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.

This was highly entertaining and the romance was too good!

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for the arc, in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this one more than I did. I was between 2 & 3 stars… I do think the characters were cute, but it felt too cheesy at points multiple points; think Hallmark movie with a murder mystery. Additionally, I know listen/watch too much true crime stories to suspend belief in how the case was solved…

This book is #1 of what will be at least a series of three books. I’m not sure I’d read the others… though I am curious to see if Greta & the detective get together.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!

SPOILERS MAY BE INCLUDED IN THIS REVIEW

This was such a cute cozy mystery. Other than the Thursday Murder Club series I think this may be the only other cozy mystery I have read and it won’t be the last of this series. The plot follows Greta, a librarian who is fairly new to the small town of Larkspur. After finding one of her friends dead, the book takes us on an adventure of Greta trying to solve the case along with her two best friends Josie and Iris after being wrongfully accused. However, Greta may have made herself a target for getting too involved.

As a lover of books myself, I enjoyed that the book centred around a librarian and the scene was set extremely well. I wish we had more descriptions of the small town to really get into the mood and headset for the book.

When reading the summary of the book, I think the parts centred around Greta’s sister’s death and her ex boyfriend can be changed or removed as I depicted that these would be a much bigger part of the story than they were!

Greta and Josie- I loved them both! You could see how kind and caring they both were and valued their friendship completely. I find this a lot more appealing in books such as cozy mysteries like this that it is centred on friendship rather than a romantic encounter, although I did love the growing friendship between Greta and the detective.

Iris- I’m not sure whether iris was written to be portrayed as so unlikable. Her ‘best’ friend is being accused of a murder and all Iris cares about is ditching Greta and Josie all the time for her boyfriend that she hardly knows and hasn’t been with very long.

The twist- I really enjoyed the twist and the ending. I only guessed half of it in regards to who the person behind everything was but not the other twist and why these things were being done.

Overall I loved the book. It did take me around the 40% ish mark to really become hooked into the story once it got going and more exciting things started happening but it was enjoyable reading about the characters and setting the scene.
I think the story was really important in terms of highlighting the power and importance of friendship (new or existing), family, and not giving up for anything or anyone.

There are many things working for this book: cosy small town vibes, a librarian protagonist, a rare book collection, a surly detective who's new to town. However, it felt short of being a good cosy mystery novel. Solid 3 star read though.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending this book for review. All opinions are my own.

Death Checked Out by Leah Dobrinska, the first in the Larkspur Library Mystery series, is sure to be a runaway hit with cozy mystery readers. Greta is the library director in the idyllic lakeside town of Larkspur, Wisconsin. She looks for the best in everyone and every situation, working to win over the library patrons and making friends with town residents. Greta’s world is rocked when her reclusive friend is murdered and she becomes a suspect.

This book caught and held my interest from the very first page through the last. Not only was the setting charming and a perfect backdrop, I wanted to be friends with the supporting characters who were true-to-life and so relatable. The mystery was well constructed with clues and red herrings throughout. (I reviewed an advance reader copy and all opinions are my own.) I am already anticipating the next in this feel-good cozy series.

When I saw that author Leah Dobrinska was writing her first cozy mystery book and it centered around a Librarian and her two fellow librarian friends sleuthing out a crime I knew I had to give this one a read 😊. I mean that cover is just gorgeous 😍.
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Leah Dobrinska builds a cozy world in a small lakeside town in the Wisconsin Northwoods, adds a handsome new to town detective, a curious librarian with a few secrets in her past, two adorable and amazing friends, a mystery with an unexpected twist and bookish puns sprinkled in. I want to hang out at the cafe with these Librarians! 🙌🏻 Loved the mom homeschooling reference. As a homeschool mom libraries are also my go to! The descriptive writing flowed making it easy to picture what’s going on. As this is the first book there is set up for future books happening and I can’t wait to see how the stories develop in more books.
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Thank you @netgalley and @levelbestbooks for my ebook copy to read and review. All thoughts are my own.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was such a cute cozy small-town mystery. I liked the descriptions of the town it sounded quaint and cute. The main character was interesting, but I did find her perspective boring at times. I will say I did guess some of the plots, but I didn't guess the main one at the end! While some of the descriptions were overexplained, I did enjoy this! I will definitely be reading the next one in the series!

https://wellreadpiratequeen.blogspot.com/2022/12/death-checked-out-by-leah-dobrinska.html

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"For heaven's sake! This is Larkspur, Wisconsin. No one here would want anyone else dead."
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Ohhhhhh Greta. Poor sweet annoyingly chipper Greta.

