With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy.

Amy and Richard get drawn into solving a historic murder related to both of their families.
Throughout their investigation they end up with another murder to solve; being attracted to each other; and needing to navigate the intriguing, sometimes lovable, occasionally nasty or even reprehensible town folk.

An easy to read cozy mystery beginning a new series.

A Murder for the Books (Blue Ridge Library Mysteries #1) by Victoria Gilbert
Crooked Lane Books, 2017
Crime Fiction/Cozy; 336 pgs

I went from liking cozies somewhat to loving them in the last couple years. So many good ones have come out. Or maybe it is just me and my reading mood, and cozies are appealing to me more and more. Thank you to everyone who voted for A Murder for the Books in my May TBR List poll. I enjoyed my time in Taylorsford, Virginia with Amy Webber and her aunt. This particular mystery held a double appeal for me. Not only did it have a modern murder that needed solving, but also an old one. I do love a good (or sordid) family secret!

Our heroine Amy Webber is manager of the local public library, having moved to Taylorsford with her aunt who has been having health issues. One day her handsome new next-door neighbor, Richard Muir, stops by the library to do some research on his family history, hoping to clear the name of the woman whom his great uncle loved, accused of murdering her husband in 1825. She may have been acquitted, but the town folk never believed it. While showing Richard the way to the archives, she never expects to find a body just inside. While the police begin to investigate the more recent murder, Amy and Richard begin digging into the past, finding more than they bargained for. Could a conspiracy be involved? Could the present day murder be tied to events the pair have uncovered about the past; secrets someone(s) wanted to keep buried?

Amy is a very relatable character, a plus-sized librarian, who is witty and smart. She’s come out of a bad relationship and is a little wary of starting a new one, and so when Richard makes his interest known, Amy finds herself backpedaling fast. I liked seeing their relationship evolve over the course of the novel. Richard is a choreographer and dancer who teaches dance at a university. I do think he moved a bit fast for comfort (and so did Amy), but I did like Richard. He comes with his own broken heart story, which plays nicely into the novel. I liked how supportive he is of Amy and tackles her concerns head on while at the same time being willing to give her the space she needs.

Some of the more minor characters are worth noting as well. Oh, I do hope Sunshine, Amy's library assistant, runs for mayor! And I just love Amy’s Aunt Lydia. There is also the mysterious and intimidating Paul Dassin who definitely does not seem to be on the up and up.

This was such an entertaining novel. Amy comes into the present day murder investigation naturally and it never felt as if I had to suspend my disbelief to buy why she was involved. Victoria Gilbert has created a rich history for her characters, especially their ancestors. I liked that Amy’s own family was tied into it all, and not always in a favorable light. Some may be put off by the romance thread that runs throughout the story, but I did not mind it. Sometimes a side dish of romance does a mystery good. While the mystery itself was not that hard to figure out—the whodunit and why—I really enjoyed my time spent getting from the beginning to the end. I would love to spend more time with Amy.

Fleeing a disastrous love affair, librarian Amy  decides to move in with her aunt in a quiet, historic mountain town in Virginia. She gets a job at the local library which takes up a lot of her time. Her new neighbor comes in and he is a nice looking man whom she tells herself is of limits because of her previous relationship not going so well.

Richard Muir is a dancer turned teacher who inherits his great uncle's home which is next to Amy's aunts house. Richard's house has a lot of history as it was said that the wife killed the previous owner and then disappeared. Richard decides he wants to try and find out what really happened and sense Amy is a librarian and good with research he ask her to help. She wasn't really into it at first till they actually start to find some clues that leads to some things that makes the leader of the town not looks so good, even her own family. 

Now she is curious to see what really happened but there is someone in town who wants the leave the past in the past and this gets Amy into a bit of trouble.

I found this book to be rather interesting and not your typical cozy as it didn't start out with a dead body from the present but a case from the past that ends up with a murder in the present. It seems some do not want what happened back then to be found out! I did not guess the killer in this one so that is always cool.

I really liked Amy and Richard and it seemed right from the beginning that they were going to end up together and I found the pairing cute as a teacher and dancer is a lot different than many cozies. I look forward to getting to know more of the characters in this series and see what other troubles Amy can get into. 

