3.5 stars

Cozy in the true sense. The library, the characters, the relationships, and, of course, Charles, all deliver. The mystery is engaging and contemporary. Gates got me with a red herring, and I was genuinely surprised by the reveal, even if I shouldn’t have been. It was all in fair play.

I received an advance review copy of this title from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This mystery is so cleverly plotted and executed.
And with the well-developed characters I was eagerly turning the pages. The character development is on point.. the way the story unravels is effortlessly gripping.
I loved the plot, story, characters and writing and the whole set up and idea of it was just so clever. I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a murder mystery this much and I’m honestly incredibly excited to read what else this author will produce.

Shot Through the Book by Eva Gates has Lucy with an unusual mystery on her hands. I enjoy my visits to Bodie Island where I get to catch up with Lucy, Connor, and the library crew. Let us not forget Charles who is a great judge of character. I like the author’s writing style which makes the story easy to read. The mystery begins in the first chapter. Lucy, naturally, finds herself drawn into the crime. Unfortunately, a speed bump in the form of the victim’s wife put up a roadblock between the police department and Lucy. Lucy cannot help it if information comes her way and this information may lead her to ask a few questions. I liked the unique murder weapon. The victim’s wife and his fan club make life difficult for the mayor and wife until the case is resolved. The mystery has a good wrap up at the end. I had guessed what was going to be revealed at the end, but I still enjoyed the moment the news was announced. While Shot Through the Book is the twelfth A Lighthouse Library Mystery, it can be read on its own. It is Through sad that our favorite detective is retiring, and his replacement does not seem open to working with Lucy. Changes are ahead and I cannot wait to see what happens next. Shot Through the Book transports readers to the Outer Banks where there is a peculiar murder, dramatic teens, a mudslinging spouse, a problem with the police, naughty trespassers, unsettling tittle-tattle, and a surprise revelation.

Another great mystery in the A Lighthouse Library Mystery series. Lucy has become one of my favorite sleuths. She gives me a slight Nancy Drew vibes. And I love reading about a library in a lighthouse

I received a copy of this book from the author as part of a blog tour I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.

This is an example of a good cozy mystery. It has a great setting, and an engaging cast of characters. The mystery was strong, and kept me guessing up until the end.

Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book and read it in one day. I had to know what was going to happen! I loved the characters and the storyline. I thought the characters had great growth. I would definitely recommend this book.

Shot through the Book is the twelfth cozy mystery in the Lighthouse Library Mystery series. Todd Harrison, bestselling YA fantasy author, is set to be a speaker at the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library’s literary festival, but when he turns up murdered Lucy McNeil is pulled into the search for answers. Why was Todd visiting Lucy and who killed him on her de k? There are too many questions and not enough answers. Lucy is trying to stay out of it this time, but it doesn’t work. Even when she’s not searching for clues she ends up right in the thick of things.

I really enjoy this series and like visiting Lucy and her friends in each new mystery. This mystery pulled me in and kept my attention as I followed along as Lucy solved the case. I was guessing at the killer until the very end and enjoyed the twists and turns. The cast of characters and the setting in this series are great and add a lot to the story. This is a great cozy mystery series and I can’t wait to see what comes next for Lucy!

SHOT THROUGH THE BOOK is the twelfth book in the Lighthouse Library Mysteries by Eva Gates. It’s always a pleasure visiting the Outer Banks and catching up with protagonist Lucy McNeil and her friends at the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library. The author makes the locale so inviting that it’s hard to not pack a suitcase and head out for a visit right away. Lucy is also one of those endearing characters you’d love to spend time with and experience her kindness and open friendliness, which is on full display.

In this newest release the action and shocking murder takes place right away, happening mere steps from Lucy’s kitchen, where she was preparing drinks. Was it an accident that killed the best-selling YA author, or had someone been stalking him and followed him to Lucy’s house? There are lots of suspects along with red herrings to lead the reader astray. Ms. Gates knows how to spin a twisty mystery to entertain while keeping readers coming back for the delightful characters!

