Genre: Mystery
Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781984804105
Berkley Publishing
336 Pages
$26.00; $13.99 Amazon
October 8, 2019
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Hayley Burke has landed a dream job. She is the new curator of Lady Georgiana Fowling's First Edition library. The library is kept at Middlebank House, a lovely Georgian home in Bath, England. Hayley lives on the premises and works with the finicky Glynis Woolgar, Lady Fowling's former secretary.
Mrs. Woolgar does not like Hayley's ideas to modernize The First Edition Society and bring in fresh blood. And she is not even aware of the fact that Hayley does not know the first thing about the Golden Age of Mysteries. Hayley is faking it till she makes it, and one of her plans to breathe new life into the Society is actually taking flight - an Agatha Christie fan fiction writers group is paying dues to meet up at Middlebank House.
But when one of the group is found dead in the venerable stacks of the library, Hayley has to catch the killer to save the Society and her new job.
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Hayley Burke is both happy and apprehensive when she's hired as the curator for the First Edition library at Middlebank House. Happy because the job pays well and she gets to live on premises for free. Apprehensive because the collection is of authors of the Golden Age of Mysteries, and she's never read a mystery in her life. She's afraid she'll be found out and will be sacked.
There's also the problem of Mrs. Woolgar - secretary to the late Lady Georgiana Fowling, owner of the books. Mrs. Woolgar resents Hayley, and it shows. However, they must work together so she manages to keep a stiff upper lip about it. (While Hayley lives above the library, Glynis Woolgar lives below it in a flat of her own).
Hayley is intent on finding ways to make the library more profitable and more well known. To this end she's allowed a writer's group of mystery fan fiction to meet there every Wednesday. The group - five students at a local university - are prone to contentiousness, and have, on occasion, left a bit of a mess for Hayley to clean up. Mrs. Woolgar doesn't want the group to meet there, and sadly, Hayley has come to agree and says she will speak with them.
But before she can tell them, one of the group is found dead in the library (shades of Agatha Christie!) but no one knows how he got there since the library and the building was locked. Afraid of the negative impact on the group, Hayley finds that she's up to her ears in suspects, and needs to sift through them to find out who wanted the man dead...and maybe learn a little about how mystery writers come to their own deadly conclusions in the process..
I have to say that I have loved all of Ms. Wingate's books thus far, and this one is no different. Hayley Burke is a 40-something divorced woman who has landed a plum job (thanks to her friend Adele) that she's sure she doesn't deserve. She's in a long-distance relationship with her boyfriend Wyn, and due to attempting to set literary evenings with the local university, has met a professor that is making her question her relationship altogether.
But it's her lack of knowledge as to mysteries in the written form that has her most worried. She's sure she'll be found out and just as afraid she'll lose her position because of it. But when she finds herself in a real-life murder, everything changes, and now her job really could be on the line.
I do like Hayley's character. She's insecure but determined, and even though the police have told her to stay out of the investigation, she really believes she will - until she's forced to enter it, and she's not sure exactly what she's doing. Much as someone would act if they were suddenly thrust in the middle of a real-life mystery.
The only person I didn't care for in the book is the character of her daughter, Dinah. Dinah is 22 years old and going to school. But she's selfish and thoughtless - partly because of Hayley, of course; but it rankled that she treats Hayley like a never-ending bank, especially since she has to know that Hayley is also paying for her own mother's care. I would like to see her realize, in future books, that she shouldn't depend upon Hayley for all her financial needs and perhaps get a part-time job to help pay her own way and ease her mother's dwindling bank account.
I do feel the mystery was done well, and as I love locked-room mysteries, I was pretty sure I had it figured out (I was right) but finding out who actually did the deed took a bit longer. I loved the library cat, Bunter (and knew who he was named after). Bunter became as invaluable to Hayley as his namesake became to Lord Peter; and there's a tiny hint of paranormal that was interesting, to say the least.
All in all, I felt it was done very well as an introduction to Hayley and the First Edition Library. While there wasn't a huge depth of character in this book, that can be easily remedied as the series progresses, when we get to know the main characters better. A little now and more later.
In the end, when the murderer is caught and the reason why the murder was committed, it was believable, and the clues were there if you see them. An admirable beginning for a new series, and I hope to see the next one soon.
https://www.amazon.com/Bodies-Library-First-Mystery/dp/1984804103/ref
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2912098082
More on Marty Wingate's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/marty-wingate/
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