How to Murder the Man of Your Dreams (1995)

After the mysterious death of the local librarian in Chitterdon Fells the Library League decides to place a bust of the deceased woman in the library. Ellie, who has just hired an au pair for her twins, agrees to contact romance paperback model Karisma to ask if he will appear in a fundraising event. In an apparent accident, Karisma meets his maker in the library. Ellie doubts that the rash of deaths in her small community is just bad luck and, setting her mind to it, finds no shortage of murder suspects. This is a cozy-style mystery: written about the happenings in a small village, with a lot of emphasis on the characters. It has a good deal of dry humor - sometimes so dry you almost miss it. The mystery itself is confusing -- lots of people die, but not necessarily of unnatural causes; the depiction of the village's two librarians is stereotypical; and two of Cannell's best characters, Freddy and Jonas, are not here -- they are away on a camping trip! This is still a fun read, if you enjoy the British sense of humor. ( )

Ellie finds herseld involved in hosting the pin up models for romance novels. Love seems to be in the air, but murder is also. The library ghost seems to be the one involved. ( )