A great book by a fantastic author. The writing is excellent and the mystery keeps you turning the pages. Characters are well developed. Highly recommend.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

In Better Off Read we meet Cleo Watkins. She is a Septuagenarian librarian trying to save her library after recent storm damage. While waiting on repairs she and her Persian cat Rhett Butler have pressed the library’s old bookmobile, Words on Wheels, into greater service to reach all her patrons. While delivering some questionable books to one of the library’s major benefactors, Buford Krandall, she finds him dead on the floor surrounded by books Cleo had delivered to him recently. She was really hoping he would help her convince the town’s mayor, Jebson Day, that the library was an important piece of the community. He has plans to shudder the library and invest the money to build an enormous fishing pier to draw professional fishermen to the area and she just can’t fathom her town without a library.

Cleo sees all the evidence and knows her grandson Ollie, and best friend, Mary-Rose Garland could be in trouble. She enlists the help of antiquarian bookseller Henry Lafayette and his pug, Mr. Chaucer to help her check out other suspects and find the real killer and get them booked and behind bars. And oh, she is also going to do everything she can to save her library too.

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I was a fan of Cleo Watkins before I had read the first quarter of the book. She is a smart spunky senior citizen with plenty of energy to do whatever she sets her mind to whether it be delivering books in the bookmobile, finding support to help her save her library, or tracking down a killer. Even when it looks like the murderer has set their sights on taking her down she doesn’t give up. It pushes her even more. She is driven to clear her grandson and her BFF. We meet several residents of Catalpa Springs as she travels around trying to hone in on who could have killed Buford. I enjoyed meeting her “gentleman friend” Henry. He is very supportive of her endeavors and a great help to her. His pug and Cleo’s cat also stole my heart quickly. All the characters were interesting but I think we just scratched the surface on their stories.

Ms. Page really twists things up in the plot of this mystery. My personal list of suspects was way off the mark. Following Cleo and her friends as they snoop out clues was fun and entertaining. At times it was laugh out loud funny. In the end, I was surprised by the conclusion of the story and that was absolutely great. The author had me fall for every little misdirection she had plotted.

Cleo Watkins is a treasure. Her passion for books just shines within these pages. She made this book a pure delight to read. Better Off Read is an excellent start for this series. I will be reading book two in this series, Read On Arrival soon.

This book starts off with way too many characters who are under developed getting thrown at you and it's hard to keep them all straight in your head. I found the idea of the main character being in her late 70's and still driving the library bookmobile and trying to solve a murder mystery a little absurd. The story moves along at a slow and leisurely pace that makes it hard to enjoy. If you are looking for a mystery series that takes place in a library I would recommend taking a look at the following authors Miranda James, Jenn Mckinlay, and Sofie Kelly.

I started and stopped this book several times before I could get into it. Once I really sat down and decided to read it I did enjoy most of it.

Better Off Read is the first book in the new cozy Bookmobile Mystery series. The story centers around Cleo Watkins who is a seventy five year old librarian who is willing to do anything to save her library when the mayor threatens closure.

After a storm damaged the main library Cleo takes to the streets in her bookmobile, Words on Wheels, to continue her lending habits and find support for her the library repairs when the mayor threatens to close it down. But when a supporter of the library winds up dead Cleo puts her years of mystery reading skills to use to help solve the crime.

I really liked Cleos character but I didn’t really feel a connection to any of the other characters. I also was not really wowed by the ending. I really feel like this series has a lot of potential and I look forward to reading another book in the series.

cleo is an interesting older woman that works as a librian but could have a second job as a detective. her friend mary rose is accused of killing a man who seems to be planning to commit murder himself, and cleo must find a way to prove her friends innocence. the story has some good twists in it that will keep you guessing till the very end. all in all i enjoyed the book and will continue to read this series.

Cleo is a seventy-five year old librarian in the small Southern town of Catalpa Srings, Georgia. After the library suffers some major storm damage, the mayor refuses to pay for repairs. He wants the library closed and all money used to build a huge fishing pier to make the town the Fishing Capital of the Universe. Cleo doesn't take it sitting down and brings out the bookmobile, and looks for support to keep the library open. One of her patrons, a rather eccentric gentleman, hints that he has a way to get her the money she needs. When he ends up dead, his nearest neighbour also Cleo's friend is the major suspect in his death. They have had several altercations and she was recently heard to say that she could kill him. Cleo keeps busy with her librarian duties, as well as trying to rally support for the library. With her mobility driving around the bookmobile, she also begins to do a little sleuthing of her own.

