Read and Buried (A Lighthouse Library Mystery #6)

Author:  Eva Gates
Genre:   Mystery

Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781643852331
Crooked Lane Books
$18.99; $12.99 Amazon
October 15, 2019

⭐⭐⭐

The Bodie Island Lighthouse Library Classic Novel Book Club is reading Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne while workers dig into the earth to repair the Lighthouse Library's foundations.  The digging halts when Lucy pulls a battered tin box containing a Civil War-era diary from the pit.  Tucked inside is a hand-drawn map of the Outer Banks accompanied by a page written in an indecipherable code.

The library is overrun by people clamoring to see the artifact.  Later that night, Lucy and Connor McNeil find the body of historical society member Jeremy Hughes inside the library.  Clearly Jeremy was not the only one who broke into the library -- the map and the coded page are missing.

Lucy's nemesis, Louise Jane McKaughnan, confesses to entering the library after closing to sneak a peek but denies seeing Jeremy -- or his killer.  When Lucy discovers that fellow-librarian Charlene had a past with Jeremy, she's forced to do what she vowed not to do -- get involved in the case.  Meanwhile, the entire library staff and community become obsessed with trying to decode the page.  But when the library has a second break-in, it becomes clear that someone is determined to solve that code.

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Lucy is in the middle of her performance review with library director Bertie.  When the owner of the construction company (who were hired to do repairs on the lighthouse) tells them they need to come outside now, it's Lucy who has to enter the pit to see what they've found.  It's an old tin box, and Zack, the owner's son, brings it to the surface.  What's discovered inside is an old Civil War diary which contains nothing more than weather patterns; but what's odd is it also contains a map with numbers and a piece of paper with coded writing.

When the historical society members arrive at the library, they want to see the diary.  But since there's been too much havoc, Bertie tells them they have to wait until tomorrow.  Lucy has a date with Connor McNeil, during which they look at the copy Lucy's made of the page with the code.  Try as they might, they can't decipher it.

When they call it a night and Connor brings Lucy back to the library (where she lives on the fourth floor) they see the door is completely demolished.  Calling to police, they are instructed to wait outside; but Lucy, hearing her cat Charles' wails, rushes in.  There they find the body of one of the society's members, Jeremy Hughes, and the two pages are missing from the diary.  Now the police are trying to find a killer - someone who wanted those pages badly, and it seems that all anyone else is interested in is figuring out the code.

Trying to fend off questions and figure out what the code means, Lucy must call on all her wits to figure out who wanted it enough to kill...

This is the sixth book in the series, and while, for the most part, I have enjoyed them, I began to wonder about this one.  It seems that no one really cares - except the police, of course - who killed Jeremy.  All anyone is interested in is the code and what it means.  Half the town thinks it's buried treasure.  So in essence, the murder takes second place to figuring out the code.  Then, with Bertie's blessing, copies of the code are passed around like candy, even though she really doesn't want anyone to have anything to do with it.  The townspeople are given copies if they ask, even if Lucy protests. 

But the kicker was the scene in which Louise Jane shows up at Lucy's apartment late one evening.  Now I'm going to be blunt and say that I absolutely detest  Louise Jane.  There's no reason for an 'evil nemesis' in a book.  Louise Jane completely ruins the books for me.  She's nasty, snide, controlling, pushy, snarky, etc., and I have to wonder what the heck is wrong with Lucy?

Why did she just allow Louise Jane into the lighthouse when she was in bed in her pajamas?  Since she knew she was downstairs via an intercom, why didn't she tell her no, she wasn't going to allow her in.  Why did she go along with it when Louise Jane pushed her way into her apartment and said she was going to conduct a seance?  Why, when Teddy and Grace found out Lucy didn't know about it, do the right thing, apologize and go home?

Lucy has no backbone.  She allows Louise Jane to steamroll over her every chance she gets.  Lucy needs to grow a pair and tell her she’s not going to allow her to push her around any more.  Honestly, Louise Jane adds nothing to the story line, and detracts from it constantly.  She's like having an insect fly around your head.  It's annoying, you want it gone, but it won't leave.  She's annoying right to the end of the book.  Even when Louise Jane makes herself finally useful to Lucy toward the end, she doesn't do it without self-aggrandizement.   I also thought it would have been better without the slapstick It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World scenario, but that's neither here nor there. 