I would recommend this cozy!

I enjoyed A Murder for the Books just as much, if not a hair more, than the second one, Shelved Under Murder, and for most of the same reasons:

-- an engaging, realistic, and sensible heroine…
-- who has a believable reason to get involved in the investigation (beyond finding the body)
-- a charming but also realistic small-town setting, complete with budget concerns, small-town politics, and a habit of labeling newcomers as “outsiders”
-- a mystery that both held my attention and fit the small-town setting
-- a believable, friendly but nonromantic relationship between heroine and policeman
-- recurring secondary characters who are individual but not overly eccentric (and who, in a few cases, offer scope for future mysteries)
-- and a romantic relationship I really like

There are several mysteries in A Murder for the Books, in both the past and the present, and it takes a while for Amy to figure out the degree to which any of them interconnect. Was Eleanor Cooper guilty or innocent of her husband’s poisoning, nearly 100 years ago? How does that mystery relate to a mass poisoning almost 25 years later, and is there any relation to the present-day murder of a library patron with dementia? Ms. Gilbert handles the multiple threads of the story well, and although I had to turn back once or twice to make sure I remembered all the various plot points correctly, everything made sense in the end.

I find Amy, the heroine, very easy to relate to, in part because I’m similar to her in some ways, from enjoying library work and research (I almost went to library school myself) to being a bit self-conscious about her curves. She’s loyal and protective toward her friends and family, values both justice and truth, and has a kind heart alongside a realistic view of human nature. I like her enormously. I also like Richard Muir, the dancer-choreographer who lives next door to Amy and her aunt Lydia and doesn’t hide his attraction to Amy. The remaining cast of regulars, from Amy’s Aunt Lydia to Sunny, her library assistant; Vera and Walt, Lydia’s childhood friends; and Brad, the town’s sheriff, are interesting and likeable, and I look forward to meeting them in future books.

In fact, I’m looking forward to future books in general, and there’s one due out in February 2019: Past Due for Murder. Yay!

NOTE: I read the first two books out of order, not remembering that I had a copy of the first book on my Kindle. While that didn’t pose a problem — either can stand on its own — I would recommend reading them in order for continuity.

Amazing written start to a new series. This is going to be a great mystery series, I can tell already! The mystery was so well written and the characters, of the characters. They are so believable and wonderful! I instantly was smitten with Amy and Richard and the whole clan. I can't wait to read more from this series!

Cozy , romantic mystery. Enjoyable read by author Victoria Gilbert. Likeable characters. Was given a free book by Netgalley. My review is freely and honestly given

I really enjoyed this start of a new series. This book was so much more than a "cozy", it was richly detailed and the characters well thought-out. The book flowed wonderfully and it was hard to put down.

I found that the mystery was solved to a great conclusion, and it was like I was actually there. I definitely recommend this book to lovers of mysteries, cozies, and mysteries set in Virginia.

*I would like to thank the publisher/author/Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review*

This is a great cozy mystery, clearly written by someone who understands modern libraries. I thought the dialogue sometimes didn't feel quite real, but overall I loved the story and read it all the same day.

Victoria Gilbert gives us a Blue Ridge Library mystery with A Murder for the Books. Amy the Taylorville public librarian and Richard, a professional dancer, have just met when they fall over a dead body in the town archives. Then another dead body turns up. The answer lies in the past in a trial and an abandoned orphanage where children died mysteriously. Whodunit? Old rivalries and misbehavior or echoes in arguments over land rights in the current period. Great cozy read with lots of suspects.

Review: A MURDER FOR THE BOOKS (A Blue Ridge Library Mystery #1) by Victoria Gilbert

I quickly fell in love with this cozy mystery series, set in a historic, quaint (and nearly economically depressed) community in a valley near Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. Librarian Amy Webber has to leave her position at a university library after her emotions overrule good sense, and moves in with her widowed Aunt Lydia in Taylorsburg, and becomes the Library Director. On the surface, Taylorsburg and environs seem just the kind of community idealized by Norman Rockwell, but as Amy, Aunt Lydia, and new neighbor Lydia begin to uncover, there is bad history, bad blood--and insanity. Sometimes the culpability of the fathers IS visited on future generations.