I was provided with an advance copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Shot Through the Book is the twelfth entry in the Lighthouse Library Mystery series. In Shot Through the Book, Lucy, the main character, investigates the death of an YA author that took place on the deck of her house. Once again, things are not always as they appear to be, and there are surprising and interesting elements to be found in the investigation. Familiar characters from the series are present in Shot Through the Book, which is great in terms of side stories progress. There is also nice character development, which helps keeping the reader interested throughout both the book and the series. The Lighthouse Library Mystery series has never disappointed me. It keeps getting better, and it's always a pleasure to read the latest book.

Shot Through the Book by Eva Gates is a cozy mystery taking place on the Outer Banks. The lead sleuth is Lucy, a young librarian who has recently married a dentist, who is also mayor of the small town. The library is unique in that it is housed in what used to be a light house. The staff is busy planning a young adult authors’ festival and she is meeting the draw, Todd Harrison, for the first time, but barely speaks to him. He appears at her house at nine o’clock that evening but before he can tell her the reason he is shot through the heart by an arrow. Connor, her husband, arrived home to police cars with lights blazing. This was compounded by his widow visiting the next evening with a photographer and some accusations. Turns out she was running for state senate and was hoping to find some corruption in the local police department. It was a curious investigation with groups of teens haunting her house with candles in their attempts to show respect to their dead idol.

Lucy is a good characters. She vows to stay away from this investigation, for several reasons, but it came to her. She just has a knack for seeing solutions. The solution came out of the blue, even for Lucy, but she was just glad to get back to normal. This is a terrific series, the perfect cozy with Charles, the library cat, and the general population and adjacent cast. Good read.

I was invited to read Shot Through the Book by Crooked Lane Books. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #CrookedLaneBooks #EvaGates #ShotThroughTheBook

I think this is the best one in the series yet, especially for giving you the feels, although not necessarily positive ones.

When a popular YA author stops to visit Lucy McNeil and is murdered on her balcony, his fans rally and become a bother to her and her husband. While they insist they are paying tribute, in the form of mourning in the book series, Lucy is at the very nearly end of her patience. Unfortunately, the author's widow has political ambitions and is now stirring up trouble in the small town of Nags Head, both for the local police and for Lucy herself. Lucy really wants to stay out of it this time but the investigation pieces keep coming, sometimes literally, to her and she just wants her life to go back to normal.

It is rare to really despise a character, since often they are words on a page with some depth. However, Heather, the author's widow, is a terrible, cruel human being. I have not been so infuriated by a villain in a long time. I found myself actually yelling at the book at one point at how unreasonable she is. ARGH!

The plot here is top notch. I read a lot of cozies and I rarely get stumped with the whodunit. I see those that fail me as the best kind. What a rush.

I highly recommend this cozy series if you love books, mysteries, lighthouses or any other books by Ms. Delaney.

My thanks to Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley for this ARC.

I never thought I’d see the day when Louise Jane’s character actually didn’t get on my nerves. In some ways, she’s pretty helpful and fiercely loyal to Lucy and the library. I guess all it took was Lucy getting married so Louise Jane could live in the lighthouse apartment and work there.

One of the characters who’s always been on the sidelines with a few mentions actually got a bigger part in this book during the showdown that Lucy never saw coming. Someone else did a good job controlling the perp and was gonna have one crazy story to tell friends after it was over. There’d been a little side thing going on all along which I totally guessed. A few things happened toward the end of the book that really makes me eager to read the next book!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by Crooked Lane via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own.

This is the twelfth installment of the Lighthouse Library mystery series by Eva Gates. I liked the book except for Lucy allows the widow to badger her. I felt Lucy should have stood up for herself. No amount of grief excused the widows’ remarks.

I felt the fan club was over the top but unfortunately, it happens in real life. Some people don’t know boundaries and they can make others uneasy.

I found the reveal interesting. I recommend this book and it can be read as a standalone.

I received an advanced reader copy from Netgalley and these are my own opinions.

Welcome back to the OBX with Lucy and all the Lighthouse Library folks, Love this series, with all its quirky characters and a wonderful cozy mystery with a few surprised thrown in to keep the reader guessing. I didn't figuire it out till the reveal. A great vacation read.

When an author is murdered on Lucy‘s deck, she’s left, wondering who killed the man and why as well as what he wanted to talk to her about in the first place. Can she figure out either of them or will she be the murderer’s next target?