The murderer was found of course, and everything came together nicely; and while I did like the resolution of the murder and the reason for the diary, it was the presence of Louise Jane who ruined the book for me - without her antics, this would definitely have been a four- or five-star book.  Sorry.

https://www.amazon.com/Read-Buried-Lighthouse-Library-Mystery/dp/1643852337/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2902771885

More on Eva Gates's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/eva-gates/

Booked for Trouble (A Lighthouse Library Mystery #2)

Author:  Eva Gates
Genre:  Mystery

Paperback (LP); Mass Market Paperback; Audio CD; Digital Book; Audiobook
ISBN #:  9781410486585; 9780451470942; 1515900450
Berkley Publishing
304 Pages
$22.94; $7.99; $33.25; $5.99 Amazon
September 1, 2015

✮✮

Lucy has finally found her bliss as a librarian and resident of the Bodie Island Lighthouse.  She loves walking on the beach, passing her evenings with the local book club, bonding with the library cat, Charles, and enjoying the attention of not one but two eligible men.  But then her socialite mother, Suzanne, unexpectedly drops in, determined to move Lucy back to Boston - and reunite her with her ex-fiancé.

To make matters worse, Suzanne picks a very public fight at the local hotel with her former classmate Karen Kivas.  So, when Karen turns up dead outside the library, Suzanne is immediately at the top of the suspect list.  Now Lucy must hunt down a dangerous killer - before the authorities throw the book at her poor mother...

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When Lucy's mother Suzanne comes for a visit, Lucy is sure that she's there to take her back to Boston to marry her childhood friend Ricky.  Shortly after arriving at her hotel, Suzanne encounters Karen, a friend from school she'd rather not see, and makes a snarky remark to her about being a hotel maid.  The next evening, the two meet again at Lucy's book club, and the morning after that, Lucy finds Karen's body outside of the lighthouse.

It also turns out that a valuable necklace is missing from the hotel, and due to a suspected theft over thirty years ago, Suzanne is considered the likely culprit.  Lucy, of course, refuses to see her mother unjustly accused, and decides to find the killer herself.  But she also has to convince Suzanne she's not returning home and juggle two potential suitors in the process (and I can do without love triangles, thank you very much).

This is the second book in the Lighthouse Library Mysteries, and I really wanted to like it.  Sadly, I like Lucy less than I did in the first book.  She seems superficial - obsessed with everyone's looks and what they're wearing.  She even mentions how she's a "winter" (do we care?) but we've never gotten a clear view of what she looks like except for her curly black hair.  There is more than enough descriptions of clothing but not enough of people themselves.  We really never get to know much of anything about anyone; there's no character development.  And Lucy, the woman who lives alone in a lighthouse, is (still) afraid of ghosts.  Really?

The plot itself is decent in the beginning, but we never learn much about Karen except that she was a habitual complainer and no one cared for her.  Still, Lucy thinks she needs to find the killer and goes about trying to do so; but honestly, her thoughts wander and she sort of bumbles her way through things.  She doesn't seem very intelligent, which is unfortunate; because she's really bad at managing her own life, even if she's good at being a librarian.  I honestly would have liked to see her develop a backbone along the way.

I just didn't feel this book 'grab' me in any sense of the word.  The murder seemed to take second place to Suzanne trying to get Lucy to come home with her; she didn't seem to care that Lucy didn't want to marry Ricky.  Mothers like that I can do without.  There was so much focused on this subject that I lost interest in the murder.

In the end, finding out the killer and the reason why seemed rather weak to me.  It just didn't appear to be too realistic.  I never felt Lucy (or her mother's) life was truly in any danger, and there was no leading up to the climax.  Suzanne seemed just as gullible as Lucy, so at least I know who she gained her lack of intelligence from. 