I especially enjoyed this mystery' s delving into history and psychology. Deeper thought applied here than is often the case. Author Victoria Gilbert marvellously peeled off the layers of her characters, giving us glimpses at their cores, and providing villains unexpected but subsequently understandable. She also allows some gentle frissons of the possible paranormal, although protagonist Amy doesn't believe. The novel is riveting and encouraging, a true winner.

A Murder for the Books by Victoria Gilbert is the first book in the Blue Ridge Library Mystery series. The main character, Amy leaves her academic library job, moves in with her aunt, and becomes the librarian of a small town library. Amy and her new next door neighbor Richard, start researching an old mystery dealing with Richards house. Current events in the town cause current mysteries and past mysteries to become entwined.

The setting and characters are wonderful. I Look forward to reading this series!! This book was perfect to curl up with on a snowy day!!

Amy Webber was a librarian at Clarion University but after finding her boyfriend in a compromising position she leaves both the University and him (he is on the Faculty). Now she is living with her aunt and working in a small town library.

The small town is Taylorsford (a very small town which is basically one main road with an out of town shopping development) and she is happy getting to know her regulars – one of whom is Doris Virts, who is suffering from dementia. When she goes missing, Amy and her assistant Sunny keep an eye out for her and when Amy’s new neighbour Richard Muir asks to see the library archive, they find the body of elderly Doris Virts. Who would want to kill an old lady and why was she in the library archive anyway?

This is a fun mystery with a romance (you can guess from the start that Amy is very likely to hook up with the handsome Richard). In fact there are two mysteries – the murder of Doris Virts in the present day and an old case where Eleanora Cooper was accused of killing her husband but found not guilty when articles by Richard’s Great-Uncle swayed public opinion outside the town in her favour.

This is the first in a series and there is a lot of scene setting but it is well done and they are all interesting characters from Aunt Lydia (who may have secrets Amy doesn’t yet know about) to the County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy (Bradley Tucker) – Taylorsfords most eligible bachelor but rebuffed by Amy and dumped by Sunny.

This is the start of what promises to be a nice enjoyable cosy series which I will follow.

I recently finished a book which had a great deal going for it, lots of history, detail, action, and yet, somehow I never felt quite ~~comfortable~~ with the story or characters. However, I had no trouble whatsoever slipping under the skin of and identifying with the various characters and the small town presented by author Victoria Gilbert. Immediately I was at home here and fully invested in the townsfolk and their struggles.

There are some interesting psychological concepts studied, primarily revolving, I think, upon the sense of self which in some people is better developed than others. We all enjoy self-doubt on occasion, but to the extreme it came become self-destructive, especially when fed in an abusive relationship of by negative commentary of others. Think fat-shaming in our society. Yes, as a whole Americans are becoming massive sows and hogs due to ridiculous portions (super-size that!) and excessive numbers of non-foods being consumed by almost all of us. But enforcing a poor self-image is not the way to correct that! <climbs off soap box> NOTE: this is MUCH more subtly handled by the author and is only one in a number of points made.

Meanwhile we've drifted off topic, the nearly century-old deaths of various townfolks interacting with current events and the well-wrought uncovering of the evil-doers. As our heroine and her cohorts uncover clues, the finely-drawn cast does some of its own interacting and the story moves forward at a good pace, fully developing each angle of the mysteries. I understand this is Ms Gilbert's first published novel. I most definitely look forward to reading others by her!

Disclaimer: I was given a free review copy at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

This was a lot of fun to read. I have lived in the area of Virginia that is the setting for this book and it was really engaging to picture it so well. I enjoyed the story and the characters. I am looking forward to the next in this series!

I loved this and read it more or less during a rainy afternoon. It's the first in a new cosy series and is going to be added to my list of series to follow. It was great read! Amy is a sympathetic character who is feeling a little bit stuck after an embarrassing incident at her previous library job in the county University led her to quit her position in rather an abrupt manner. She landed the library director's job in the small mountain town of Taylorsford, and now runs the cash-strapped library with her single full-time employee, her friend Sunny Fields, and a team of volunteers. When a local lady suffering from dementia gets killed in the archive building out the back of the library, Amy is pulled into the mystery behind her death - and finds two more mysteries attached to it!

