Everyone's favorite assistant librarian and ardent book lover is back in the second installment of the beloved bookroom mystery series. After saving boxes of books headed straight for the landfill after the town's manager decided to turn the library into a bookless, tech wonderland, Tru is now running a clandestine bookroom in the basement of the library. She now divides her time between her duties in the bookless portion of the main library and her other secret responsibilities centered around the bookroom in the basement. Things become even more complicated for Tru when vandals enter the space, targeting the mystery section, destroying shelves and books alike. When another murder occurs close to Tru's secret bookroom, it quickly becomes apparent that the murder might be linked to the vandalism that recently took place. Since she can't go to the police with her suspicions, Tru decides to once again play detective in an effort to solve the murder and keep her beloved sanctuary safe.
A Perfect Bind Plot is Great follow up to the first book in the series, following the same unique and clever premise of a clandestine bookroom in the basement of a bookless library. Tru is a passionate and ardent defender of the printed word and her dedication to maintaining the bookroom is a balm for libraries that are fighting for funding across the nation. Gradually Tru's bookroom is becoming less of a secret and more of a resource for members of the community and I am intrigued to see how the author handles this in future books in the series. The mystery was well plotted and intriguing, moving in surprising directions at times. Town history is uncovered slowly over the course of the novel ties in nicely with the current happenings including the murder and the vandalism of the secret bookroom. There was a great cast of secondary characters to round things out including my personal favorite, Dewey Decimal, the cat mascot. Interspersed in the mystery were some romantic subplots including the developing relationship between Tru and detective Jace, adding a nice slice of light to the overall story. I highly recommend the beloved book series to lovers of the printed word and cozy mystery readers alike.

This book was an absolute delight! I am 100% a sucker for a great book about books, and this one added in those cozy fall vibes I just NEEDED to read and I was here for it. I had not read anything by Dorothy St. James before that I could recall, and I immediately needed to read more from this series especially.

I mean, what could be better than a librarian no only fighting crime, but fighting for her library reader's right to reading physical copies. A woman after my own heart for sure, Tru was such a wonderful main character - how could you not adore a librarian who creates a secret book room, and hosts a book club that lives by WWAD? What would Agatha Christie Do?! With her keen sense of her community and the determination to figure it out, Tru easily became one of my cozy character favorites with this book!

The writing style had the perfect balance of introducing characters and plot line to keep you engaged and guessing who done it, while adding in some romance, drama and small town fun that I really enjoyed! This one had so many small details that added to the charm of the book -- the historical element of the WHY of the murder, the town people's obsession with the apple pie contest, and each of the supporting characters personalities I know I'll be buying the first book to catch up, and recommending this one to anyone I can.

Thank you to NetGalley + Berkley Books for the advance reader's copy & for having me on this book tour! 4.5 stars from me.

The public library in Cypress, South Carolina is a hotbed of activity, between its new bookless technology center on the first floor and the secret basement book room, where patrons in the know gravitate to affirm their love of books in physical format. On any given day, librarian Trudell (Tru) Beckett has her hands full ensuring that the secret sanctuary stays off the radar screen of her boss, the formidable head librarian Lida Farnsworth. To complicate matters even further, the book room has recently been the scene of several break-ins and acts of vandalism, and its very existence is threatened to be exposed when a dead body is found in a pick up truck in the library's back alley. Are the break-ins, vandalism, and murder related? Tru and the book room insiders are compelled to find out in order to preserve their secret oasis.

Meanwhile, the town gossips are aflutter over the murder, fueling an out-of-control rumor mill of outlandish accusations and motives, including the possibility that the killer may be one of the participants in the annual apple pie baking contest who is in search of the winning recipe at any cost. Given the history of the town and its residents, there are numerous suspects and theories for Tru and her friends to weed through. Are they up to the task? Can they do so without endangering their own safety and continue to keep the beloved book room a secret?

A Perfect Bind is a satisfying blend of mystery, humor, and budding romance. The novel has a generous amount of red herrings, small-town folklore, and suspects to keep the plot moving forward, while also advancing personal relationships. St. James's cast of characters are high-spirited and create the perfect stage for madcap moments, outrageous behavior, and laugh-out loud situations--the very elements that draw cozy mystery fans into a series and leave them anticipating the next installment.

This was such a fun cozy mystery! Tru is a young librarian, and I adore her. The mystery has quirky characters and so many twists. I loved this!