This is the first book in the Bookmobile mystery series, and a great introduction to the town and characters it was. I loved all the eccentric characters, especially some from the retirement community. I particularly enjoyed the smart, capable, spry, more mature protagonist. She has a gentleman friend, but accent on friend. I assume they will eventually become more than that, but I look forward to seeing their relationship develop at a realistic pace. There are three wonderful pets in the story that add to the humour, small town feel as well as being somewhat instrumental in capturing the culprit. The pace was quite quick and I read this one in less than a day. There were several red herrings and a few twists that kept me guessing. Once again, I failed at my detecting and did not figure out who the murderer was until just before the final showdown. I am looking forward to the next book in this series to see what is next for Cleo and her bookmobile. If you enjoy cozy mysteries with older characters as well as eccentric ones, they you will love The Bookmobile Mysteries.

Nice new entry into the cozy mystery genre with books as a feature. By the end of the book I had begun to root for the characters. Looking forward to number 2.
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This is a great book with a wonderful story and well developed characters. The story flowed very well and was very enjoyable. This book will keep you reading long into the night and you will not want to put this book down until you finish. This was such a great read and full of surprises. I am looking forward to reading other books by this great author.

After a damaging storm, Cleo Watkins's small town library may be closed for good, if a certain cocky young mayor has anything to do with it! Not to be deterred, Cleo takes her love of reading on the road. At the helm of the Words on Wheels bookmobile, Watkins cruises the roads in her tiny slice of Georgia, looking for support.
It isn't long before an eccentric local is reading up on murder. Is he a danger to the community?
Mary-Rose, Cleo's close friend is a suspect when a bludgeoned body is discovered, so what is a girl to do? Hopefully, Cleo can put her book learned investigative skills to use. Who is the the guilty part? Find out in Better Off Read by Nora Page.

I’m yet to be completely sold on cosy mysteries but this was a moderately enjoyable read.

When the library is damaged, 75 year old librarian Cleo makes her rounds in her ‘bookmobile’ (a RV with books basically). At one of her stops, she finds the local bully dead. Cleo then turns sleuth when her friend and grandson are both pinged as suspects in his murder.

Better Off Read includes many of the must-haves of the cosy mystery. There’s the southern US small town setting, the plethora of colourful townsfolk who serve as likely suspects, and the endless description of food. I thought Page did a pretty good job with all of these.

I picked the book mostly because I love books about books and assumed a librarian main character would make this a sure thing. However, I thought there could have been a lot more.

The murder/mystery plot itself was unfortunately kind of boring. There were red herrings but I still somehow realised the murderer quite early. When we got to the reveal, however, I was surprised when Page turned them into a sociopath. Less of a surprise, and less than believable, was the way the fallout of the murderer’s identity was tied up so neatly.

I do love older characters but, at times, I found it difficult to believe Cleo could be quite so sprightly at 75. The romance she has with fellow booklover Henry is also a little underwhelming. I adore older people romance and this should have been right up my alley but their chemistry was just non-existent, I thought. (Although I did find the running joke of him not being her boyfriend amusing.)

I did wonder if Page has the idea to write a prequel for this book, as it’s implied quite heavily that Cleo has solved crimes in the past. It would also give her a chance to include Cleo and Henry’s ‘meet cute’.

Another must have for a cosy is a cat or dog. In this case, Page ticked the box with one of each. I was relieved that neither animal was annoying, so the book earned an extra half a star just from this small point! (The animals in some of the other cosies I’ve read have driven me insane.)

Overall, I would recommend this when you are searching for a light mystery.

3 out of 5

3.5
Cleo Watkins is the librarian at the Catalpa Springs library. When the library sustains heavy storm damage. she has a hard time convincing the mayor that it is worth the money to rebuild the library. Her only option is to take the bus converted to a bookmobile out in search of supporters. When one of them turns up murdered, Cleo puts on her librarian's analysis cap to solve this murder mystery.

No one was more excited than me to discover this is book #1 of a series. I loved Cleo! She is a force to be reckoned with especially when it comes to her beloved library and all the patrons who value it. If anyone thought that at age 75 she would just roll over, they were wrong. Do not mess with Cleo!
I'm looking forward to keeping up with Cleo and to see where the next books take her.

I received this book from Crooked Lane Books via Netgalley.

A new series is something to always cheer for. I was eager to read this book and wasn’t disappointed. Cleo is my new friend. She is a delightful older gal who certainly doesn’t act her age. I had visions of Sophia from Golden Girls a couple of times when I was envisioning Cleo. Think Miss Marple meets Sophia and I would say that is Cleo. I was bummed by the victim but sometimes we like the victims. The mystery was easy to like, but not the easiest to solve. I love a mystery and setting that centers around book lovers. This was a great start to a new series in my eyes, and I want more antics from Cleo!

Nora Page introduces Bookmobile mysteries in Better Off Read.. The mayor wants to attract a major fishing tourist attraction, close down the library and retire the librarian Cleo Watkins. Cleo is driving the bookmobile while the library is shuttered due to needed repairs. Murder and mayhem arrives and there are lots of suspects. Relaxing cozy in a small Georgia town. Read and figure whodunit.