I really liked Amy - she was smart, educated, a bit outspoken, loved her friends and her Aunt Lydia (who she lives with), and still had a streak of insecurity where her body was concerned (because, let's face it, there are few women who don't). It wasn't overdone, it wasn't her main focus, but it was enough to make her a bit shy and uncertain about her budding romance with the new neighbour.

While the mysteries were good - if not a bit convoluted - the romance had a bit too much 'insta-love' for me. I appreciate it happens, but I think it would have worked a bit better if it was strung out a bit more, say, into the second book, so she (and we) knew him better, although he does sound like quite a catch.

Just little things that I noted that stood out for me. Otherwise, I sped through this and thoroughly enjoyed it. The writing was excellent, the characters (a lot of them!) well-fleshed out and plentiful in respect of trying to guess who did it. I'll definitely keep an eye out for the next in the series!

A Murder for the Books by Victoria Gilbert is the first book in the Blue Ridge Library Mystery series. Amy leaves her academic library job, moves in with her aunt, and becomes the librarian of a small town library. This book is a mix of mystery, (fictional) history, and romance. Events of long ago become entangled with current events including a couple of murders. Amy and her new next door neighbor Richard are pulled into the mysteries - both past and present. The setting and characters are wonderful. I look forward to the second book and seeing what changes take place in the town and in Amy's life.

A great start to a new cozy mystery series. I can't wait for the next one to be released!

A nice, light cosy-mystery to read after a long day at work.

After finding her boyfriend cheating on her in the library where she works, Amy Webber decides to run for it. Returning to her hometown in Virginia, she is content to run the local library and forget all about men. That is until she meets her young, handsome next-door neighbour Richard Muir, a dancer and choreographer. When Richard shows interest in finding more information on an old murder case, Amy sets out to help him. Until, they find a dead body of the old Doris Virts, a regular library client, in the library archives. Instead of an old murder mystery, they investigate a modern one where the killer will do anything to stop them from finding out the truth.

This was my first novel written by Victoria Gilbert and it was both fun and relaxing mystery novel.

The plot is well thought and explored, mixing both the past and the present murder cases. Gilbert manages to weaver between them while keeping all the strings attached and the reader entertained. The story develops at a steady pace and the spark between the main characters keep things interesting all the way.

The characters are credible and very well developed. Amy is a good main character that is struggling to get over a bad relationship. It’s easy for the reader to get to know her and enjoy her company throughout the story. The secondary characters definitely bring something different to the table. Each one adds something to the story: colour, humour and depth. Amy’s aunt Lydia is a great supporting character and I enjoyed every bit of their interactions. The characters are very easy to get along with as the author gives them just enough depth to make them more real. At the same time, Gilbert does a great job in describing them and their individual interactions. She gives a clear image of both the setting and the characters themselves.

The style of writing is engaging and simple, which makes the book very easy to read. The descriptions are just enough to pull in the reader inside a painting with letters. It was hard to put it down and even harder to get out the story.

An enjoyable, quick read that I recommend to the fans of cosy-mysteries.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher Crooked Lane Books and the author for allowing me to read and review a digital copy of this book.

This was a fun first book to start off a new cozy mystery series. What avid reader wouldn't like a book that has a librarian as the mystery solver! It never occurred to me that the same research skills used by a librarian would translate over into looking for clues in this who done it. She not only solves the murder, but a few of the other town secrets as well. I wonder what's next for Amy.

ARC from Crooked Lane Books via Netgalley

Amy Webber moves in with her aunt and takes a job at the local library after a bad breakup. Her neighbor, Richard, wants to prove the innocence of a previous owner of his new home and enlists Amy to help him.

I liked the multiple storylines in A Murder for the Books. Besides the modern day mystery, Amy and Richard are trying to solve a murder that happened years ago. There is a lot of description and introduction since this is the first book in a new series, but it doesn’t take away from the story. I enjoyed this cozy and will be watching for the next book in the series.