To be fair, this may not have been the best time to for me to read anything with a main character that has a "cheery resolve" and "idyllic worldview" ... but I'm trying to catch up on my neglected NetGalley shelf and this was next on the list (besides those way overdue for reviewing). Luckily, her finding a friend dead and being the only suspect the detective in charge is looking at means that not everything is perky-perky-perky and I could actually read the book without wanting to smack the cheeriness out of her ... much.
 
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"Miss Plank, one more thing."
Greta spun around too see Detective McHenry slip into the hallway behind her.
"What?" Her snappish tone was out of character, but she'd never been accused of murder before, so all bets were off.
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Sometimes "out of character" is exactly what's needed to make a character likeable ... and a book readable. It's almost as though Leah Dobrinska knew what she was doing when she was writing this. Greta's out of character moments and the amazing set of secondary characters (particularly Detective McHottie) has pretty much guaranteed that this is a series I will want to continue.

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She'd never seen the man show any shred of emotion beyond stoic, indifferent, and accusatory. His face completely transformed when he wasn't scowling, and Greta didn't hate it.
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Of course, if you've been around for a while you know how bad I am at finishing series ... or continuing series ... or remembering to ramble and share ... or .....

2023 will be better. Hopefully. In a lot of ways.

Greta is the Librarian at the Larspur Community Library with Josie and Iris. When her next-door neighbor and rare book collector, Franklin, is murdered they step in to solve the murder. Detective McHenry is new in town, and he doesn't make a good first impression on Greta when he thinks she is his prime suspect. He ends up, begrudgingly, listening to Greta as she looks into Franklin and his rare book business. As a good librarian researcher, she discovers a few interesting things. I think McHenry is going to make a good love interest for Greta in upcoming books in this series, and I'm looking forward to reading them.

Overall I feel like it wasn’t cohesive enough for this to be a solid 3-star read. There were moments of emotional vulnerability in the book that felt like it was forced. If more groundwork was done earlier in the story, it would’ve been a lot more natural. That aside, the mystery itself was actually pretty interesting especially when it involves a rare book collection. I would’ve loved to see more of that elaborated in the story instead of it being passed around like a baton. Another thing that bugged me was the constant “casual” mention of how attractive the detective is, and how Greta’s friends tried to push her towards either the detective or Liam. That's heteronormativity at its peak if you ask me… that was so unnecessary.

And the ending? The big reveal felt like someone was doing a presentation but they were reading straight off the PowerPoint slides.

"i've never met a book i didn't like."

i picked this up through Netgalley, with thanks to the author and the publisher for gifting me this e-ARC

larkspur, a gorgeous idyllic town situated next to a stunning lake, cute quaint shops and greta, small town librarian gets caught up in an accident - its only an accident surely? but when big-time detective comes to town and starts pinning greta as the prime suspect in murder, and then even more accidents occur, joined by her best friends josie and iris, they start trying to clear their friends name and investigating the case, a few too many dots start to connect...

rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

my thoughts: wow. when i first heard of the cosy mystery genre, i did not think id enjoy it as much as i did this novel! greta plank is a loveable protagonist, having moved to larkspur for a fresh start and enjoying the small-town community feel - working with two best friends that may seem a little bit ditsy and gullible at times, specifically with them investigating a murder themselves, disturbing crime scenes and going after other possible suspects without even a thought as to how it would implicate themselves.

despite the clues throughout the book as to whodunnit, the twists also made sure to put you off course as to who you truly believed was behind it all, and the final resolution was extremely satisfying. the setting of the book with the descriptions of places throughout the book, including mugs & hugs coffee shop, made me want to join them for a coffee and cookie from allison!

if anything, this made me want to work as a librarian even more than i do currently! loved the writing style and can't wait to see where else the series goes (even if im a little confused as to where it will go as i don't want any more murders in this quaint town!

I really liked this mystery! I read more thrillers but this cozy mystery was great. I can't wait to read more by this author!

Quintessential, somewhat meddling, small town librarian Greta Plank is all sunshine and rose coloured glasses until she finds her neighbour dead.. murdered.

This is a Hallmark romance wrapped up in a cosy mystery. Delightful Greta, at first, butts heads with the grumpy, brooding detective McHenry as he investigates her for the (shock!) murder. The story really picks up pace in the second half as the two begin to work together.

The thing I enjoyed most about this story was the atmosphere Dobrinska created. The description of the town felt warm, cosy and authentic. The characters were full and earnest - exactly how I image small town life might be.

