A Cryptic Clue by Victoria Gilbert follows librarian, Jane, as she begins work for a rich, mysterious, young benefactor, Cam, in his luxurious mansion. The plot soon leads to murder, and Cam asks for Jane’s help to prove his innocence and find the killer.

I love that Jane was a mature woman in the thick of the story. As a library student, I personally enjoyed some of the work details that Gilbert included. The mystery was solid but I felt no special connection to the characters. The plot was slower and not very exciting or suspenseful. It took a long time to get to the anti-climactic but satisfying ending.

Overall, a good but not great mystery for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the review copy.

A Cryptic Clue releases on July 11, 2023

An enjoyable bibliomystery, although some of the comments about the complexity of cataloguing felt like overkill - and I say that as someone who catalogues most days.

The only reason it's a four-star rather than a five-star read for me is that I found the protagonists tedious. I really wanted to love Jane, because there aren't enough leading women her age, but I just found her judgmental of others while being quite the slacker at work, a total gossip, and someone who seemed to feel it was OK to borrow her employer's documents and photographs willy-nilly.

The mystery itself was really well-constructed, and, of course it was well-written - Victoria Gilbert knows her business.

Three Word Review: Nosey Parker cataloguer.

I have mixed views regarding Victoria Gilbert's A Cryptic Clue. Given that it's subtitled Hunter and Clewe #1, I'm assuming this is the beginning of a series. Will I read new volumes as they come out? I'll definitely try the next, but beyond that, it's a toss-up.

What I enjoyed about this book
• It didn't include the two-detectives-falling-in-love trope of which I am heartily sick. Can't a man and a woman try to work out a puzzle together without burning with secret passions, etc.?
• I feel quite fond of the first of the two "detectives," Jane Hunter, an aging librarian who has lost her university job due to budget cuts. She's just beginning a job working with Cam Clewe, a millionaire who wants his collection of classic mysteries and related documents catalogued so they can be made available to scholars. She knows her stuff.
• The use of a collection of classic mysteries at the heart of this tale. It's fun to be getting some real-world reading info while moving through the story. And the books referenced are all by women—real women who wrote real mysteries that are too-little-known today.

What I didn't enjoy about this book
• I have my usual string of complains, primarily about things like
1. interfering with a police investigation
2. witnesses willing to speak in detail to anyone who asks them questions
3. over-explaining villains
4. convenient gossipy locals
You know what I mean. There's a formula here, but it's handled pretty successfully.

If you enjoy reading series mysteries, I would recommend this title—as much for the fact that it will set a context for future volumes as for the story it narrates. I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.

Retired librarian gets hired to catalog the extensive collection of mystery novels and miscellany housed in Mr. Clewe’s mansion, dream job right? WRONG because she finds a dead body on her first day on the job and then obviously has to solve the crime!

Premise is great, execution made me want to weep. Everything seemed over explained. Every thought our narrator had was written out and then explained. Every statement anyone made to anyone else they followed up with an explanation. Every pun or small joke was followed up with a “I see what you did there.” it was PAINFUL.

The mystery was only engaging once we were halfway through the book and thankfully done being introduced to the full cast of the story. Every introduction was, you guessed it, over explained. The author left no room for the reader to have a single thought, each one was written out and EXPLAINED.

Anyway I did not like this at all but I’m giving two stars because I did like the premise and I did have a little fun between 70% and 85%.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Crooked Lane Books, for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for this honest review!!

Jane has been forced into retirement as a university librarian. To make ends meet, she answers an ad for an archivist to catalog his collection of rare books and artifacts for Cameron Clewe, a reclusive billionaire. Jane is overjoyed. That is until she finds the body of Cameron’s ex-girlfriend in the library. With evidence pointing at Cameron, Jane and Cameron decides to clear his name. But that is easier said than done. Someone doesn’t want them to find out who killed Cam’s ex-girlfriend or the reason why. Will Jane and Cam find the killer? What was the motive?

Locked room mysteries are a favorite of mine. I love using my mind to figure out who the killer is and why they did it. So, it was no surprise that I decided to pick up A Cryptic Clue. The blurb did its job by capturing my attention and making me want to read this book. And guess what? I enjoyed reading it.