All in all, an okay read for an evening, and since I've already bought the third book in the series I will read it, but unless it seriously improves I probably won't follow it past that point.  For the record, I do like this author; I just don't care for this series.

https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Storm-Lighthouse-Library-Mystery/dp/0451470958/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2183166369

More on Eva Gates's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/eva-gates/

By Book or By Crook (A Lighthouse Library Mystery #1)

Author:  Eva Gates
Genre:  Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; MP3 CD; Digital Book; Audio CD
ISBN #:  9780451470935; 9781494564667
Berkley Publishing (Tantor Audio)
352 Pages
February 3, 2015

✮✮

For ten years Lucy has enjoyed her job poring over rare tomes of literature for the Harvard Library, but she has not enjoyed the demands of her family's social whorl or her sort-of-engagement to the staid son of her father's law partner.  But when her ten-year relationship implodes, Lucy realizes that the plot of her life is in need of a serious rewrite.

Calling on her Aunt Ellen, Lucy hopes that a little fun in the Outer Banks sun - and some confections from her cousin Josie's bakery - will help clear her head.  But her retreat quickly turns into an unexpected opportunity when Aunt Ellen gets her involved in the lighthouse library tucked away on Bodie Island.

Lucy is thrilled to land a librarian job in her favorite place in the world.  But when a priceless first edition Jane Austen novel is stolen and the chair of the library board is murdered, Lucy suddenly finds herself ensnared in a real-life mystery - and she's not so sure there's going to  be a happy ending.

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Lucy Richardson has moved to the Outer Banks from her comfortable home in Boston, ostensibly to escape an unwanted marriage proposal.  She's been lucky enough to find a job working for a library in a renovated lighthouse, her last library job was at Harvard.

This library has been able to secure a set of first edition Jane Austen books, and a notebook written by the lady herself.  On opening night, the library chair makes a few choice remarks about Lucy receiving her job over a local resident - even though Lucy has a degree and the local, Louise Jane, does not.  Mr. Uppiton, the chair, also gets into an argument with the head of the library, Bertie, very loudly, with Bertie making a threat toward him.

Later on that evening, Mr. Uppiton is found dead, Bertie is in the room with a broken bottle in her hand (most likely the murder weapon, but we are never told so), and Lucy, along with the rest of their friends, is convinced she's innocent of the crime.

But finding the killer isn't going to be easy when you're the 'new kid in town'.  Especially since Lucy is still on the suspect list herself.  All she knows is that in order to keep the library alive she needs to keep Bertie out of jail, and she'll do whatever it takes, even if it nearly kills her...

I really wanted to like this book.  It's got books, a cat named Charles, and Jane Austen.  What could be better?  Unfortunately, there's so much wrong with it.  With Lucy living in the lighthouse on the fourth floor, she has to climb 100 steps (she said herself) several times a day and isn't even winded?  Can you imaging climbing that several times a day?  How did they get plumbing all the way up there?  I wouldn't think it would be feasible.

Louise Jane was just a nasty piece of work.  There wasn't a single redeemable quality about her that I can think of.  As for Lucy, she's dumber than a box of rocks.  She lives alone in a lighthouse but is afraid of ghost stories?  She knows Louise Jane baits her and takes it every time instead of walking away?

She says she's never had a date, but recounts a story about an evening out with an ex-boyfriend - an ex-boyfriend she's slept with, no less.  What does she consider dating?  Also, there are two men chasing her practically right from the first pages of the book.  I can see this turning into a love triangle - and that's never good in the long run.  Really, how happy would you be if the situation were reversed and it was a guy and he was dating two women at the same time?

Unfortunately, the library in a lighthouse just didn't make sense, and all the to-do about people visiting merely because of the Jane Austen collection - and Jane Austen did not live by sea.  She lived in Chawton, Hampshire, which is inland; and this is a big deal if you're speaking of Jane Austen.

I felt the mystery wasn't given as much attention as it should have, with more being paid to what people were wearing and what they ate, so when we finally figure out who the murderer is I really didn't care; and the reason why didn't seem believable.  Sorry, but this book just wasn't my cup of tea; hopefully the series will improve with the next book.

https://www.amazon.com/Book-Crook-Lighthouse-Library-Mystery/dp/0451470931/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2180520099

More on Eva Gates's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/eva-gates/