This is the first book in the Lakespur Library Mysteries but a few times I felt as though I was missing some of the backstory, like I was coming in in the middle of a series. I expect this will be resolved in future books and I look forward to learning more about Greta.

Read if you enjoy lighthearted whodunnit peppered with bookish puns and references.

Thank you to Netgalley for an E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

An awesome start to a new series. I can't wait for the rest! I don't really read cozy mysteries but this one was so good. I loved it. It's an easy read, easy to follow. I really liked the writing style.

I am an absolute sucker for a good murder mystery and this one hit all the right spots!

Greta moved to Larkspur to start over after breaking up with her boyfriend and meets the grumpy Franklin. Who suddenly ends up dead in his backyard. With a new detective in town, who thinks Greta is his prime suspect, she decides to do a little investigating on her own.

The writing style was very enjoyable and easy to follow, which for me is important when reading a murder mystery. Leah did an awesome job at keeping you guessing, my theory changed a lot while reading but in the end I never would’ve expected who it actually was.

Basically, this is a must read if you like/love murder mystery’s. You definitely won’t go wrong with this book!

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is an intriguing read! I love a good mystery and I liked the characters in this story.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me a copy of this book.

Earlier this year I discovered that I really enjoy cozy fantasy books. So in keeping up with this newfound genre, I decided to give cozy mysteries a try too in hopes that I would also fall in love with these. And while I can maybe see the appeal for someone looking for a low-stakes, easy to read whodunit type story, this book just all around did not work for me.

Again, like my other mystery and thriller reviews, I prefer to go into these stories as blindly as possible, so I will not be discussing the synopsis of the story here.

What I will say is this:

Around the time that Josie and Greta are paddle boarding together on the lake, Greta mentions the wind tangling her curly hair. At that point, I realize we have gotten NO physical descriptions for ANY of the characters aside from calling Iris petite. It made all of the characters feel really flat and super interchangeable. Instead, the author chose to focus on personality traits, but most of the characters didn't have unique or identifying ones of those either! Sydney is happy. Greta is optimistic. Iris is lovesick. Josie is sarcastic. The detective is broody. See what I mean? That's a large cast of characters (and this isn't even all of them!) who basically could be anybody with how generic they are.

Also, this story is extremely predictable. I am not going to lie, I guessed the first part EXTREMELY early on and the second at the gathering held by Liam. Unfortunately, again with the characters not being super distinguished, it made them seem super transparent and almost allowed the motives behind their actions to come to light quicker than if they had more depth and gave me something else to focus on. Also, there was A LOT of telling and no showing going on in this book. I think that if the author would have made me FEEL the characters doubts and suspicions instead of just telling me them, maybe it could have clouded my judgement or given me something else to focus on. Instead, it was all just kind of laid out there which made the last half of this book really long and hard to get through.

I also get that it is fiction, but this is no way a detective would behave. The allowing of the public to trample through crime scenes and handle evidence? Not a chance. Definitely pulled me out of the story quite a few times.

Another complaint is the romance. For such a short MYSTERY book, we spent a lot of time focusing on Greta and her past relationship with Nathan. Greta and her date with Liam. Greta and her slow burn with the detective. Iris and Dean for crying out loud. And lonely ass Josie. For three hundred pages, I needed more mystery and less romance for this to appeal to me personally.

I appreciate the opportunity to read this book.

A cozy mystery is such a great way to describe this book! If you're a Nancy Drew fan, you'll love this book. It's perfect for curling up with a cup of coffee and a candle on.

When small town librarian Greta Plank becomes a suspect in the murder of her dear friend and neighbour, she decides investigating what happened herself might be the only way to clear her name.

Greta Plank is a fantastic protaganist, and I am definitely interested in reading more books about her investigative endeavours (and maybe a budding romance?). This book is well written with lots of twists and turns. And while I did (semi) guess who-done-it, I wasn't sure until the very end!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great mystery for book lovers! Entertaining, fun, heartwarming, and has all the pieces a cozy mystery should have. I'll be looking for the next one!

This book had such promise - the blurb sounded appropriately cozy with Greta moving to a small town, getting a job as a librarian, and stumbling upon a body. But while the book checks all the boxes of a cozy, it didn't draw me in and make me feel like part of a community. In fact, I ended up skipping over much of the book, reading only the dialogue, because everything else was so dry and repetitive. I never really warmed to the characters and there wasn't anything that stood out to make this different than other cozies. I probably won't continue with the series.