This is a very good addition to this series! The setting is beautifully described and the lighthouse library is so unique. The characters have become like old friends and it’s a pleasure to visit them again to see what new mystery is to be solved. The mystery itself is well written and offers multiple suspects to examine. An enjoyable read!

The Lighthouse Library Mystery series is one of my favorites, and this 10th installment didn't disappoint. Lucy and Connor are finally married, but not a day passes before one of the guests goes missing and another is found strangled in a closet at the reception venue. We are treated to many scenes of the lovely Outer Banks setting and fun with relatives and friends as Lucy tries to find the killer. This series has made the Outer Banks a destination I plan to visit, and I'm looking forward to what comes next in the series! Thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the advance digital copy!

This is book 10 in series and enjoyable in that we finally get THE wedding! But because it's Lucy, there has to be a dead body somewhere! LOL In a twist, it's related to the wedding guests, but in a proxy way, but it still keeps everyone in town longer, and involved with Lucy trying to solve what happened. It's an interesting look at family dynamics and a cozy mytery, all rolled up into one, and an enjoable entry into the series, perfect for new and oldfans alike.

This is the tenth in the Lighthouse Library Mystery series. At the beginning of the story, Lucy and Connor have their wedding. The next morning, Lucy is present when the housekeeper at the hotel finds her aunt’s plus one dead in a storage/cleaning closet. We also discover Bertie’s plus one is missing. Are these incidents related?

The police and Lucy are investigating. Lucy is mostly trying to locate Eddie to ease Bertie’s distress.

I like the series and this story. The characters care about each other and try to support one another. We learn secrets about both men that their significant other’s did not know.

I suspected the killer and was glad that he/she would not be continuing in the series. I look forward to the next installment. I was given an advanced reader’s copy and am not required to leave a positive review.

I had a great time attending Lucy and Conner’s wedding. This is a great cozy mystery series what could be more fun that a series with a librarian and a library in a light house. The addition of the book club is always a fun way to find new books to read. The characters are relatable and realistic. The mystery is full of surprises to keep you guessing. The killer was not someone I suspected. I recommend this book to cozy mystery fans.

All thoughts and opinions are my own, and I have not been influenced by anyone.

Loved this latest entry in the series! Glad to get a peek into the wedding, catch-up a bit with the family, and have a fun mystery to solve. Very zippy with plenty of red herrings.

I do like this series. The idea of a library in the lighthouse is entertaining. The cast of characters are interesting. A murder on your wedding day would be memorable for sure. Lucy can't help herself..she must try and figure out why and by whom. I liked the story.

"Lucy and Connor planned for the perfect Outer Banks wedding—and that’s exactly what they got. Aside from typical rumblings of familial tensions, the late spring weather allowed for a beautiful day, the food was delicious, and everyone had a good time, until one of the guests goes missing."
This is a good mystery.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion of this book which I read and reviewed voluntarily.

A wedding , drama with the sister in law and her new boyfriend and then a murder what else could go wrong at her wedding. The honeymoon is delayed for a month so what else is a girl to do except investigate the murder at her wedding. This was a really fun read I loved the light house and the library and I did not know who the killer was until the end.

I love the Lighthouse Library series so was delighted when NetGalley gave me access to the e-ARC for the tenth book set around the Bodie Lighthouse into which Eva Gates has craftily shoe-horned her fictitious library.

The eponymous Wedding Bells in the title are those of librarian sleuth Lucy Richardson, who becomes Lucy McNeil as she marries long-time sweetheart and town mayor Connor McNeil. This brings lots of out-of-towners to the Outer Banks as the Richardson family visit from Boston and New York. And one of the guests is the subject of the Death Knells in the title …

One of the things that I love about cosy crime is that it is far more forgiving than grittier sub-genres. Just as we are happy to imagine an entire library with staff offices and meeting rooms as well as wide-ranging stock inside the lighthouse, we are happy to imagine Charles the library cat attacking the bad guy and to accept that otherwise street-smart Lucy should return home to an empty house after running into the murderer.

Of course we are. We don’t come to Eva Gates’s version of the Outer Banks for a dose of reality. We come to solve a mystery in the age-old tradition of Sherlock Holmes or, most appropriately here, his predecessor Auguste Dupin.

Another joy of the series is that each book includes a book club scene in which the library patrons discuss a classic novel which always has a relationship to the main action of the current crime. In this one it’s The Murder in the Rue Morgue, the Poe story in which we first meet Dupin.

