The Lighthouse Library series continues to be one of my favorite series. I like all of the characters, especially Charles.

A nice and friendly library mystery with a library cat to boot filled my days at the beginning of summer. The sixth book in the series, it is easy to read without the background material that may have been present in earlier books. The lighthouse housing the library actually exists in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, though the author has added a full-service library and a fourth story apartment to the contents of the actual building. The author compares the library to Dr. Who’s Tardis - larger on the inside than it is on the outside. The lighthouse/library is supposed to be haunted - but only one rather strange library board member really believes that story.

The mystery begins with the discovery of a strange tin box containing a diary, a hand-drawn map, and a cryptic note. Dating from the time of the Civil War, no one is sure whether the contents are significant or just the result of a young boy’s imagination - but, regardless, it leads to murder.

The story is a great cozy mystery with enough history woven in to allow the reader to follow his or her own research path if they choose to do so. Though understanding the history is not critical to following the story, it meant spending a few extra minutes in Google in order to better understand the history of the Outer Banks.

Whether the reader is a cozy mystery lover, a civil war buff, or library connoisseur, the book will be a fun read for a couple of days and nights.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are my own.

Another solid addition to the series! I look forward to each new release.

This book continues with construction on the lighthouse library. During that construction, a box is found containing an old diary. The usual crew is present with some worthwhile additions.

Surprisingly, I found Louise Jane growing on me in this book. Her character feels more developed and complex this time around. My only complaint is Conner and Lucy’s too high school relationship. I don’t need or want the nitty gritty details - this isn’t that kind of series, but let’s go!

Overall, a great and involved storyline, and I can’t wait for the next one!

Lovers of cozy mystery, this one is for you!

Lighthouse Library Mystery #6 is a well written and charming book where the main character, Lucy, and her colleagues at The Bodie Lighthouse Library helps the police investigate a murder that's taken place inside the library. There is also a tin box with old documents (treasure map?) that are part of the story.

The story has a nice flow with a really good language.
This was my first book by Eva Gates and I will be looking for the next book in the series. I want to follow the characters ;)

The publishers kindly provided me with a free copy through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enthusiastically recommend the latest offering in the A Lighthouse Library Mystery series! The characters are so engaging and the setting is a great escape to a place I've never been. This mystery had everything - buried 'treasure', codes to break in order to find the possible treasure, murder and even historical feuds. It is also full of humor and has a delightful touch of romance. I look forward to many more from Eva Gates.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

During construction on the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library, the construction crew finds a mysterious box. Librarian Lucy Richardson opens the box and finds a diary of what seems to be entries of weather and a hand-drawn map. Once the book was found the library was overrun by people wanting to see the book. They finally get everyone to leave the library and close up, Lucy leaves on a date with Connor. When Lucy and Connor return they find that the library has been broken into. When they go into to see if anything has been stolen they find a body and the map missing. Does the fact the map missing have something to do with the murder?

This is one of my favorite series, I mean come on it takes place in a library. The book is very entertaining and the characters are interesting. My favorite characters are Lucy and her cat Charles, they have a wonderful relationship. The setting of a library in a lighthouse is very unique. The mystery is well plotted and has several twists and turns to keep the readers guessing. The books can be enjoyed as stand-alone mysteries and I recommend the book to cozy mystery fans.

I voluntarily agreed to read a copy of this book supplied by Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own and in no way have been influenced.

librarian, library, amateur-sleuth, law-enforcement, murder, theft, greed, Outer-Banks, library-cat, cozy-mystery, friendship

What do you know about the Freedman colony in the Outer Banks? That's your free history lesson in this fun mystery at the most marvelous lighthouse library anywhere. The characters certainly are and the plot is ingenious! It's a very good mystery with murder, theft, greed, and even a wonderful plan to keep kids safe while construction workers do their job! I loved it!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

This book is funny, cute and does a great job selling the Outer Banks. The quirky characters and their mischief are important aspects that make this mystery come to life. I love this book and this author. What a fantastic and fun read. This is perfect to read at the beach! Especially if you are headed down to one of the beaches in Nags Head. It was a fun read.

Entertaining, fun and captivating with Lucy and her Librarian friends. A great storyline with cool characters like Louise Jane she is rather brash and unashamedly, I like her. In this cozy mystery, the star was definitely Louise Jane with her shocking swordsmanship. This is like a jigsaw puzzle, first, you must solve the murder but to solve the murder you must first find the stolen items and when you do this then you would find the killer or killers and then you needed to solve the cryptogram, really cool. I like that part cause I’m a puzzle fanatic myself, so this book gets the thumbs up five times from me.

I love this Lighthouse library mystery series. What could be better than books and a lighthouse. Once again Lucy is involved trying to catch a killer. She swears she isn’t, that all she plans to do is work on the code they found, but plans can change.
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This is the best book of the series so far! The mystery was intriguing and entertaining with a well thought out plot with plenty of twists and turns to keep you engaged. The characters were well developed with interesting personalities with auxiliary characters becoming even more fleshed out. The relationships between the main character and the auxiliary characters also went a step deeper in this book keeping the reader engaged and interested to see what happens next in the lives of the characters. If you haven't read the series, you don't have to in order to enjoy this book. However, your enjoyment will be enhanced if you do take the time to enjoy the entire series. I look forward to reading what happens next in these characters lives, especially with Lucy (the main character) and her beau, Connor.

Great story. I don't want to give out any spoilers, but the end of the this story was especially sweet and made me feel that sometimes things do get better!