This is the second book in the series and it did not disappoint. This book has everything, a secret book room within a library, a cat named Dewey Decimal, a nosy & hot cop, and a possible ghost vandalizing the book room. This book is a quick and enjoyable read that is hard to put down, I cannot wait for book #3.

A PERFECT BIND by Dorothy St. James
The Second Beloved Bookroom Mystery

Secrets make life difficult, especially for honest librarian Tru Beckett. But she must keep the bookroom in the basement of the library a secret. Ever since her beloved library abolished real books, Tru made it her mission to save them. But as more and more people utilize the space and bring their friends, Tru is worried her secret will get out. A secret that is especially hard to keep from Detective Jace Bailey. A secret also hard to hide when vandals are breaking in creating a mess and destroying books. When Doris runs in declaring there's a dead body behind the library Tru is sure it couldn't have anything to do with her bookroom. Could it? Between dispelling rumors about her love life and fervor about the upcoming apple pie contest Tru will try to determine who is vandalizing their bookroom and perhaps who is a murderer as well.

While Tori's histrionics are a bit much, I love the characters here. They all have depth and so many shades of gray. While I don't like Anne and her ideas about technological superiority, we find some positive traits about her in the second Beloved Bookroom Mystery. The same can be said for the stern Mrs. Farnsworth who refuses to bow down to members of the community trying to ban library programs. Jace and Charlie are both irresistible and I can't help laughing at the rumors about Tru and Jace. The addition of a possible poltergeist is fantastic!

A PERFECT BIND is a perfect blend of books and murder. Local history and tradition add interest and fun and that dash of romance makes a great read even better.

A Perfect Bind Earns 5/5 Bodies Outside the Library…Entertaining Fun!

Trudell Becket is a dedicated assistant librarian, but very few are aware of her secret. She and her friends rescued boxes and boxes of books destined for the landfill when the town manager’s plan was to turn the library into a “bookless” tech wonder and set up a “secret” bookroom in the basement, a former WWII-era bomb shelter. But, today she arrives to work upstairs, but loaded down with books in one tote and her tabby cat Dewey Decimal tucked in the other, she cautiously masks her movements toward the back exit, through a parking lot, and arriving at the heavy double doors leading to her pride and joy. The doors are ajar…“Not again!” she grimaces. Vandals have targeted the mystery section damaging shelves, throwing books on the floor, and ripping covers off copies, like Christie’s “The Body in the Library.” Who would do this? A poltergeist is Herbert Crawford, a regular bookroom patron, explanation according to rumors and his grandmother’s stories. Really? Then how does that explain the dead body out back. Tru has dealt with a lot trying to keep her bookroom secret, navigating the suspicious comments from the IT gal and demands by head librarian, but murder? The rumors about the victim are varied from drunkenness and money problems to business ethics and philosophical differences. But, it’s the threatening note that causes Tru the most concern.

Check it Out! Dorothy St. James has penned another well-written cozy as the second book in her Beloved Bookroom Mystery series. Quite a fun premise saving all the print books and opening on the sly a secret old-school library, but add a clever murder mystery wrapped in several suspects, intriguing motives, and law enforcement that doesn’t share much, and you have an engaging read! Tru is well-known to everyone in the community, so she feels comfortable approaching them for answers and insights, and they feel comfortable offering information, helpful or gossipy. So, who would threaten her? Tru’s family dynamic is a challenge with divorced parents who seem unable to cohabitate in the same town, the same hangouts, the same church, but Tru has her own way of handling it. Dorothy’s well-written drama follows the traditional cozy formula I enjoy with an early discovery of the crime, focus on the investigation, diverse characters, twists, personal peril, and karma! Great read!