As usual, Lucy solves the crime and the criminal is brought to justice by Detective Sam Watson (hat-tip by Gates to Conan Doyle).

All in all, another great instalment of this favourite series. Now I cannot wait for book 11!

The latest book in the Bodie Lighthouse series did not disappoint. Lucy and Connor have just gotten married and the next day discover the body of one of their wedding guests.

Like in the other books, Lucy can't help but investigate this death. There are less scenes in the library but the few that are were very entertaining.

I figured out the murderer early in the book, but it was still an entertaining read. I would definitely recommend this book and this series.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Lucy and Connor planned for the perfect Outer Banks wedding—and that’s exactly what they got. Aside from typical rumblings of familial tensions, the late spring weather allowed for a beautiful day, the food was delicious, and everyone had a good time, until one of the guests goes missing. Before Lucy can look forward to the rest of her life in Nags Head and the work she does at the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library, she gets a phone call from her boss, Bertie James. Eddie, Bertie’s friend, never made it back home after the reception. Initially, Lucy doesn’t think anything of it—sometimes wedding guests simply have a little too much fun and Eddie was the epitomy of the "absent minded professor". However, this quickly turns to something more when she discovers the body of a wedding guest strangled in a locked closet, and the police immediately start asking questions about Eddie. Lucy must figure out if the two are connected before it’s too late—both for Bertie’s friend and the rest of her wedding guests.

This is the 10th installment of this series, and I have read each one and loved them. The author always keeps the stories fresh, and describes the lighthouse library with such detail that I can picture it in my mind as I am reading. The author continues to develop the characters with each new installment. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting my request to read the newest in a series I love.

I love Eva Gates’ Lighthouse Library series. This is number ten, and the reader finds themselves at the wedding reception of our amateur sleuth Lucy Richardson, now McNeil, and Connor. It appears that everything is going well until Lucy overhears a worrying conversation, but only recognizes one of the voices, her Aunt Joyce’s date Wayne. The next morning Bertie James, Lucy’s boss, calls to ask her if she saw Bertie’s date Eddie. At the family breakfast at the hotel, Wayne’s body is discovered. With one guest missing and another dead, Lucy becomes worried about her friends and family, and what an investigation might uncover.

There were two things that threw me off right away. One was the ending of the wedding. I was hoping that the reader would get to experience it more, because I felt that it would be a great introduction to the rest of Lucy’s family. In this case, we get what felt like snapshots of two of her brothers and their wives. The third brother is given a little more attention, but it still felt like an overview. There was no in-depth conversation, nothing to indicate familial feelings whether negatively or positively.

The other was that Josie and Jake had their baby. Wasn’t this just announced in book nine? So, there is a major timeline job from book nine to book ten with limited to no mention of anything happening in between. I’m not saying we need a day-by-day playback, but there doesn’t appear to have been a fallout from the last novel’s ending.

The mystery and investigation were well written as was the original round of suspicions. However, I did find the solution to be far-fetched, because what are the odds? I honestly wanted more in that department. A couple of my pet peeves were instigated with this novel, which is unusual as Eva Gates writes the characters as calmer and smarter.

Overall, I rate this novel 3 out of 5 stars.

I absolutely love this series and have watched Lucy and Conner's relationship grow throughout the series. They finally get married and have a great wedding with perfect weather and lots of friends and family helping them celebrate.. The next morning Lucy finds the dead body of the man who was her Aunt Joyce's plus one. Now some of the guest are murder suspects and on top of the list is her boss, Bertie's, friend, Eddie. Can Lucy help clear Eddie's name before it's too late?

Death Knells & Wedding Bells (Lighthouse Library 10)
Eva Gates


We return to Nags Head in the Outer Banks of North Carolina for Lucy and Connors’ wedding!

Ocean Side Hotel, the premier venue is hosting the event. As you know with Lucy’s mom in charge and Josie baking, it’s going to be amazing! Kristen, Kevin’s soon to be ex-wife, makes a mild spectacle of herself. Sadly, she isn’t the only one miss behaving. Our murder victim also ticks off quite a few people before his demise! Plus we have Ms. Gloria, returning for the wedding.

The Bodie Island book club voted before the wedding to read a classic Poe tale, Detective North, surprises the group with an appearance. The day after the meeting Kevin comes to say goodbye only to end up in an altercation with Kristen’s “new” beau! At this point, the story picks up the pace, slightly.

I figured out the murder about halfway through the mystery. So, not quite as compelling as Death by Beach Read. It was still a fun and interesting read because while I knew who did it I couldn’t discern why or how the victim and murderer came into contact!