I like this series a lot and this book didn't disappoint me.... except for a little bit of a cliff-hanger. (Don't worry the mystery is solved.) Well-written, it reads easily with characters that I feel like friends to me.

I so with that I could visit Lucy and the library, but I guess that I'll just have to wait until the next book.

The outcome was predictable but cute, and, well, cozy! Lucy is a likable character; her thoughts and observations are amusing. Example: "I took the first welcome bite and chewed happily. I caught sight of Elizabeth MacArthur and Norman Hoskins checking the selection at the bookstore tent, and chewed less happily." She's just fun and quirky.

There are a lot of characters, but many are so minor it really doesn't matter if you forget a name. I will continue to read this series.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

Read and Buried by Eva Gates is another outstanding addition to this series. I was so excited to see this book was going to be available in October since I really love visiting the Outer Banks and the Bodie Island Lighthouse.

Ms. Gates has again written a complex mystery with a quickly paced plot, several suspects and plenty of twists. Lucy swears she's not going to be involved this time but she can't resist when another library co-worker has old ties to the victim. All of the characters have been developed so well over the last five books and yet Ms. Gates has allowed us to see a little more into Charlene's past in this one. The secondary mystery of the map and coded message had me completely baffled until Lucy and the gang finally found the key for the code. I enjoyed every minute of reading this book and managed to finish it in an afternoon.

Read and Buried is an enjoyable read with multiple mysteries - the mysterious find in the journal (is it really just daily weather updates or is it a code?), trying to break the code, Jeremy's murder in Bertie's office, stolen documents and large number of suspects, and the break-in where Charles the wonder cat stops the intruder.

For Jeremy's murder, the suspect list is complicated by the fact that he was not faithful to his wife and a has a list of former girlfriends. Is his murder related to the historical find or to his personal life? His wife only stayed married to him so they could inherit a lot of money from his mother. Several other women really seemed to love him, but how reciprocated that was is unclear.

The code breaking attempts are really fascinating, it's fun learning about the different types of keys and trying to figure out what was used here. What is the historical significance of the the two papers that were stolen? The pace of the mysteries was very well done, they unravel fairly evening throughout the book with a nice number of surprises to keep readers on their toes.

Lucy and Connor's relationship continues to develop and there's more balance of daily life versus the investigations in this book. Louise Jane remains a tremendous pain in the rear; trying to break into the library, showing up late at night to host a séance in Lucy's apartment (without telling Lucy in advance or the other guests she invites along what it's about); and a variety of other things. Her behaviour keeps getting written off because she's a local with family history but if she weren't, the police would've been dealing with her actions.

One thing I was baffled by (not being American, so I don't know how common this is) was Settler's Day as a local celebration. They included Native Americans as settlers (without acknowledging that European settlers did to them) and didn't recognize enslaved people though there are discussions of descendants of enslaved people in the area. Then a man in a Confederate uniform wins the costume contest and there's no controversy over it despite what that represents.

Lighthouse Library Mystery #6

When we last left Lucy and The Bodie Island Lighthouse Library, Lucy and Bertie were thinking of ways to raise money to repair the foundation. Now the work is not far from completion. The Book Club is reading Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne.  Quite apt with the huge equipment digging all around the library and way down.

Things are humming along when the foreman comes running in demanding Bertie and Lucy follow him to the dig site. They have found something and no one is touching it until they see it. Buried treasure? Civil War relics? They find a box. Inside, a small diary with nothing inside but the tides and the weather for each day. Oh! And 2 pages that have fallen out. One is a marked map with numbers on it and one sheet looks like something written in code. 

Everyone from Louise Jane to Diane and Curtis is fighting to see the papers and Bertie is even fending off the other historians who are planning a Settler's Day soon on the grounds. One in particular. One who wants what he wants now. And when he is found dead in Bertie's office and the map and coded paper are missing, everyone is intent on cracking the code and finding treasure.

 There was a really nice subplot concerning The Freedman's Colony and the new development the city is fighting. I really enjoyed the history lesson.

Lucy tried so hard not to stick her pert little nose in things but we all know her better than that.  But this time she may end up on the wrong side of history! Unless her arch nemesis can save the day!

I love this series. A lighthouse and a library? And Charles the library cat? Cuteness overload.

Well Done!

NetGalley/ October 8th, 2019 by Crooked Lane Books

I used to read cozy mysteries as my favorite genre, but the last year I have read mostly my favorite series' newest books. The Lighthouse Mysteries is a favorite of mine and I was excited to see a new one added to the series. I think it may be the best one yet with Lucy and her coworkers trying to solve a code that was found during construction. The code brings out the selfishness in people in the community as they argue who gets access to it for solving. This brings the murder of a new Historical Society member and Lucy once again has a mystery to solve. Cozy mystery readers will love this newest installment to the series.

Another excellent book in this series. The author is one of my favorites. I absolutely love the writing style. I'm constantly highlighting sentences, especially in this book. The story was interesting as well. I like how the reader gets to know a different character in the series a little more in-depth in the different books. The main character is great - she doesn't do foolish things to get involved (like the pattern in other cozy mysteries). I'm looking forward to the next in the series. I hope this series goes for a very long time.

Lucy is back with another mystery at the lighthouse Library. This one involves the lighthouse itself, as repairs are being made to keep the building standing for another century. As Lucy and Connor are finding their footing as a couple, this new incident could put their relationship on hold. Good pacing, well developed and familiar characters, and plenty of fun make this a great read and addition to the series.