Librarian Tru Beckett is one busy librarian. She works in the public electronic library, and along with her best friend Tori and a few other friends, manages a secret library in the basement of that very same library with physical books. Though how much of a secret the library is, is becoming more of a mystery. Unfortunately there has been someone who's been breaking in and vandalizing the place. A frequent patron is convinced it's a poltergeist. It doesn't stop there. When the body of Owen Maynard is discovered behind the library with an actual library book left at the scene, the group of friends decide to get together and figure out what exactly is going on in the small town of Cypress, North Carolina. With the inspiration of Miss Marple and Agatha Christy, the gang takes matters into their own hands, however, keeping it on the down-low from Tru's crush detective Jace Bailey. Can Tru and the gang figure out who is the killer before they strike again? Is the murder and the vandalism in the library tied together?
Thank you Netgalley, Dorothy St. James, and Berkley Publishing Group for the opportunity to read and review this book. I loved it! I love cozy mysteries. This was was one of the best I've read. I didn't realize that this was a second installment in a series, but you can definitely read it as a stand alone. With cute romance, sleuthing, a cut throat apple pie contest, and lots of laughs, what's not to love? This is a definite must read. I'm definitely going to be going back and reading the first one. I rate this ⭐ ⭐⭐⭐💫

A Perfect Bind is a cozy mystery featuring Tru Beckett. Tru is a librarian in a small town in South Carolina. As a lover of printed books, she makes a secret bookroom for old books in the library basement when her branch goes digital. After the bookroom is vandalized more than once, a body is found, and Tru goes on the hunt for the killer, along with her friends Flossie and Tori. Their motto is always WWMMD (What Would Miss Marple Do?).

I wanted to read this mystery because I enjoyed the first book in the series so much. The secret bookroom is a clever idea and the library setting is appealing. I always am partial to southern mysteries too.

This was a fun read. Tru and her friends Flossie and Tori are back to solve another mystery. I enjoy these characters and their friendship. I also like Tru's slowly developing romance with her high school crush, Jace, who is now a police detectove in the little town of Cypress. The addition of a lovable cat - with the cute name Dewey Decimel - makes the book even more appealing.

The mystery aspect of the story was set up perfectly with several possible suspects. I figured out the killer before Tru did but enjoyed watching her solve the case. Tru has a knack for getting herself in danger, and that happened again in this book.

As someone interested in history and the past, I loved the town history and the story of the basement area of the library. Before it was a secret bookroom or a storage area, it was a bomb shelter, and long before that, it was an illegal speakeasy!

"'I think we can get it tonight . . . right now, even.' I hoped we could. I laid out the photographs I’d been studying. 'Look here. The old speakeasy became one of the new storage rooms in the 1930s. But then, look here. The bomb shelter, with its metal walls, was built in a way that blocks the only door leading into the speakeasy, essentially shutting it off from the outside world forever.'” (eBook location 3916).

I recommend A Perfect Bind, and the first book in the series, The Broken Spine, for fans of cozy mysteries and especially for anyone who loves a library setting. This series is so unique and enjoyable!

When librarian Tru Beckett set up a secret library in the basement of the public library where she works, she had no idea it would cause so much trouble. The city of Cypress, South Carolina had decided to take their library into the future and get rid of all the books. All the physical books, that is. They still offer e-readers and electronic books for their patrons, along with 3D printers and sewing machines and lots of classes and activities.

But Tru had been a librarian there for 13 years, and she couldn’t bear the thought of getting rid of the books. So she rescued as many as she could and set up a lending library in an unused room of the basement. It’s not easy to keep it all secret from the head librarian and Tru’s boss, Mrs. Farnsworth, but Tru and her friends have a system. And they have very strict rules about who is allowed in, or even allowed to know about the secret room. Tru’s best friend Tori, who owns a coffeeshop, she knows. Her best friend at the library, Flossie, knows and helps when she can. But police detective Jace Bailey, who Tru harbors a not-so-secret crush on, can not know.

So when someone starts breaking in to the secret room, pulling down shelves and scattering books all over, Tru can’t go to Jace to get some help in figuring out who is breaking in or why. So it’s up to Tru, her best friends, and their mystery book club to try to figure it out. And Dewey Decimal, of course. Every good detective needs a trusty cat to help with the investigation.

But when local auto mechanic Owen Maynard is found in his truck, dead, in the alley behind the library, Tru knows that Jace will be around to investigate that. She doesn’t want to tell him about the break-ins in the secret room. But is it possible that the break-ins are related to the murder? If so, Jace will need to know. But does that mean that Mrs. Farnsworth will find out too, and maybe fire Tru for what she’s been doing?

But more importantly, who would kill Owen? Was it someone unhappy with his work as a mechanic, like used car salesman Frank Calhoun, who has been flirting with Tru? Or could it be mysterious newcomer to town, used bookstore owner Charlie, who Tori had her eye on to be husband number five? He had moved to town from Las Vegas. Is he hiding secrets from his past that ended in murder? Or could it have something to do with the Museum Board? Owen had recently become the vice-president, and Tru heard that all the local research that had been done by the previous vice-president has gone missing. Could he have learned something that caused his death?