A Cryptic Clue is a medium-paced book. The pacing for this book was perfect. It would have been ruined if it had gone any faster. There was some lag towards the middle of the book, but it did not affect how much I enjoyed it.

I was tickled to read that this book is set in North Carolina. A Cryptic Clue takes place in central North Carolina, mainly in Bradfordville. There were mentions of Winston-Salem sprinkled throughout the book. I live further west of Winston-Salem (about an hour’s drive) and have been dying to visit. Now that I have read the book, I might take a day trip there.

The main storyline in A Cryptic Clue centers around Jane, Cam, the murder of Cam’s ex-girlfriend, and their investigation. This well-written storyline gave little clues as to who the murderer might be. I liked how Jane’s investigation (thanks to the mysteries she read) revealed some possible clues. Of course, I was shocked at who was behind the murder and the reason why. It was pretty sad.

I was going to start with Jane for the character section, but I decided to highlight Cam first. I loved that the author had Cam as neurodivergent (ADHD) and suffering from mental illness (OCD, anxiety, a bit of agoraphobia, and depression) and that he might have autism. He found it hard to connect to people and show emotions. I could understand why he was on Jane’s radar for a while after his ex’s murder and why it took him so long to open up to her. He was also insanely smart and was one step ahead of Jane in their investigation.

I loved Jane. She was a ball of sunshine in this book, and when she decided to help Cam clear his name, she committed to it. She was just an overall nice person. I was obsessed with her job (it is my dream job). I would be happy to sit and just catalog all day. This reason is why I wish the author had given more details about her doing her job. She was also a great detective and did unearth some things that surprised her.

The mystery angle of A Cryptic Clue was amazingly written. This book kept me guessing who the killer was and their motive. For a while, I did think Cam killed his ex. But she had a past and a laundry list of suspects. The more Jane dug into Cam’s ex’s history; the more people turned up. And the motives were as numerous as the suspects. The author had so many red herrings out that I almost didn’t believe it when the killer was revealed.

The end of A Cryptic Clue was one of the better endings I have read. I won’t get into it, but it was very twisty. I liked how the author ended with Cam and Jane bonding in her apartment. It makes me wonder what other books in this series will be like.

I recommend A Cryptic Clue to anyone over 16. There are no sexual situations, but there is mild violence and language.

Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books, NetGalley, and Victoria Gilbert for allowing me to read and review A Cryptic Clue. All opinions stated in this review are mine.

Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the e-ARC of this book.
I’m not sure if this book would be classified as a cozy mystery, but I thought it was. In general, I don’t do so well with any “cozy” books because the stakes are too low for me. I did finish this book in two days, which is really fast for me, so I did enjoy it.
I had some issues with the MC. She’s supposed to be sixty and it is constantly mentioned in the book. However, I didn’t really feel like she was different from any younger MC I usually read about. I wanted to see more interaction between her and Cam based on the age difference, but I was disappointed. However, maybe, it’s reserved for future installments in the series.
I also found the investigation of the murder a bit unrealistic sometimes because she had zero involvement and there was no reason for her to investigate anything. It was very weird when she just walked up to different suspects and just asked them what they knew about the victim or what they had to say for themselves.

This book was totally enjoyable. The characters were interesting and the setting was pretty cool. However, The interactions and overall plot came across as super unrealistic. I’m a fan of the amateur sleuth genre but everyone was far too forthcoming and then WAM out of nowhere the whole thing was solved. Additionally our main character didn’t even solve it which felt odd.

Lovely first book in a new cozy series.
Jane Hunter is forced to retire from her job as a university librarian, and is pleased to be hired to catalog and inventory the rare books for Cameron Clewe, a recluse, young and avid collector.
First day on the job she finds the body of a young woman, in the mansion’s library, killed with a candle stick (this gave a little chuckle) – but besides the murder to investigate there are other things to unravel.
Looking forward to see where the duo Hunter and Clewe will go next.

