"Librarian Lucy's new historic house comes with a lot of baggage and family secrets. Can she put them to rest, or will a killer bring Lucy's family to their downfall?"--
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"Librarian Lucy's new historic house comes with a lot of baggage and family secrets. Can she put them to rest, or will a killer bring Lucy's family to their downfall?"--
Read Less
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Seller's Description:
New. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 288 p. Lighthouse Library Mystery. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
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Seller's Description:
Fine. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 288 p. Lighthouse Library Mystery. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
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Seller's Description:
Good. Gently used with minimal wear on the corners and cover. A few pages may contain light highlighting or writing but the text remains fully legible. Dust jacket may be missing and supplemental materials like CDs or codes may not be included. Could have library markings. Ships promptly!
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Death by Beach Read by Eva Gates is ninth A Lighthouse Library Mystery. It can be read as a standalone, but you will be missing out on a delightful series. I thought Death by Beach Read was well-written with realistic, developed characters. I enjoy the wonderful descriptions of the Outer Banks. I would love to live in that area. All our favorite characters are back plus a couple of new additions. Charles, the library cat, returns with attitude. Charles is one smart cat and a good judge of character. The mystery was fun. It was well-plotted with red herrings and good clues. I like how the mystery ties into the book that the book club is reading. I was delighted with the spookiness of the mystery. I was able to solve the mystery early in the book, but that did not hinder my pleasure. The reveal was exciting and provided the answers Lucy had been seeking. I loved the descriptions of the unpainted aristocracy homes including Lucy and Connor�s. I was sorry when my visit to the Outer Banks came to an end. Death by Beach Read is a hauntingly good time with unpainted aristocracy renovations, baffling footsteps, a Nathaniel Hawthorne novel, a jolly Louise Jayne, a haunted history, a mystifying murder, and a fiery finish.
Lori
Jun 11, 2022
A Very Entertaining Cozy Mystery
Dollycas's Thoughts
Spring has sprung in the Outer Banks and Lucy has a lot on her plate. Working at the library, planning her wedding to Connor, and decorating the new historic home on the beach she and Connor have purchased and moved into. Connor and his dad have already done tons of work on the place. Not handy with tools whatsoever Lucy is looking forward to painting and buying furniture to make the house feel like home.
Charles the library cat now comes home with Lucy every day as Louise Jane has now been formally hired by the library and installed herself in Lucy's Lighthouse Aerie. Connor is away at a conference so Lucy and Charles are spending their first night alone in their new home. They are awakened by sounds that have nothing to do with the wind outside or the house settling. When Lucy investigates she finds the patio door open and footprints in the sawdust.
The noises continue after Connor returns, along with some spooky shadows, and then one night they find a dead body in their kitchen. They do not recognize him at all but later find out he does have an old connection to their new home.
Before they find out who killed the man and why, Connor and Lucy find a hidden entrance to their home, some interesting things in the attic, and someone lights their brand new deck on fire.
The Classic Novels Reading Club is reading Nathanial Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables. That draws some interesting visitors to the group. Also, Lucy starts to find similarities between that house full of secrets and her new cottage on the beach. Will it help her solve the case before someone else is killed?
I love this series!
This time most of the story takes place away from the wonderful and amazing Bodie Island Lighthouse Library with Lucy and Connor settling in and working on their new home but that just added to my enjoyment of this series. These characters and all of the supporting cast have grown so much over the course of this series in very natural ways that it is a pure joy to visit them wherever they are.
There have been some staff changes at the library. I think it is fun that Louise Jane is now truly working there and living in Lucy's old space but that hasn't tempered her love of spreading her ghostly tales any chance she gets. She does get along well with the other new hire, Denise Robarts. Surprisingly even Lucy is getting along better with Louise Jane too, at least in small doses. I did love that Lucy was very confident about her place in the scheme of things and was stronger in dealing with people who had a tendency to push her too far than she had been before. Charles, the library cat, branched out in this story too. Traveling back and forth between Lucy's home and the library is a big step for him. Some of his actions and reactions are quite comical and I love that he plays a key role in the story.
Again Ms. Delany had put forth one heck of a mystery. Finding a body at Lucy's new home was a great way to introduce the place to readers, especially its history and secrets it may hold. It also gave way to introduce some very interesting new characters and their ties to the community and some of its residents. A character I had thought was gone from the area for good also returns with what appears to be a clear agenda. Putting all this together you have a marvelously plotted mystery with some terrific twists. The author delivered a robust mystery that kept me guessing almost to the very end and rapidly flipping those pages.
As always the setting for this story was heavenly. How wonderful to step out your back door and be right on the beach. The window views are fantastic as well. I would call the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library my literary happy place and now Lucy and Connor's cottage on the beach is a close second even with the renovations not being quite complete. Sitting on that deck with a book in my hand enjoying the ocean's sounds and breezes sounds absolutely idyllic to me.
Death by Beach Read was a fun and entertaining book that took me on a great virtual vacation. I can't wait to return to the Outer Banks hopefully in time for Lucy and Connor's wedding and all the other happenings Ms. Delany has in store for us.