Will Tru, Dewey, and her crew be able to figure out who killed Own and who is breaking in to their secret basement library, or will they find that trying to play Miss Marple puts them in more danger than they can handle?

A Perfect Bind is Dorothy St. James’ second book in the Beloved Bookroom Mystery series. Although the series is still fairly new, the characters feel really well developed, with lots of interesting secrets that are still waiting to come out. I thought that the writing is beautiful, making this an effortless read. If I have a complaint about this book (or the series, really), it’s that it is yet another cozy mystery series about a librarian. I do love the secret basement library twist, which adds a layer of interest and sneakiness, but otherwise it’s a little familiar. Which is both a bad thing and a good thing.

But like I said, it’s extremely well written, so if you like a mystery set in a library, with a cat, set in a small town, then this is definitely the book for you.

Egalleys for A Perfect Bind were provided by Berkley Publishing Group through NetGalley, with many thanks.

Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Jeanie

This is a wonderful sequel to the first in series, The Broken Spine. It is a delightful, thoughtful, and even at times downright scary cozy mystery. I enjoy the characters, especially Tru and Flossie, who are intelligent women in their chosen fields. The premise of a library without print books is, to me, as horrifying as it is to Tru! There is humor woven throughout, and the potential for at least one romance. The murder and vandalism kept me guessing throughout, and I enjoyed the history presented.

Renovations to the library are complete, and it reopened with no physical books. Only digital books and tablets to loan out are available. Many new programs have begun for the patrons, most of which are received well. Tru’s secret bookroom, where she and handful of like-minded patrons set up unique items she saved from the landfill, repurposed the WWII era bomb shelter in the basement. Included are local historical documents and several hundred well-loved books. Only people they know well, can keep secrets, and who love printed pages are allowed there to check out books.

One of those people is Hubert, president of the historical museum board, who does much research there. In recent weeks, a vandal has been getting into the library after hours, picking the lock on the bookroom, and tossing books, shelves, and documents to the floor. Some were damaged, but none are missing. Based on what Hubert’s grandmother told him from when she had worked there during Prohibition, there was a poltergeist. He believes the specter has returned to wreak havoc on their priceless library.

They cannot go to the police, as the head librarian, Mrs. Farnsworth, a stickler for the rules, would probably fire Tru for saving the books, even for a good cause. Shortly after opening, a patron came in and said there was a dead body behind the building.

Of all the people Mrs. Farnsworth doesn’t want to see behind the library, it is the town’s only auto mechanic, Owen. Whenever he has too much to drink, he parks behind the library to sleep it off. When she sees Owen’s truck in back, the elderly librarian insists he is sleeping off another drunk, until Tru sees the blood on his head and shirt. He sure wasn’t killed by a poltergeist, but Tru wonders if he was seen by the bookroom vandal and was killed as a result.

The author brings the people of Cypress to life. I enjoy Tru, her friends, and even though not among her favorite people, Anne. Anne is the young techno-wizard who came from Silicon Valley to obtain, set up, and maintain everything needed to take the library paperless. Tru and Flossie are vying for my favorites, even though there is nearly forty years between Tru and the best-selling author. Tru’s best friend Tori is loyal and always goes the extra mile. Jace, the local detective, has a crush on Tru that everyone can see except her, due to long-ago events. I do like him, however, and am rooting for something between the two of them. She rarely dates and keeps turning him down.

Cypress has a small police force, so a state detective comes to help with the murder. While he and Jace know Tru was instrumental in identifying the last murderer in town, they do not want her involved with this case even if she does feel proprietary about the library. Tru isn’t one to sit still, nor are her closest friends. They learn of at least one other death that could be related to this case. It was a great challenge to discern who the killer was as well as the vandal. There were a couple of excellent red herrings, so I didn’t figure out who it was until about the same time Tru did. The end is fully satisfying, and I am looking forward to the next in series! I highly recommend it to those who enjoy bookish cozy mysteries!