Librarian Jane Hunter is starting again at 60 and her new boss, Cam Clewe, is anything but normal. Day one on the job starts off rough when Jane finds the body of Cam’s most recent ex-girlfriend in her new workspace. These two suddenly find themselves in the search for a murderer in order to keep Cam’s name in the clear and for Jane to keep her much needed new job.
I thoroughly enjoyed this cozy mystery. Jane and Cam’s relationship was certainly one of the high points as they are so different yet manage to play off each other so well. The rest of the cast of characters were also delightful and filled out the world well. While I enjoyed following the clues to try and figure out whodunit I felt that the actual resolution came a bit out of left field right near the end of the story. Overall, a great start to a new cozy mystery series.

Wanted to love this one!

I’m afraid it was just too slow-burning for me, and I struggled to be attached to any of the characters. It was hard to tell the era this was in too—one second it’d be talking about cell phones and very modern agendas, but then some of the characters talked very formally/had some aged thinking.

Lovers of cozy mysteries might like it?? But I think this was just too cozy for me!

Very grateful to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

An interesting premise, but the narrative got bogged down in description. I did not finish the novel.

Library, books, an old mansion and a murder. These are the cozy mysteries people love to read and this was an interesting book to read.

Jane has been hired to catalogue the vast collection of books by wealthy Cam, who has his own reservations. A murder in his house that probably happened during or after the fundraising makes everyone in the house suspect. This seems like a pretty standard plot for most mysteries, nevertheless, this book was interesting to read.

Decent description of the mansion, good writing, dialogues were all that I enjoyed while reading this

Because I enjoy Victoria Gilbert's Booklovers B & B Cozy Series, I requested her new mystery A Cryptic Clue from Net Galley. I'm not sure if this book is categorized as a Cozy, but it does have cozy elements, including an amateur sleuth, and no swearing.

I think it is more in Agatha Cristie's or Sherlock Holmes's style. Cam Clewe is a thirty-something second-generation multi-millionaire (maybe even a billionaire?). He hires Jane Hunter, a former college librarian, to catalog his extensive collection of books, memorabilia, art, and more on his sprawling estate. Cam is a handsome introvert with anxiety issues and perhaps OCD or ADHD. Jane has a past that involved domestic violence. Of course, not too much time passes before someone stumbles across a body, and Cam asks Jane to help him investigate who's the killer--since he is a prime suspect.

Victoria Gilbert gives us a large, but manageable, cast of suspects and some nice red herrings. This first book solves the main mystery of who killed the person who died at Cam's estate, and in the end, Hunter and Clewe decide to work together to solve cold cases. I enjoyed the mystery and the pairing of 30-something Cam and 60-something Jane--something a little different in the main characters. If you enjoy mysteries, give this book a try, you'll enjoy it!
5 Stars!!

This started off a little slowly for me, but soon picked up it's pace and turned out to be highly enjoyable. I especially enjoyed the descriptions of the house, the attic, the library and the gardens, and I rather liked Lauren, as well as Vincent, and Bailey. I especially liked Cam.

I look forward to the next one.

3.5 stars.

This is a new mystery series by a well known author. I have been intrigued to read other novels by Victoria Gilbert since her Booklover’s B&B series.

Cameron (Cam) Clewe is a young, wealthy man who has hired retired librarian Jane Hunter to inventory and catalog his book and print collection. The weekend before Jane starts, however, a gala is thrown at Cam’s home, Aircroft. On Monday, Jane finds the body of Cam’s ex-girlfriend in the library. This leads Cam to ask for assistance in clearing his name.

I liked Cam Clewe. I liked that he is neurodivergent, and acutely aware of this fact. Though it still makes it hard for him to connect with people, I found him refreshing. I also liked that Jane recognized all of his differences and didn’t necessarily judge him. Obviously, there are moments that show the frustration of dealing with a neurodivergent person, however Jane never allowed her interactions to be dictated by that frustration. I can’t wait to see how they continue to interact in the next book.

I thought the mystery was well spread out. Plenty of suspects with plenty of motives. I will admit to suspecting the killer early. For me, it was a comment that was issued, but as the novel progressed, I kept thinking, “okay, that’s so-and-so’s motive, but what about this person?” I felt that it was an obvious gap that ultimately gave it away. The ending was decent. I felt it just kind of ended, though. It was very anticlimactic.

