This is one of my favorite series and this one did not disappoint. The tourists have gone home and the locals are enjoying winter in Michigan. Minnie and Eddie are driving the library bookmobile along the back roads. When a local patron does not show up at a her stop they decide to drive by to see if anything is wrong and they find her body. Minnie sets out to solve the murder with the help of the local police. Along with her crime solving she is also helping to plan two weddings, break in a new library director and exploring her new relationship with Rafe. I really enjoy the library, the small town setting and the characters. The author does a really good job with the Michigan setting. The mystery was good and there were enough suspects to make it interesting. I like it that she does work with the police. I am looking for word to reading the next book. Enjoy

Minnie and her rescue cat Eddie supervise the library bookmobile and solve the occasional murder. Her new library director is acting suspiciously and Minnie worries about the bookmobile surviving. However she keeps Booking the Crook. Cute cozy for an evenings read.

Feisty librarian Minnie Hamilton and her rescue cat, Eddie, battle the elements in snow-covered Michigan, to deliver books to patrons in her trusty bookmobile. But when one of her customers doesn’t turn up to collect her books, Minnie goes to check up on her and discovers the woman lying dead in her driveway. Worrying that if only she’d shown up earlier, she might have been able to save the woman, Minnie takes it upon herself to help find the killer. To top it off, the library has a new director, who seems to think that the bookmobile is a luxury expense. Can Minnie track down the killer and save her bookmobile?

I’m embarrassed to say that this is the first book I’ve read by Laurie Cass. How could I have missed this series?! I actually had to double-check that this wasn’t, in fact, the first in a series, because the writing and narrative voice felt so fresh and vibrant.

Minnie is a charming amateur sleuth with a healthy addiction for books, a pro-snow point of view on winter, and a penchant for spreading cheer. October through April, she and Eddie live with her aunt in a rambling boardinghouse, but come May, she moves to a boat slip in her uncle’s Marina to spend the summer in a houseboat.

For Minnie, solving a murder is just an extension of being a librarian – a little extracurricular research. She has help from her feline friend, Eddie. Eddie is no normal cat. Thankfully, he doesn’t actually talk – I’ve never been a fan of cosies in which the animal is the narrator. But he does play an active part in the investigation, always managing to somehow point his owner in the right direction. He’s intelligent and can hold an entire conversation by simply saying, “Mrr”, in varying intonations.

Minnie carries a book with her wherever she goes, just in case she has to spend more than ten seconds waiting for anything. She has a tendency to slip into book-induced reveries, imagining, for instance, that she’s on an Arctic Expedition with Jon Snow as she crosses a snowy parking lot. If only it were possible to be friends with a character in a book! Booking The Crook is a delightful mystery with an engaging protagonist that had me hooked to the last page.

Make sure you pop over to Laurie Cass’s website, to admire pictures of Eddie in the role of editor and critic.

In the meantime, please excuse me, as I dash off to the nearest bookstore, to track down a copy of Lending A Paw (#1)…

Minnie and Eddie are back behind the wheel! During one fateful bookmobile run, readers discover their next great read while Minnie discovers...her next dead body. BOOKING THE CROOK shares many of the same elements of the previous books in the series while also keeping readers abreast of Minnie's self-growth, career aspirations, friendships, and new love.

This is another great addition to the Bookmobile Cat Mystery Series. Book 7 stars Librarian Minnie and her rescue cat Eddie. Minnie finds one of her regular patrons dead in the snow and it creates quite a controversy. The Library Board is considering the end for the bookmobile because of expense. Set in Michigan Minnie needs the good publicity of solving this murder to save the bookmobile. Things are heating up in the romance department also. Always a good mystery to solve and cat lovers will fall for Eddie. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Booking the Crook: A Bookmobile Cat Mystery
By Laurie Cass
Berkley
July 2019

Review by Cynthia Chow

For someone who doesn’t much like change, librarian Minnie Hamilton is certainly experiencing a lot of it. Her aunt Frances is getting married, there’s a new Chilson District Library director, and Minnie is moving from her beloved houseboat into boyfriend Rafe Niswander’s home. So it’s something of a relief to focus on satisfying the needs of her bookmobile clients, always accompanied by her bookmobile cat Eddie. When one of her most reliable bookmobile patrons fails to pick up her requested books, Minnie feels compelled to deliver the items directly to Rowan Bennethum’s doorstep. It turns out that Minnie was right to be concerned, as she and her library assistant Julia discover Rowan collapsed in her driveway, the cause later determined to be poison.

