The blurb makes it sound as if our leading lady happens to chance upon a body on her way from work. The relationship here goes deeper than that. The victim had one source of information about the goings on in the outside world within their small town, and that was Greta. A cheery person, one who tends to stay that way despite anything that comes her way (or especially then). Greta picks up pieces of information in the days following up to the murder that makes it easy for the more attuned reader to know what might happen in the following pages.
Once the investigation begins, Greta feels like she is the prime suspect because she seems to benefit from the events. She starts her own investigation and moves around, stirring things up. She is not necessarily the one who figures everything out completely, but she does her best throughout.
It is a good start to a series, but I was not as invested in the conversations that took place around the case. I found the characters' interactions a little forced. That might change with the next one, but the case itself was done well.
Fans of this genre might like this. I will know if I appreciate the series only if I like the next one that follows. This was a quick but involved read.
I received this book as an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

This was a fun cozy mystery about a library director investigating when she stumbles across a body. The small town setting and characters were a delight.

This was a struggle for me to read. It is a cozy type book but I just couldn't connect to the story or the characters.

If you are looking for a very nice cozy series with a likeable heroine, a peaceful setting, I can recommend this.

The Title attracted me to the book. I generally love cozy mysteries, and if you love an evening of light cozy reading then this might just be the book for you. The mystery fell a little flat for me but I wasn't expecting a page turner either. The book is really well detailed, I felt like I could clearly see the story unfolding in front of my eyes, all tiny details. The characters were nice and lovely, also I loved the small town setting. The book was a little too long for my taste but I had fun reading it.

After getting almost 30% through the book it completely fell flat. I just can't continue. I'm not leaving a rating because I think it is totally my mood reading. If I try again and it doesn't work then I will leave a more detailed account and rating.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the small town setting and felt as though I could picture it exactly in my mind. The characters were very well developed and I really felt like I knew them. The murder mystery storyline was fantastic and very unpredictable and exciting, and the romance was a very nice subplot. The bookish aspect was perfect and I felt like it helped to add even more to this already great book. Would definitely recommend.

Unfortunately, this book did not grab my attention the way I hoped. DNF @ 22%


If you're looking for an easy book to pass an afternoon this is the book for you. Your average cozy mystery with no complicated plot loops or character trees to keep up with. Everything about it was average in every sense of the word.

***Thank you to Netgalley and Level Best Books for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. ***

This wasn't for me. But I am happy that I tried to read it before I decided to not finish it fully. This just wasn't for me.

Death Checked Out was my first experience reading a Cozy Mystery, and I enjoyed it very much. The town of Larkspur is painted very clearly and made into a very visual atmosphere with a lot of involved citizens. Greta and the girls were fun to meet, and the grumpy Detective McHenry grew on me as the story progressed. As a librarian myself it was fun to see their library being represented well and also their skills being used in an adventurous way. Overall a fun read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Level Best Books for providing me with an ARC of this title.

Death Checked Out is a cozy murder mystery set in the town of Larkspur, Wisconsin. When Greta the towns librarian finds the body of her neighbor she becomes the main suspect of a murder and she is determined to find out 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.

This one didnt’t work for me! Thank you to the author and publisher for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

It's been a long time since I've read a small-town cozy mystery. This was delightful. Each character in the town, and the town itself, was well-drawn and I appreciated the main character didn't bumble into clues or the solution. When I saw the Dobrinska listed as the author of the Larkspur Library Mysteries I thought this one might be futher into the series, as it didn't seem like a first effort.

Death Checked Out was a good start to a new series. With a cozy setting and likable characters, it was an easy read.

•small town Mystery
•new in town
•best friend trio
•library setting

The novel started out well. I enjoyed the overall atmosphere, typical of the cozy mystery genre. Unfortunately, the plot wasn't solid enough for me to remain engaged and interested. My attention quickly dwindled.

In a quite town, librarians turned to being part-time investigators for the sake of the town's peace and quiet. This was a cozy mystery book just like I expected—a welcome stress-free time for me.

Gretel is the head librarian for a small town library in Wisconsin. She has two full time employees who are also her best friends, having recently moved to the town. When she finds her neighbor, a somewhat reclusive man who collected books, murdered, she becomes a suspect. This causes her to begin an investigation to learn the real killer's identity. Though I found a few somewhat unbelievable aspects to the plot (e.g., small towns this size would be lucky to have one paid employee, so three seems a bit unrealistic), it was an interesting read. It was pretty easy to figure out the killer, but I did like the interactions between Gretel and the town's new police detective. I suspect we'll be seeing more of that in the next book in the series. Overall, a good read.

Thank you NetGalley and Level Best Books for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I will be recommending this one but I have to say that it wasn't my favorite. However, I say I will still be recommending because I think I didn't love it because I went in thinking that it would be a cozy mystery and it wasn't at all. I did think it was an interesting story and the character development pacing was well done.

A perfect quick read of a small town cosy mystery. These seem to be everywhere at the minute. Keeps you gripped from the start and a fab way to spend a night guessing whodunnit

This is the first book in a cozy mystery series which is centered Larkspur Library and one plucky employee Greta. She finds a friend after they have been attacked and murdered and immediately becomes a suspect and she is not happy about this. So what does she do - she starts her own investigation pulling in her friends to help her. As she looks into this she finds herself in the crosshairs and at the center of the story.

The author has encapsulated the plucky Greta into someone that I would want to fight for me and even though some of the writing style was not for me I enjoyed this so much so that i will be picking up any more in the series.