A Perfect Bind by Dorothy St. James has Tru Beckett discovering that someone has broken into the secret bookroom in the basement of the Cypress, South Carolina bookless library for the third time. Tru cannot figure out how someone is getting into the private space. A short time later, Owen Maynard is found dead behind the library. Tru wonders if the two incidents can be connected, but she cannot risk telling the police about the secret bookroom. Tru with Flossie and Tori work to find who is behind both crimes. A Perfect Bind is the 2nd A Beloved Bookroom Mystery. It can be read as a standalone for those who have not read The Broken Spine. I like Tru Beckett with her passion for books. She has a sweet cat named Dewey Decimal. I do wish, though, that Tru would stand up to her mother. There is a cast of secondary characters that include Tru’s friends, Flossie, and Tori. There are two mysteries in the story. Someone is breaking into the secret bookroom in the basement of the library, and the murder of local mechanic, Owen. Tru hopes the two incidents are not connected. She is afraid if the police are told about the bookroom, it will get closed down. There are good clues to help readers figure out why the crime happened. The guilty party can be identified early on in the story. I would have liked it to be more of a challenge. I enjoyed the lively reveal. I like how Tru, and Dewey are together. She talks to Dewey who responds to her in his own way. It is cute. At the end of the book, I was left with a couple of questions. I am curious as to why this hi-tech library does not have a matching security system. I would think the door to the basement would have a lock (the type where you need to enter a code or have a card). Also, now that the town manager who forced the library to get rid of the books is gone, why have the books not returned. Those readers who enjoy lighthearted cozy mysteries with books, a sweet cat, and good friends will enjoy reading A Perfect Bind. A Perfect Bind is a cute cozy mystery with a murdered mechanic, a bothered bookroom, a prodding detective, apple pie problems, a meddlesome assistant librarian, and a fun Fall Festival.

A Perfect Bind by Dorothy St. James is the second book in the Beloved Bookroom Mystery series. Librarian Tru Beckett is once again trying to protect her secret basement bookroom from the people in her small hometown of Cypress, South Carolina that she thinks will shut it down. She’s been very careful about who she shares the bookroom with, but now someone is sneaking in after hours and vandalizing the room. The local historian thinks it’s a ghost but Tru knows that someone is looking for something. When the body of local auto mechanic is found in his truck behind the library, Tru is sure that the two things are related. Along with her friends, Flossie and Tori, Tru sets out to investigate just like her favorite mystery novel detectives. What is someone searching for in bookroom and how could it lead to murder?

If you like cozy mysteries, this is a cute series. Tru is a fun main character, but more importantly there are many ancillary characters around Tru that make for an entertaining read. Like most cozy mysteries, there are some silly aspects but they weren’t too bad. I enjoyed this second book a little better than the first and I look forward to more in this series.

What a fun cozy mystery! Warning: You do have to get past the ridiculous situation of a small town library in South Carolina that has banished ALL books in favor of only electronic resources. That would never happen (I hope!); electronic and printed resources can and do live together in harmony in most libraries these days. But once you accept that notion, you will enjoy this series.

The main character of this series is Tru, a young librarian who has rescued a lot of the books her library discarded and has established a secret lending library/bookroom in the basement of the library building. Again - you need to just accept this nonsensical situation and enjoy the story. I loved how the town’s history, uncovered during the course of the book, related to the current murder mystery and the vandalism of the secret bookroom. I was glad that this time, Tru was not one of the suspects (as she was in the first book)! I was also glad that her secret bookroom is gradually being revealed to a larger number of people. Keeping it secret seemed an untenable situation and I’m interested to see how the author uses it in future books in this series. I’m also interested to see how Tru’s relationship with the sexy detective Jace develops.

The local townspeople are varied and some of them are quite funny. I enjoyed the makeover/shopping trip that Tru took under the guidance of her BFF, Tori. Count me in as someone who cannot understand how anyone can be comfortable in high heels! Jace’s reaction to Tru’s new look was priceless. I also laughed at the reaction to the offering of tai chi exercise classes in the library - a very strict, religious woman accused them of being classes in devil worship!

WWMMD (What Would Miss Marple Do?) indeed!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Books for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Assistant librarian Trudell Becket is frustrated. Her beloved library in the tiny town of Cypress has changed – and not for the better. All. Of. The. Books. Are. Gone. They have all been replaced with electronics. Tablets, computers, e-readers and crazy enough, a café and yoga classes now fill the rooms instead of actual books. While there is a time and place for new technology, Tru feels the loss of books is blasphemy and has taken secret steps to keep readers in touch with a secret library. Housed in the basement beneath the library, a chosen few have access to real books and research materials. If Mrs. Farnsworth, the head librarian, finds out about the hidden library, surely Tru will lose the job that she loves.

