the Lakeside Library is good mystery with some laugh out loud moments. I’m very much looking forward to what Ms. Danvers has in store for this series.

Sometimes I seem to get caught up in reading one genre or another and my reading tends to slow down. That's when I know it is time for a genre jump. Lately I've been entwined in YA fantasy forensic crime mysteries for almost two months straight, I definitely needed a break, and I was falling behind on my ARC stack. With it being the end of June, the weather warm and muggy and Thunderstorms all week, I decided the best way to go was with a cozy murder mystery, and Holly Danvers' new Lakeside Library Series is debuting in July. I was lucky enough to gain an advance copy the debut first book Murder at the Lakeside Library from Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley, so I thought, this is perfect (thanks for the copy!) What better way to spend a couple rainy summer days then curled up with a lakeside mystery.
When Rain returns to her family's lakeside cabin after the death of her husband, all she wants is solitude and maybe the memories of her childhood. She doesn't expect to take up all the duties of her mother and their informal community library upon her arrival, and she didn't expect to be bombarded by all the people from her childhood. What she didn't expect the most was the dead body in her backyard alongside a treasured book her grandfather wrote. With rumors spreading that Rain's mother was having an affair with the victim, Rain and her childhood best friend, Julia, become amateur sleuths to try and solve the case and clear Rain's parents from the crime.
This book was everything you would expect out of a cozy mystery. It had a made-for Hallmark cast of characters, a double mystery (one that really took me by surprise, but in a good, heart-warming way), and in the end you got all the answers while still leaving the character arcs open for more. At first I felt the dialogue was a little forced and awkward, it just didn't flow naturally, but as you get into the story, you start to figure out that it's just the quirkiness of the characters and the awkwardness of trying to pick up where you left off as kids. I was skeptical of Julia for the first few chapters, she is very forward and in your face in a way that is almost suspicious, but it turns out she's just an overly involved high school teacher trying to rekindle a childhood friendship and my suspicions were for nothing.
Just like with all good mysteries, it's hard to write a thorough review without spoiling it, so I'm not going to say much more other than I could not put this book down. It had twists I didn't see coming, and the ending was actually pretty action packed.There were times when tragic past circumstances were super heartbreaking, but there was also a fun casualness to the book that really made me miss Lakeside vacations and the friendships formed in those small little communities. There was even a little spark that I’m hoping buds into a romance between the main character and her best friend's cute older brother (who also happens to be the town police officer). This book had all the summer lake house vibes. It’s a perfect quick read for any weekend lakeside. I can't wait until February 2022 when the next installment, Long Overdue at the Lakeside Library, releases!