Minnie could almost have followed the orders of Detective Hal Inwood’s orders to leave matters to the Sherriff’s Office if not for the pleas of Rowan’s devastated college-age children. Anya sees her brother Collier spiraling into depression, and they beg Minnie to once again help and track down their mother’s killer. Feeling more than a little guilty for not finding Rowan sooner, and sympathetic to Anya and Collier’s pain, Minnie begins her own queries that lead to a mysterious maple-flavored packet found in the home of the sugar-detesting Rowan. It’s the first clue in the murder of the loan officer, whose job denying and approving bank loans gave her the power to destroy lives; and may have ended her own.

This 7th in the series continues to be a delight for book and library lovers, incorporating so many details unique to a library setting. Minnie herself is a librarian through and through, one who delights in finding the perfect book for a patron and unable to conceive of a life without reading. Of course Minnie has a library association-related coffee mug, and she spends a considerable amount of time discussing her investigations with the feline Eddie. Minnie’s reluctance to leave her houseboat is played out through her phobia of hardware stores, more specifically the very relatable feeling of being overwhelmed with choices that seem so permanent. Quirky humor shines through, not just through Minnie and her friends but through her loyal patrons. The Meta commentary on conventional stories delivers a few giggles as well, with a medieval adventure reader having a very feminist viewpoint of the conventional fairy tale while Minnie herself uses suspense movie twists to convince a witness to provide testimony. The use of creativity and wit elevates this series above so many others, building up to a conclusion that will surprise readers as much as it does to Minnie. A happy ending perfectly designed for a bookmobile librarian ensures that this series will satisfy what is a deservedly growing fan base of the Bookmobile Cat series.

I really love this series! This is the 7th in the Bookmobile Cat Mystery series. It's a very enjoyable series, I would recommend all of them! This particular book focuses on Minnie, her library cat partner, Eddie and the a new director of the library. While she navigates those problems at work, she also stumbles in to a murder investigation. Well written and fun, I'm always left guessing until the end.

I really enjoyed the characters in this book. I connected with them and became engrossed in the plot line because of my connection with the protagonist. I highly recommend this series and can't wait for the next one

New directors have been hired at the Chilson district library, and they are asking a LOT of strange questions. The town itself is having its own strange happenings. When a member of the town is found murdered in her driveway and tiny clues may or may not lead to the killer, Minnie steps in to help out the local police force.

Not only is there a new director at the library where Minnie works, there's also a new president of the library's board of directors. When the two start asking all kinds of weird questions and are frequently seen with their heads together, Minnie and the rest of the staff begin to worry about the security of their jobs and other possible changes at the library. As if that's not enough, while out on a bookmobile run, Minnie and Julia find the body of a friend lying in the snow. What appears to have been a simple heart attack turns out to be murder, and Minnie promises the victim's children that she will help find the identity of the killer.

This is book #7 in this series, and I have not yet been disappointed by any of the stories. Libraries are near and dear to my heart, and I have warm fuzzy memories of going to the bookmobile as a kid, so I find the setting very appealing. In addition, this book accurately portrays winter in the Great Lakes area, and I like that it shows characters who actually enjoy winter rather than just enduring it. I like the recurring characters, although some of them weren't as involved in this book as I would have liked. The mystery provided plenty of possible suspects, each with a realistic motive, and I didn't guess the identity of the killer until it was revealed in the story, although I had crossed several of the suspects off my list as the book progressed. I look forward to reading the next book in this series!

3.75 stars

Minnie the bookmobile librarian and her feline sidekick Eddie are back for another adventure. It's winter in Michigan, and the bookmobile is making snowy rounds one afternoon when sadly, they find the dead body of one of their customers in a driveway. And it doesn't take long to discover it was murder.

Was it the husband? The developer that the victim argued with? Or a loan client she had disappointed?

Meanwhile, along with helping to solve a mystery, Minnie is adjusting to a new boss and new board president -- something is up and she's nervous about what it means for the bookmobile. And her sweetie Rafe and she are adjusting to their new relationship as he works on their dream house.

Fun as always. Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Book #7 in the series. It is always fun riding along with Eddie and Minnie. Eddie once again helps Minnie find the dead body. While coping with this, Minnie needs to help with the remodeling of a house so she has somewhere to live since the bed and breakfast has been sold. She also has the concern about what the new director and board is planning with the bookmobile.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am liking this series more and more with each new book! I love the characters and the mysteries keep me guessing right along with Minnie. I can't wait to see what adventures Minnie and Eddie go on next!