Book, Line, and Sinker (A Library Lover's Mystery) (edition 2012)

What could be more fun than a treasure hunt? The citizens of Briar Creek are leery when a Treasure Hunter looking for Captain Kidd's lost loot come to their town and start dredging on the haunted island, but things get even scarier when one of their own residents is found dead at the site of the digging. Lindsey and Sully get caught in the foray when they try to help a friend. ( )

http://www.girllostinabook.com/2013/02/review-giveaway-book-line-and-sinker-by.h... ( )

The Library Lover's series just keeps getting better and better. I really enjoy the use of regional area, and this time, McKinlay dips into pirate lore to bring treasure maps and hunters to Briar Creek.The arrival of Lindsey's ex, John, was a bit much for me, but he played into the storyline just fine. Another fun read! Great characters and a mystery that kept me guessing until pretty much the end, what more could you ask for in a cozy? ( )

If I’m not spending time at my local library, the next best thing is reading a mystery with a library as the setting and with librarians as the main characters. Throw in a backdrop of the sea, a dashing sea captain, and an adorable dog, and you couldn’t possible ask anything more of a series. In this third installment in the Library Lover’s Mystery series, pirate fever – specifically for Captain Kidd’s long buried treasure – has struck the coastal town of Briar Creek. When a salvage company turns up with what may be Kidd’s original map and plans to excavate the island, tempers flare both for and against digging for buried treasure. Murder and mayhem are quick to surface and Lindsey finds herself in the middle of the dispute. What could possibly make it worse? How about a former fiancé who comes for an extended visit and a confused and somewhat jealous new boyfriend? There is plenty of excitement in this well-written cozy. ( )

First Line: "Daisy Buchanan was an insipid, shallow, soulless woman," Violet La Rue declared.

Lindsey Norris couldn't be happier in Briar Creek, Connecticut. She's started her second year as library director; she enjoys the meetings of the crafternoon club she's a part of; and she's dating Mike Sully, one hunk of a tour boat captain.

Unfortunately a storm appears on the horizon when a salvage company sails into town to dig up a treasure that was supposedly buried on Pirate Island over three hundred years ago.

Factions begin to form in town, with those all for the salvage company doing its thing led by Trudi Hargrave, the local tourism director. Lindsey's downstairs neighbor Charlie gets a job with the salvage company, and when Trudi's body is found at the excavation site, Lindsey finds herself doing some investigating of her own in order to keep Charlie out of jail.

In the space of three books, Jenn McKinlay's Library Lovers series has become one of my favorites. I think it encapsulates some of the things cozy lovers wish for in the real world: a picture postcard town to live in, the perfect library to patronize, the best set of friends anyone could hope to have, and a solution to the crime by book's end. Even the obnoxious people in Briar Creek are fun in their own ways. Take Trudi Hargrave, for instance. I probably shouldn't speak ill of the dead, but since she's fictional I might get away with it. One of Trudi's trademarks was her uber-high stilettos. Now, I knew she was going to bite the dust just from reading the back of the book, but that woman was so nasty and pushy that I kept hoping she'd trip on those silly shoes and come a cropper before she met her untimely demise. Rotten of me, isn't it? But it's just that easy to get wrapped up in Jenn McKinlay's world.

The plot involving a pirate treasure is so much fun, and the way the characters interact with each other is a joy as always. If you're a fan of mysteries set in the book world and are hoping to find characters who seem like real librarians dealing with real library situations, you can't go wrong with this series. The author is a librarian herself, and you can tell how much she enjoys it by reading these books. In fact, my only quibble with the Briar Creek Public Library is that the librarian everyone loves to hate shares my surname. Oh well, can't win 'em all!

Do you have to read this series from the beginning, or can you begin with this latest book? You can start with Book, Line, and Sinker, but if you're the fan of cozies and libraries that I think you are, why deny yourself the pleasure of reading them all? ( )