I really enjoyed this start to a new cozy series! I loved the setting and really liked Greta. It’s always fun to read a cozy where the sleuth is a librarian. Greta had some great friends (& supportive parents) who I liked. The mystery had me guessing to the end. I had my suspicions but it was about something else in the storyline! Ha!

I thought this was fun and I think any cozy reader out there would enjoy it! I’m looking forward to more in the series.

This has all the ingredients of a typical cozy mystery: quirky female lead who’s not a detective but plays one in the book, small town, brooding detective, murder, lead character is a suspect. If you like this type of recipe for a cozy mystery you may like this one! Greta is a librarian, and her friend and neighbor is murdered. The storyline was okay for me, but I didn’t love the writing. It personally felt a little choppy for me, I did like the small town ambience! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to provide my honest review!

I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of cosy mysteries. The story is based around the main character, Greta and is written in the 3rd person. Not my favourite style of writing but the storyline is good and the characters are likeable. It’s quite fast paced and an enjoyable read. Thank you #netgalley

This book was a cute, cozy read. Grab your blanket, a cup of hot cocoa and help Greta solve a mystery!

Larkspur Lane is home to the Larkspur Community Library and a coffee shop called Mugs & Hugs. The town is so small that the library, police station and Mayor office are all nestled inside the same building.

Greta, a library director, at Larkspur Community Library has been delivering books to her good friend and neighbor. Franklin has quite the book collection that’s worth thousands of dollars but still enjoys Greta’s deliveries and company.

When Greta finds Franklin’s body in a pool of blood, a target is placed on her back by both the murderer and the new detective in town.

Greta doesn’t trust Detective McHenry and begins her own investigation into Franklin’s murder with help from her friends at the library. The secrets that she uncovers have put her life in extreme danger! Does she confront a killer or leave the investigation to the detective?

I was excited to see this book is apart of a series! I can’t wait to see what mysteries Greta solves next!

The world needs more clean mystery books, and this one fits the bill! Greta, a small town librarian, becomes entangled in a murder case when she visits her neighbor and finds him dead. To her dismay she finds out that she is one of the suspects, so she determines to do her own sleuthing to prove her innocence and solve the mystery. As time passes and she learns more, more people become injured and the stakes run higher. Ultimately she finds out that her neighbor was hiding a few secrets, which lead to the discovery of his murderer. I enjoyed that this book wasn’t too graphic, and the small town feel of the characters. An overall great read!

Thank you to the author and Net Galley for the advance copy. All opinions are my own, I was not required to share a review of this book.

Death Checked Out is a cozy murder mystery set in a small town named Larkspur in Wisconsin.

When Greta is the main suspect of a murder she is set to find who did it and clear her name.

This was such a fun read. I was happy to see that this is the first book in a series. This was the first book I read by this author and I enjoyed it so much I will definitely check out her other books.

I give it 4 stars.

*** Thank you to NetGalley and Level Best Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to Level Best Books, Leah Dobrinska, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I like cozy mysteries but this one didn't do it for me. I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't get into it. I found somethings were over-explanation in certain parts.

Death Checked Out was a sweet quirky mystery novel for fans who love simple reads where they're not thinking too much. It was a fast read and one that put me in the holiday mystery mood where I now am planning to play Clue with all my friends!

The characters were all fairly fun and easy to like, sure they said some things that made me arch a brow upwards but I still enjoyed their quirkiness and friendships.

The book was fun, easy, and definitely one of those quick reads I could see myself picking up from time to time!

Thank you NetGalley for a e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Death Checked Out is a fantastic library-themed cozy mystery about a woman named Greta Plank and what happens after she stumbles across the body of one of her neighbors. I thought the mystery was strong and almost fell for a few of the red herrings placed throughout the book. The characters were intelligent and thoughtful. I look forward to reading more by this author, they have a great writing style.

I’ve been getting into cozy mysteries a lot more and when I saw this one on Netgalley I figured why not give it a try! It had a librarian as the MC and that’s pretty cool to me.

The book is told from one point-of-view and it comes from Greta who is a small-town library director. I didn’t think that she was a bad character in any way, but I didn’t feel a connection towards her or any of the other characters. They all just felt very basic and it didn’t feel like anyone had a personality. I think this is why I had such a hard time getting into the book. The romance, start of it/love interest, didn’t feel natural and I wasn’t a fan.

It doesn’t take long in the beginning to get the murder mystery started. I was actually kind of sad with the choice of the first victim and I didn’t even know them that well, ha. The best part of this book was definitely the murder mystery. I didn’t guess who it was or what the reasoning would be. The author does a good job keeping the reader off the trail and that can be hard to do.

Overall, this an alright read. I do wish the characters had a bit more personality. I think it would have helped to make this book shine. I did at least like the mystery!

Rating: 2.5 stars

This was a cute, cozy mystery, and it was perfect for fall. Overall, I really enjoyed the characters and the chemistry between them. At times, I felt like the author was overexplaining what was happening and it didn't feel organic, like the plot or the characters weren't really progressing, the author just told you they were. I thought the setting was realistic, and the overall premise made sense. I also really enjoyed the mystery and had fun guessing along as I read. If you're into cozy, fall mysteries, this is worth the read!!!