This new series introduces Cleo Watkins the seventy- five year old librarian of Catalpa Springs, Georgia, who is at odds with Mayor Day when he wants to tear down the remaining walls of the historic library that has recently been decimated by a storm and use the funds to build a fishing pier and casino for a high-end clientele.

Cleo’s wish to rebuild is not dead yet and as she takes off around town in her mobile Words on Wheels library, one of her first stops is to a major benefactor. When Buford Krandall’s body is found amidst a wreckage of papers and true crime books, Cleo and her friends set out to solve his murder. Little did Cleo know that her best friend, and a person that was currently waging war with the dead man, would become the prime suspect. Nora Page does try to distract you with the on goings of her grandson Ollie, but it is still a straightforward story.

This is a typical cozy mystery complete with a small town, pets, quirky friends, a love interest, food, and books lovers. There is good potential for this series as long as Nora Page can add more subtext to keep the reader’s mind bouncing back and forth.

A very pleasant read that has a vast cast of characters. However, the reader, is left with sorting the chaff in order to find the wheat. I am not ashamed to admit that I did not find the wheat until it was revealed to me. Although I do believe that some smoke and mirrors were used to find the mastermind behind the dastardly scheme. A satisfactory tale, which you will enjoy, if you prefer your murder mystery with little emphasis on the more lurid aspects of the murder or victim.

I have rated this book 4 stars.

I received an ARC from Netgalley for my unbiased opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for offering me this book in exchange for a honest review.

I have always thought that a bookmobile would be a fun job since I am from a small community without a library. I’m also from Georgia, which is the setting for this book. Cleo’s little bookmobile is in trouble as her primary benefactor is found dead, and the mayor wants to shut her little bus down. Now, Cleo’s best friend is accused of said murder. Cleo must use her skills in order to vindicate her friend and hopefully keep her bookmobile rolling. This book had promise, and I really wanted to enjoy it more. However, I could not connect with Cleo, and the murder victim appeared to be a likeable citizen rather than an unlikeable eccentric benefactor.

Better Off Read by Nora Page is the first book in the Bookmobile Mystery series. Cleo is a seventy-something librarian in a small rural south Georgia town. The local library has suffered storm damage but the mayor has his sights set on making the town a fishing hot spot. Cleo heads out in the bookmobile to pass out books and gather support for the library. When one of the library's main supporters is found murdered, the suspects are many. Cleo and her sidekick feline Rhett Butler set out to solve the murder and save the library. I appreciated the rural southern setting where eccentric characters and crazy happenings rival any large city. I look forward to more from this series!

Better Off Read is the first book in the Bookmobile Mystery series! Its main character is Cleo Watkins—a senior librarian who wants to save her storm-damaged library from closing down. When a major benefactor for the library is murdered and her best friend goes down for it, Cleo must do everything in her power to clear her friend’s name and get to the truth.

I love cozies! They’re one of my favorite genres, and I read them all the time. But this one wasn’t my favorite. It was sort of hard to get into at first. The beginning was really really slow for me. But once I got through the first couple of chapters, it was smooth sailing after that.

I adored Cleo, the main character. That spunky old lady reminded me of my own grandma who sadly passed away. Like she seriously gave me some nostalgic vibes as I was reading. It was nice really.

I didn’t really connect with any of the other characters in the story. I really really wanted to though because I loved Cleo so much. I really wanted to connect with everyone else like I did her…but I just didn’t.

Overall, this isn’t a perfect book, but I did enjoy the engaging mystery and the entertaining main character. I think I will give the second book a try though because I loved Cleo’s character that much, and I definitely see potential here.

A fun first in series, but lacking something. A lot of this book was fun to read. Cleo is a very passionate, quirky main character. The mayor makes a great antagonist, although I was hoping he would be the victim. The ending surprised me, but I was left feeling like something was missing.

I loved the bookmobile, and that Cleo was older and spunky and fighting for her library. The small town setting was drawn nicely and many of the characters were enjoyable. There were a LOT of characters introduced in this book, however, and and at times I confused them. The story was good, with a twist or two I didn't see coming.

However, the start was slow, and it took me until I was a good third of the way through before I really got drawn into the story. In theory, I should have loved Cleo but I felt like I still didn't really know as much about her as I would have liked to, and hopefully this will be sorted as the series continues (and I hope it does). I love the idea of her character, so I hope to see her developed a little more fully in the next story.

Some of the characters in the book - the mayor and sheriff, in particular - who I assume will be recurring thorns in Cleo's side, felt cartoonish. The rest of the characters were interesting and I look forward to learning more about them as the series continues. She had some fun twists with several of the characters that I was not expecting!

I look forward to learning more about Cleo and hopefully seeing the library in repair in author Page's next novel.

Many thanks to Goodreads for providing a copy of the book. All opinions are my own.