I really enjoyed this book. I loved the small town setting and felt as though I could picture it exactly in my mind. The characters were very well developed and I really felt like I knew them. The murder mystery storyline was fantastic and very unpredictable and exciting, and the romance was a very nice subplot. The bookish aspect was perfect and I felt like it helped to add even more to this already great book. Would definitely recommend.

Unfortunately, this book did not grab my attention the way I hoped. DNF @ 22%


If you're looking for an easy book to pass an afternoon this is the book for you. Your average cozy mystery with no complicated plot loops or character trees to keep up with. Everything about it was average in every sense of the word.

***Thank you to Netgalley and Level Best Books for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. ***

This wasn't for me. But I am happy that I tried to read it before I decided to not finish it fully. This just wasn't for me.

Death Checked Out was my first experience reading a Cozy Mystery, and I enjoyed it very much. The town of Larkspur is painted very clearly and made into a very visual atmosphere with a lot of involved citizens. Greta and the girls were fun to meet, and the grumpy Detective McHenry grew on me as the story progressed. As a librarian myself it was fun to see their library being represented well and also their skills being used in an adventurous way. Overall a fun read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Level Best Books for providing me with an ARC of this title.

Death Checked Out is a cozy murder mystery set in the town of Larkspur, Wisconsin. When Greta the towns librarian finds the body of her neighbor she becomes the main suspect of a murder and she is determined to find out who did it and clear her name.

This was such a fun read.  I was happy to see that this is the first book in a series. This was the first book I read by this author and I enjoyed it so much I will definitely check out her other books.

This one didnt’t work for me! Thank you to the author and publisher for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

It's been a long time since I've read a small-town cozy mystery. This was delightful. Each character in the town, and the town itself, was well-drawn and I appreciated the main character didn't bumble into clues or the solution. When I saw the Dobrinska listed as the author of the Larkspur Library Mysteries I thought this one might be futher into the series, as it didn't seem like a first effort.

Death Checked Out was a good start to a new series. With a cozy setting and likable characters, it was an easy read.

•small town Mystery
•new in town
•best friend trio
•library setting

The novel started out well. I enjoyed the overall atmosphere, typical of the cozy mystery genre. Unfortunately, the plot wasn't solid enough for me to remain engaged and interested. My attention quickly dwindled.

In a quite town, librarians turned to being part-time investigators for the sake of the town's peace and quiet. This was a cozy mystery book just like I expected—a welcome stress-free time for me.

Gretel is the head librarian for a small town library in Wisconsin. She has two full time employees who are also her best friends, having recently moved to the town. When she finds her neighbor, a somewhat reclusive man who collected books, murdered, she becomes a suspect. This causes her to begin an investigation to learn the real killer's identity. Though I found a few somewhat unbelievable aspects to the plot (e.g., small towns this size would be lucky to have one paid employee, so three seems a bit unrealistic), it was an interesting read. It was pretty easy to figure out the killer, but I did like the interactions between Gretel and the town's new police detective. I suspect we'll be seeing more of that in the next book in the series. Overall, a good read.

Thank you NetGalley and Level Best Books for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I will be recommending this one but I have to say that it wasn't my favorite. However, I say I will still be recommending because I think I didn't love it because I went in thinking that it would be a cozy mystery and it wasn't at all. I did think it was an interesting story and the character development pacing was well done.

A perfect quick read of a small town cosy mystery. These seem to be everywhere at the minute. Keeps you gripped from the start and a fab way to spend a night guessing whodunnit

This is the first book in a cozy mystery series which is centered Larkspur Library and one plucky employee Greta. She finds a friend after they have been attacked and murdered and immediately becomes a suspect and she is not happy about this. So what does she do - she starts her own investigation pulling in her friends to help her. As she looks into this she finds herself in the crosshairs and at the center of the story.

The author has encapsulated the plucky Greta into someone that I would want to fight for me and even though some of the writing style was not for me I enjoyed this so much so that i will be picking up any more in the series.

Such a cute little whodunnit mystery. Very cozy; easy to curl up by the fire and lose track of time with this one. Annddd small town!!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the Arc of Death Checked Out.

For some reason I had a hard time getting into this book. The storyline isn’t that bad but I was just a little bored. The main character doesn’t do much other than go to her job at the library so that could be why I was a little bored. I wanted to see more of the town she was in. The main detective was also a little mean.
The writing was pretty good but the chapters would also end abruptly and I found it somewhat annoying.
I’m in the fence with this one. I wouldn’t mind reading the next in the series just to see if she does more things around the town.

This book was about a small town murder mystery. I enjoyed following along with the characters and figuring out who murdered the main characters neighbor. While I thought the book was good, I did think it was kind of predictable.

Greta Plank moves to Larkspur, Wisconsin to get away from her troubled past. Greta lives in a beautiful cabin on the lake front working her dream job as a librarian. That is until she finds a dead body and she is the main suspect. We follow Greta determined to clear her name and find the true murderer of Larkspur. While Greta has a determined bubbly personality, the new detective in town is not as warn hearted hearted and is focus on his job.

I could not put this book down. I was reading two books at once but quickly decided this masterpiece needed my full attention. The plot of the story was so intriguing. it really was a who done it story. There were so many potentials and yet I could not figure it out.it had just the right of suspense for being a cozy mystery read, there was no gore. The characters were really well written. Their personalities were shown well. The description left enough room for the imagination. This has become one of my comfort reads.

I really loved the premise and may reread it in the future but I wasn’t into this cozy mystery as it was a slower pace than what I’m used to and I felt myself not able to get into it until I got through quite a few pages each time.

We love a book setting with a library! Cannot get enough of bookish themed books for a start! This was an excellent cosy mystery and although I knew it was going be enjoyable I think I underestimated exactly how much I would love it. Greta was just adorable from the start and you really feel for her but add in wonderful characters like Josie and Iris and it just makes for the perfect cosy crime read.