The Librarian of Crooked Lane

 

The Librarian of Crooked Lane by C.J. Archer 284 pp.

Librarian Sylvia Ash knows nothing of her ancestry. Her father was unknown and her mother refused to speak of her family background. When a diary from her brother, a casualty of WWI, suggests there were magicians in the family she doesn't believe it. Sylvia tries to find an answer by consulting a well-born son of a magical family only to find he is not the least bit magical and his magician mother is out of the country. Gabe has survived a harrowing four years of WWI, miraculously without injury. Now he works as a consultant for Scotland Yard in matters of magic. The theft of a magical painting brings Gabe and Sylvia together in the investigation. This story adds a few new twists to the "magical" part of the story but otherwise it seems to be one more in a plethora of stories where simmering romance and magic mix. There are two more books in the "Glass Library" series but I think I'll pass.

A Likely Story

A Likely Story by Jenn McKinlay (2015), 292 pages

I've just completed four of the books in Jenn McKinlay's A Library Lover's Mystery series. They're set in fictional Briar Creek, Connecticut, a small coastal town with hundreds of tiny islands within close range. Lindsey Norris is the town's young new library director, whose curiosity gets her into the middle of mysteries that arise, all while handling a difficult circulation staffer, Ms. Cole (also known as "The Lemon" because of her sour disposition), as well as Beth, an enthusiastic children's librarian who is into extreme costuming for story time. Lindsey also heads a weekly book group of supportive, chatty women who gather at the library to eat, work on crafts, and discuss books. (Each of this series' books has a recipe at the back for something the book group ate at their meeting.) A boat captain, Michael "Sully" Sullivan, has captivated Lindsey's heart, yet they don't quite get together, keeping us wondering if it will ever work out.

In A Likely Story, Sully transports Lindsey to an island to deliver library books to some shut-ins. When they are not met at the dock as usual, they work their way into the huge old house, avoiding humongous piles of debris as well as booby traps, both inside and outside the house--the two old brothers who live at the house are extreme hoarders. Lindsey and Sully discover one of the old men is dead in his wheel chair, obviously having been shot. The other brother is missing. Is the missing brother a murderer or on the run for his life? Meanwhile, a rich woman has been buying up some of the islands, and some antique collectors who own a shop in Chicago show up, hoping to buy some of the old brothers' collectibles. Lindsey's research into the town's history helps provide clues to the current mystery, but also causes some dangerous consequences.

The White Mirror: a Mystery

The White Mirror: a Mystery / Elsa Hart, 310 pp.

The 2nd in a new mystery series (Jade Dragon Mountain comes first) authored by a Wash U law school grad.   Set in the mountain passes between 18th century China and Tibet and featuring Li Du, mountain traveler and former librarian to the Emperor in Beijing, I hope this series enjoys a long life.  Li Du and his caravan, en route to Lhasa, become trapped in a snowy pass. As they descend to the welcoming lights of a manor house, they discover the corpse of a monk, mutilated and marked with symbolic painting.  Other travelers, also impeded by the storm, have already sought shelter at the manor, creating a nicely claustrophobic closed box mystery, a la Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None.

The plot is thoughtful and workmanlike, with a satisfying conclusion; even better was the wonderful sense of time and place: mountain geography, tensions between Imperial China and Tibet, and the bewildering, fascinating workings of religious tradition, complete with lamas, sacred artwork, visions and magic.  Thanks to Luise for the recommendation!