This is a really great series. From the location, to the cute kitty, to the solid mystery and every entry it just makes it a series that is on my must-read list. If you haven’t read a book in the series, each one reads fine as a standalone, but knowing that you’ll have a large selection of books to go back and binge on? That’s the best part!

Shot Through the Book is the twelfth book in the lighthouse library mystery series & focuses on librarian Lucy McNeil who finds herself in the center of yet another murder. Todd Harrison is the local YA author set to be the headliner for an upcoming festival when he ends up dead on Lucy’s deck. Todd’s death sets off a chain of crazy events that threaten Lucy’s day to day life & even her friendship with the local detective, Sam Watson. This series is my absolute favorite cozy mystery. I never get tired of the eccentric cast of characters & seeing how their lives play out. Some of the events in this book had my jaw on the floor. There is no way I’d be as kind as Lucy in some of these situations. It’s a fun read though & I really hope this series continues for a long time because I absolutely love all of it.
Thank you to NetGalley & Crooked Lane Books for the advance copy.

No matter how much Lucy tries to stay out of local investigations, always seems to happen to drawn her in. Like finding a body on her own back porch. Lucy will have her work cut out for her trying to solve this one.

I enjoy this series so much. Great characters and plenty of twists and turns and interesting investigations by Lucy and her crew. There's also a few surprises at the end...
Highly recommend!

Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor or expectation.

First, I need to confess that I love murder novels—both thrillers and cozy mysteries. Long sagas too, where character development is so important and the connection to them is an evolving, lasting sentiment.

That being said, I admit that this is the first time I heard of this saga and the first of its novels that I read. It's the 12th installment, so I felt a bit lost—not much, it explains who everyone is and also a tiny bit about previous books' connections and a hint of their plots. However, I couldn't help but feel that there was much to be liked about some characters because of prior relationships that I should but didn't care about. I kind of felt out—a bit between wanting to read those previous books to know what happened and being upset because it made me feel left out

About the murder plot, I liked it, it took me a while to know who the killer was going to be. It's well-woven and interesting. But most of all, I enjoyed the cozy moments: the glass of wine on the deck, observing the sea. Those moments that didn't carry previous books' luggage made me feel at peace.

Even having not read the rest of the saga, I loved the idea that Lucy was separated from her police contacts and had to work on her own, she didn't have official resources and had to find other ways to get information (I don't know how it happened in other books, but I liked that in this one).

Character development is quite flat in this installment, though, as I said before, because, I think, it relies too much on having read the previous stories first. I found Connor (the husband) extremely dull and unpleasant, not the good husband Lucy wanted to sell to us. As per the police, I sensed they did absolutely nothing (Watson is referred as a very good detective, but...). The only character I enjoyed was Heather—she is strong and her appearances are stressful; she is the one that gives the book the vibrant push it needs. She is a good antagonist and, as it's her first and only appearance, she's well described and well-developed as a character.

There are also many edit mistakes that need to be corrected, both in plot and in grammar.

Overall, it's OK as a cozy mystery but I would polish it some more in order to hook new readers so they'd read the rest of the saga.

The Bodie Island library is holding a YA book festival. Lucy is of course working on it, but YA isn’t her thing. She’s not familiar with the headliner. Much to her surprise when she ends the day at her newly remodeled beach house, the author shows up at her door only to be murdered on the deck while she’s fixing tea. Why was he there, who killed him, and how could Lucy be a suspect when she didn’t even know him?

Being back at the library is a welcome breath of fresh air. The great story and wonderful characters lend to an exciting summer beach read. #netgalley

Shot Through the Book is book #12 in the Lighthouse Library Mystery series by Eva Gates.

Lucy didn’t have to go far to find the latest body. An author unexpectedly shows up at her beach house. When she goes back outside from getting refreshments, he is dead which makes her a suspect. She tries to stay out of the investigation, but circumstances keep that from happening. I love the Outer Banks/Bodie Island Lighthouse setting. As much as I enjoy the mysteries, my favorite part is the characters and seeing how they grow throughout the series. I recommend this book.

Thank you to the author, Crooked Lane Books, and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.