Overall, I rate this novel 5 out of 5 stars.

A quintessential armchair cozy mystery.

What happens when you combine a library cataloguer, a brooding millionaire and a dead ex girlfriend? A story that spans a handful of suspects and quite a few discoveries.

While the story itself was enjoyable, I found a lot of the middle of the book felt a bit static and repetitive. The characters were three dimensional, but much of the “action” was circling the same suspects over and over again in a sort of sameness which dipped the energy a bit for me.

However, Gilbert spins a classic tale and solid characters. A good summer read.

The start of a new cozy mystery series - I can't resist a new series and I enjoy cozies so I picked it up. This is a fun murder mystery with a great many suspects and the ending surprised me, so I had no clue until the end - just suspicions.

Description:
Sixty-year-old Jane Hunter, forced into early retirement from her job as a university librarian, is seeking a new challenge to keep her spirits up and supplement her meager pension. But as she’s about to discover, a retiree’s life can bring new thrills—and new dangers.

Cameron “Cam” Clewe, an eccentric 33-year-old collector, is also seeking something—an archivist to inventory his ever-expanding compendium of rare books and artifacts. Jane’s thrilled to be hired on by Cam and to uncover the secrets of his latest acquisition, a trove of items related to the classic mystery and detective authors. But Jane’s delight is upended when a body is discovered in Cam’s library. The victim, heir to a pharmaceutical fortune, was the last in line of Cam’s failed romances—and now he’s suspect number one.

Cam vows to use his intelligence and deductive skills to clear his name—but with a slight case of agoraphobia, rampant anxiety, and limited social skills, he’ll need some help. It comes down to Jane to exonerate her new boss—but is he truly innocent?

My thoughts:
Jane and Cam make a good investigative team as they gather information and puzzle out the clues to solve the mystery. Jane provides the wisdom of years of experience and Cam provides a dogged determination and a knack for puzzles. Jane seems to be able to make people talk, but Cam is kind of tactless when it comes to people and lives the life of a wealthy recluse. I enjoyed the investigation. When the victim is so disliked by so many, it provides a lot of avenues to investigate and each one has to be researched to eliminate the red herrings. Good plot. I look forward to the next in the series.

Thanks to Crooked Lane Books through Netgalley for an advance copy. This book will be published on July 11, 2023.

This is a perfectly serviceable cozy for audiences who like a big estate, prickly characters, and a large cast. Gilbert does a good job setting up several unresolved plot points that could be future books, while neatly wrapping up the central mystery of this series-starter.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
An interesting book that may be the start of a series by an author I enjoy. A first I did not really sympathize with any of the characters but as the story went on began to at least like them. Jane is an older librarian starting out on her own in a small apartment and Cam is an younger wealthy eccentric. The contrast between the two seems to be the incentive for the partnership.

At sixty, Jane Hunter is in need of a new job. She has been forced to retire and her pension is not quite substantial enough. Her interview for an archivist position with eccentric thirty three year old Cam Clewe at his massive pile is not quite what she expected...but then in a murder mystery series, what is? She is practically salivating at the thought of getting her hands on Cam's mystery/crime collection. But her discovery of a dead body in his house envelops her in a web of secrets and she finds she has an affinity for sleuthing. The twists and turns are as numerous as the house's nooks and crannies.

Jane's quirkiness and wisdom combined with Cam's social awkwardness and superb intelligence makes an unlikely team, one to watch. The potential for future stories is endless...I already look forward to the second in the series. Other characters such as Cam's assistant Lauren, chef and housekeeper add to the heady mix. Though Cam isn't terribly likeable at times, in ways he is endearing. He has much to learn but I feel though he can be oblivious he knows he can grow. Jane has more life experience and is open minded. The excitement of murder will surely add years to her life!

If cozy mysteries with a kick are your thing, do get wrapped up in this spanking new series by fabulous author Victoria Gilbert who is gifted with creating atmosphere and beguiling characters.

My sincere thank you to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for providing me with an early digital copy of this arresting book.