Overall, I would recommend this book to any mystery reader of any age. 4****
Clean well written mystery!





Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC.

This is the first book in the Lighthouse Library Series I have read and I like it. Overall it's a clever and good book definitely a cozy mystery in my opinion. There are so many characters in the book which makes this a great whodunit story. It's not as fast-paced as I would have liked, but the story moves and it's fun putting the pieces together to catch the killer, It was a good book to just relax and read. Definitely could see myself reading it in the spring or fall. I recommend it to fans of cozy mystery books.

Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read and review this book. The book will be available on June 6th, 2023

Death Knells and Wedding Bells by Eva Gates is book #10 in the Lighthouse Library Mystery series. It was a beautiful wedding. It's the day after the wedding when problems ensue. Librarian Lucy Richardson marries Conner McNeil. A wedding guest gets murdered. No way is Lucy not going to try to help solve the murder. I really like Lucy. She is fast thinking and good at puzzling things out. I really like all the characters in this book. Well the good guys! There's quite a trail of clues that Lucy follows. It was fun reading along as Lucy figures out the killer. I look forward to the next book in the series.

At long last, Connor and Lucy’s wedding day has arrived. There are a few minor snags - most notably that Lucy’s soon to be ex-sister-in-law unexpectedly shows up bringing with her a man who may or may not be a paid escort - and then fails miserably in her quest to make Lucy’s brother jealous. And then there’s Lucy’s “free-spirited” Aunt Joyce and her date, Wayne Fortunada, a enigmatic and aloof man whom Lucy overhears making what sounds like a veiled threat to another wedding guest and is the next day found dead.

The morning after the wedding, Lucy’s friend Bertie tells Lucy that her friend Eddie, who was her plus-one at the wedding, has gone missing after failing to return to Bertie’s house the night before after he returned to the hotel where the reception had been held, claiming he had accidentally left his tie there.

The only thing known for sure is that both Fortunada the victim and the unknown suspect were at the hotel at the time of the wedding. Enter Detective Sam Watson, who had also been a guest at the wedding and is now investigating Fortunada’s murder. Detective Watson is joined by Detective Kyle North, who has recently been hired by the local police department and may or may not be harboring secrets of his own.

Suspects abound and Lucy can’t help inserting herself into the middle of the investigation to do some sleuthing herself, despite her ever-patient husband Connor’s concerns about her safety in doing so. In the end, Lucy figures out who killed Wayne Fortunada and what the motive was for killing him and ends up targeted by the killer herself.

This is the tenth book in the Lighthouse Library Mystery series. It’s a series that just keeps getting better and better. I very much enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading the next one in the series.

The wedding day has finally arrived for Lucy and Connor. Family and friends gather to celebrate the union. After the church service everyone celebrates at the Ocean Side Hotel and has a wonderful time. Well, almost everyone - Lucy's soon-to-be ex- sister-in-law is in attendance with an eye to causing trouble. Flamboyant Aunt Joyce is wondering why her escort, Wayne who was charming and friendly the night before at the rehearsal dinner has turned into a rude, morose wedding guest.
When Wayne's body is found in a hotel utility room the morning after the wedding police begin questioning the wedding guests. Bertie's friend, Eddie is nowhere to be found and jumps to the top of the suspect list. Could the gentle professor be a killer? How could he be connected to Wayne?
Newly married Lucy runs her own investigation much to the displeasure of the new hot shot detective. Once again Lucy finds connections and a killer. Once again she finds herself in a dangerous situation.
This is the tenth in the series and all the usual characters show up including Charlie the cat who plays a key role.
Despite figuring out the killer early on, I enjoyed this latest romp with old friends.
Thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane for the opportunity to read this advanced copy.

This is the 10th book in the Lighthouse Library Mystery series. This has been one of my favorite cozy series, and I enjoyed this new volume as well. This story dragged a little more in the middle for me. I also felt pretty neutral about the wedding since Connor is constantly disappointing me. If he loves Lucy he should support her with the crafty sleuthing he has to know she’ll do even when he tells her to leave it to the police. I thought this was an interesting mystery and while my hunch was right I am not totally sold on the motivation of the killer. Lucy and Connor have finally gotten married and this book starts at their reception dinner. There is lots of family drama but Lucy and Connor are having a great time anyway. Of course the next morning a body is found and of course Lucy has thoughts about why one of her wedding guests (although one she didn’t really know, a plus one) had been murdered. Overall I gave this 4,5 stars which I rounded up because of Charles the library cat.