Keeping it secret is vital, but someone has discovered the library. Tearing down shelves and ripping books and papers, an unknown vandal has been striking at night when the library is closed. It saddens and puzzles Tru. Who is getting in, why are they destroying books and most of all how are they gaining access? Tru loves mysteries – one of her mottos is “What Would Miss Marple Do?” so she begins poking around in places that might get her in trouble. Or possibly killed!

When a body is found behind the library, Tru’s old flame from high school starts poking around. Jace once was a detective in NY, but has returned to the Cypress police department. He flusters Tru in more ways than one. As her secret crush in high school, she has always held a torch for him. He has feelings for her, but she is afraid to take their friendship to a different level. With him on the case, it is more than difficult to keep the secret library under wraps. When the case heats up, Tru and her band of amateur detectives may have bit off more than they can chew, hopefully it will not get anyone killed.

A Perfect Bind is a delightful cozy mystery. The plot is very well written, and the killer was not who I expected. The red herrings were perfectly placed to throw readers off the trail. Quirky, small town characters perfectly accompany the plot, and are fun and interesting. The bit of humor is also a welcome element. If you have read any of my reviews, you’ll know without me saying I am a huge fan of cozies, and this one hits all the marks to make it very enjoyable.

This is the first book I have read by Dorothy St. James, but Ms. St. James has written several cozies. A Perfect Bind is the second book in the Beloved Bookroom Series, the first is A Broken Spine. I plan to read it, as well as her other cozies in the near future.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: I have a material connection because I received a review copy for free from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. Copyright © 2021 Laura Hartman

Overall: A reminder of why I love a good cozy mystery.

Pros:
Tru and Dewey Decimal. I love a librarian-cat duo and this one was super fun.
Setting. A bookless library? Super interesting especially given the mystery.
Mystery. Is this paranormal mystery or a murder mystery? Only time and digging would tell because I for sure won’t here.

Cons:
Pace. Some of the pacing was a bit all over the place.

Someone is breaking into the secret bookroom that librarian Tru Beckett has set up in the basement of the library and is disturbing the books at night when the building is supposed to be closed. Tru’s only lead is the theory that it is a poltergeist, but she suspects that someone all too human is involved. Then, one morning, the body of Owen Maynard, the town drunk, is found behind the library. Tru’s worried that the attacks on her secret room might be a key to solving the murder, so she jumps in to figure out what is going on so she can keep her secret. Will she solve the crime? Or will her secret be revealed?

I enjoyed the first book in the series because of the unique premise, and this book didn’t disappoint. Once again, the secret bookroom provides a great motive for Tru to get involved in solving a crime, and the plot weaves in some fun, surprising directions. I had the killer figured out before it was revealed, but I think I figured it out about the same time Tru did, so I was proud of myself. A couple of characters annoyed me, but for the most part I loved the cast, and I enjoyed seeing depth to them as the book went along. I smiled and laughed my way through the book, especially at the romantic sub-plots. This book is perfectly delightful.

Rogue librarian Tru Becket is certain she’s successfully established her illicit bookroom beneath the Cypress Public Library, having salvaged a good number of the physical library books the town had previously chosen to discard in favor of going electronic-only. Known only to a select circle, the bookroom serves those who favor the feel of books over the convenience of technology, an attitude not shared by everyone in their South Carolina town. Because of this, Tru must live a rather stressful double life running the bookroom below while pretending to toe the party line in her actual place of employment above.

Things get even more stressful when a vandal starts trashing the bookroom after hours, flinging books around with reckless abandon for Tru to find in the morning when she opens up the place. But everyone who knows about the room is a book lover, and Tru is certain that none of them would ever treat books so poorly... would they? The president of the local historical society, Hubert Crawford, is certain it’s the work of a poltergeist, which Tru finds an even less likely theory than sabotage by a disgruntled bibliophile.

But then local mechanic Owen Maynard is found dead in his truck right by the back entrance to the bookroom, giving Hubert even more fuel for his theory:

QUOTE
“Here’s the thing.” His speech cadence thankfully did pick up speed. “A man was killed behind the library back in August of 1921. Does that sound familiar?” He thumped the newspaper article. “Like Owen, this man was drunk. Unlike the situation with Owen, drinking was illegal at the time.”