Everything about this book sounded right up my alley. Cozy mystery, book appreciation, library appreciation--I'm in. And I always appreciate an author who writes fondly about libraries and books. But the writing in this just didn't do it for me. I can be really picky about writing style when I read and if I can't vibe with it, then it's really hard for me to get into the story. The writing in this felt awkward at times, and never really seemed to flow--especially the dialogue.

I still think I could recommend this one to people who really love cozy mysteries though.

Thank you to Level Best Books and NetGalley for the e-ARC.

I do love a cozy mystery but this wasn't my favorite. I'll probably read the next book in the series to see if it improves because there were things I liked such as the character of Greta and I am curious about her mysterious backstory. We'll see -- the setting is good and the library information is a definite plus!

Death Checked Out comes out next week on December 6, 2022 and you can purchase HERE.

Her formal education in Library Science was about the furthest thing from nursing or the medical field, which was how Greta liked it. She much preferred the happiness and fictional world of books to the blood and gore of real-life medical emergencies.

This was a very fun and entertaining cozy mystery and I really enjoyed it. I loved Greta, the main character and the descriptions of the small, idyllic town of Larkspur. This was the first book I've read by this author and I will definitely be checking out her others!

Thank you to the publisher and to netgalley for the e-ARC!

📚📚I loved this cozy mystery! Am I biased because the protagonist is a librarian and much of it is set in a library? Obviously. Should you still read it? Duh. 📚📚 Pub date: 12/6/22 (I got a copy of it from #netgalley because #librarianperks )Greta Plank is a small town library director who stumbles upon a dead body on her walk home from work one day. What seems like an accident turns out to be a murder and Greta quickly becomes one of the main suspects. She has to use all her librarian wiles (yes-those are a thing. It’s actually what they teach us in library school💁🏼‍♀️) to solve the case and clear her name before the new detective in town pins it on her. (Cute, right? It is. Super cute. You should read it.) #DeathCheckedOut #deathcheckedoutbook #deathcheckedoutreview #NetGalley #netgalleyreview #abookreviewnooneaskedfor

I received this as an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you're looking for a cozy mystery, a FMC who loves books, grumpy sunshine, and a small town, then Death Checked Out is for you!

The pacing is perfect, the mystery believable, and the characters relatable. I'd recommend it to any cozy mystery fan.

Reviewed for NetGalley:

Greta, Larkspur’s Librarian/Director, comes across a murder of a friend and soon becomes the main suspect for his murder.

A fun, cozy mystery read, while somewhat predictable, still a great fall read.

3.5 🌟| This book was a slow start for me. As someone who went to library school, the librarian/quirky girl stereotype combined with the picturesque/cutesy description of the town was a lot to take in at the jump. That all changes the second a body drops. Slowly the town grew on me to the point where I wanted to visit the fictional Larkspur, Wisconsin. I also adored Greta by the end, even if her instincts for self preservation were off (fyi if you are accused of murder don’t go investigate it in your own you only look worse). The only note I have is the villain, while I thought the twist was clever, the villain was a little too over the top with the speech. But I think that has more to do with me getting used to the cozy mystery genre. I also have to applaud the author for completely hooking me in not only to the mystery but to the community that by the time the book was over I was so relieved to see there were planned sequels. May have fully pushed me into a newfound appreciation of cozy mysteries!

*Thank you so much to NetGalley and Level Best Books for the ARC*

This was a great start to a brand new cozy mystery series. I am a huge cozy fan and am very excited to see what comes next for Greta and the gang at the Larkspur Library. I see so much potential with this series!

I adore bookish related cozies. If there is a library or a bookstore, I want to read it! I think Leah did a great job at incorporating book related puns and references throughout.

The mystery itself was well done, I did not suspect the killer until right before the big reveal!

If you love small towns, libraries and Nancy Drew- definitely check this one out!

🍁BOOK REVIEW🍁

Death Checked Out by Leah Dobrinska
4.5/5

“When in doubt, go to the library…and solve the murder mystery!

Greta Plank, library director in the small, lakeside town of Larkspur, Wisconsin, prefers her rose-tinted glasses extra rosy, thank you very much. It’s how she copes with the hard stuff in life…like her sister’s death and her ex-boyfriend’s deception. But Greta’s cheery resolve takes a hit when she stumbles upon a dead body on her way home from work. What she assumes is a terrible accident Greta soon learns is something more sinister, and to make matters worse, a new-to-town detective cites her as not only his primary source for the case, but his top suspect.”

I found this quite an endearing read and was hooked from the first page. The pacing is a little slow, but I enjoyed that! It’s also the first cozy mystery I’ve read in quite awhile and has reminded me how much I LOVE the genre!

There were so many cute characters in this book and that definitely added to its charm!

Publish Date: December 6, 2022

Thanks to @netgalley, @levelbestbooks and the author for the chance to read this ARC!

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