I nodded.

He looked at me as if that should be enough information to convince me to believe in the poltergeist.

“Thank you,” I said, and pulled the door open. “That’s something I’ll have to think about very carefully.”
END QUOTE

Hubert’s suspicions are easy for the practical Tru to politely brush off. While Owen’s death was a tragedy, Tru is certain it’s unrelated to the bookroom, as Owen hadn’t been privy to their secret. Less easy to brush off, however, are the attentions of handsome police detective Jace Bailey, who knows that Tru is hiding something but doesn’t know exactly what. Tru has had a prickly relationship with Jace since high school, when he was the star quarterback and she was a geeky nobody. Now he’s interested in her romantically but she’s more interested in protecting her bookroom. When it looks like Owen’s death might have something to do with her beloved sanctuary after all, will she be able to risk trusting Jace in pursuit of the truth?

Add to the engrossing murder mystery a scrappy battle to bake Cypress’ best apple pie as well as a religious protest against one of the classes the technophilic Anne Lowery is trying to add to the library’s offerings, and you have the recipe for a rollicking southern cozy. Tru’s attempts to run her illicit bookroom and solve mysteries while dealing with her friends and fellow townsfolk, all while deferring to her extremely proper Mama, make for very entertaining reading.

But it isn’t all comic hijinks. Tru has reason to pause and reflect when a loved one’s life is endangered by her investigations:

QUOTE
If he was dead, it was my fault. My folly had brought us to this. Why in the world did I think I could handle bringing a murderer to justice? Just because I’d read a few hundred (or more) books on the subject? I read fiction. Fiction, for goodness’ sake. Well, I’d read a few true crimes and some procedural handbooks, but mainly I turned to fiction for my crime fix.

Justice. I’d been hungry for justice. Who wasn’t in this world today?

But in single-minded pursuit of my goal, I’d forgotten about the people around me. I’d forgotten about their safety. And because of that, <i>this</i> happened.
END QUOTE

I really enjoyed Dorothy St James’ A Southern Chocolate Shop culinary cozy series, and while this novel unfortunately did not showcase the same amount of diversity as her prior series, it was just as funny and smart. The many subplots were engaging, as well as clever in laying plentiful false trails for the reader to follow in pursuit of the solution to the main murder. I’m excited to read more of this engaging series, especially since I’m one of those people who loves the reconciliation of the traditional and modern, in reading especially. Bonus points too for a delightful frisson of the supernatural!

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC.

🌟🌟🌟🌟 4/5 stars

A Perfect Bind is the second book in the Beloved Bookroom Mystery series and is just as adorable and hilarious as the first. Librarian Tru Beckett and the gang are back to solve another murder when another body is found by the library. We also have the mystery of who is breaking into Tru’s secret bookroom in the basement of the library. Tru and her will-they-won’t-they detective, Jace, are determined to solve the crimes plaguing the town of Cypress.

I love the cast of characters in this series. They are all quirky, hilarious, and sometimes just downright weird (in the best way). The secret bookroom will never not make me laugh and I can’t wait to see where the story goes from here (no spoilers). I am way too invested in the romance between Tru and Jace, so I request even more scenes between the two in the next book.

This is another cute cozy mystery series to get into. I highly recommend the audiobooks because Allyson Ryan is the narrator and is perfection. Accents on point.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow just when you thought the secret bookroom was all safe and sound...vandals were striking, then a murder happened outside the library. Tru and her book friends had their investigating job cut out for them in trying to figure out how the vandalism and the murder could connect in with some events of the past that the victim was looking into.

I love how the whole time I've pretty much despised Anne for coming in and setting up the ridiculous bookless library--I seriously hope this is just the author's imagination, and this never, ever happens anywhere! But just when you want to be mad at her, she does something actually nice. You'll have to read and see.

I hadn't quite seen the whodunit coming until the very end which was really exciting. I was so proud of Tru for calling Jace in for his help. But...what happens in the bookroom stays in the bookroom 'cause I don't want to spoil even one little tidbit. This awesome mystery comes out in ten more days, but I was so grateful to Berkley for approving me to read it, that I just couldn't wait any longer to pick up where the last book left off. I'm super happy with the good direction Jace and Tru's relationship is going too, thanking the author for that one!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by publisher Berkley via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own.