Sherry is a librarian with a knack for helping to solve murders. She doesn’t stop to think why there are so many or why it seems to be her who catches all of the suspects. When her boyfriend is killed and she doesn’t want to get involved in the investigate. It soon becomes clear to Sherry and a small group of friends and the town’s new priest that they have some sort of demon problem in their tiny town. This book was full of mystery, fun, and humor. A weird but fun ride.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Ace for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review.

This book was a fun paranormal take on the cozy mystery genre. Sherry is a middle aged librarian in a small town who helps solve mysteries in her spare time. However, when her boyfriend is killed, she is able to take a step back and realizes that the amount of bodies piling up in this small town is not normal, and for some reason nobody seems to notice or care. This leads her to believe that there might be a demonic aspect to these murders that she must get to the bottom of.

I enjoyed the characters, especially Sherry, who was very realistic and relatable. I had fun trying to solve the mystery as the story went along, and I did not have it figured out until it was revealed. This book would’ve been enjoyable without the whole demon thing, but it did add for bit of spookiness and allowed the plot to go in some weird directions and for some really convenient coincidences to occur without coming across as too cheesy or contrived. This wasn’t a horror book by any means, but some of the scenes involving the paranormal entities in this town genuinely gave me the creeps, which was fun.

The plot started slow but really picked up about a third of the way in, and then I was hooked until the end, when it started to slow down a bit again. There were almost two whole chapters where Sherry is just monologue the entire time as she explains who the killer is, which got a bit old. Also, there was an excessive use of italics towards the beginning, but those slowed down later on.

Overall this book was a fun time, and I would recommend to anyone who enjoys light paranormal stories and cozy mysteries! 4/5 stars.

I think this is a classic case of a great idea with just okay execution. The premise was fun, with a nosy librarian solving small town murders. She gets a bit too big for her britches and it isn’t until an investigation becomes personal for her that she starts to question why there are so many crimes in such a small town, or why she has been able to solve all of them better than the police. It felt a bit of a combination of Miss Marple + any small town cozy mystery, with the addition of a talking cat and some light demon possession.

The execution was messier though, and this is where it went downhill for me. For the first half of the book, much of the interesting action happens off page. The pacing was quick, but the story felt like it was all over the place. I had to go back and check more than once to make sure this wasn’t the second or third book in a series, because references kept being made that felt like nods to previous books.

The second half did pick up for me, but overall the book felt like a cozy mystery with an added possession. It did not feel at all like Buffy the Vampire Slayer or have any of the darker vibes of Murder She Wrote, both of which were comparisons in the book’s official blurb. The mystery itself fell flat for me, because it was almost immediately obvious who committed the crime we spend the bulk of the book reading about.

I’ll be the first to admit that cozy mysteries aren’t really my jam, but if they’re yours you’d probably enjoy this one! It definitely doesn’t fit the billing in the blurb though, so if you’re actually looking for Buffy + Murder She Wrote, you may be disappointed.

Thanks to Berkley for the advanced copy!

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley and the Berkley Besties program, all opinions are my own. This was published about a month ago, so in an attempt to get my review out a bit quicker (I'm a bit behind) I did borrow the audiobook from my library.

The audiobook was great. The narrator did a great job with the characters, which only added to the humor of this cozy mystery.

I'll admit I was a bit confused at first when this book starts out with no demon hunting or paranormal aspect. I was wondering how the author was going to smoothly transition that into the story, but I was pleasantly surprised with the way it was added into the storyline. Sherry Pinkwhistle is a local librarian in a small town of Winesap, NY. She lives alone, has a cat, has a few good friends, and often helps the local Sherriff's department solve crimes. Their small town seems to have a murder problem and Sherry is always there to lend a hand. Her character reminded me a lot of Jessica Fletcher from Murder She Wrote, but with more humor.

When her gentleman friend Alan is murdered, and strange things start happening around her insisting she investigate she calls on her friends, the new priest in town, and forms the Demon Hunting Society. She is sure there is something otherworldly going on in Winesap and she must use her investigative talents to figure out what is going on or determine if she is losing her mind. Her list of suspects keeps growing to include Alan's family, his colleagues in the antiques business, and some local townsfolk. With the help of her friends and her cat she is able to piece together what happened.

Overall this was a fun cozy mystery. It doesn't take itself too seriously and has some laugh out loud moments. It is silly at times, but sometimes you need a fun book. I thought this was a great fall read with Halloween approaching and the leaves beginning to turn. There was a hint of this becoming a series and I would happily read more about Sherry and her sleuthing in the future with a cup of tea snuggled under a blanket.

Never underestimate the power of a librarian. Rachel Weisz in 1999’s The Mummy taught us that, and C.M. Waggoner’s latest book, The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society, is another installment in the subgenre of librarians cleverly outsmarting malevolent supernatural forces.

The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society is a genre mashup, both a murder mystery and a story about demons whimsically wreaking havoc, with meta commentary sprinkled throughout. Sherry Pinkwhistle is a librarian in Winesap, a small town in upstate New York. At first blush, she has a simple life—a cozy home, a satisfying job, a cat named Sir Thomas Cromwell—and, of course, the ability to solve the rampant number of murders that occur within Winesap’s borders.

Quite a lot of murders, actually. So many, in fact, that it should have alarmed everyone in town, especially Sherry—but every time the thought rises in her or others’ minds, it floats out of reach, as if something was making them forget.

But never mind that. Sherry’s life evokes that of Angela Lansbury’s Jessica Fletcher in the TV series of my childhood, Murder She Wrote. That conceit is intentional, not only by Waggoner as the author, but within the confines of Sherry’s world, although she doesn’t realize this at first.

There’s quite a few things that Sherry and the rest of Winesap don’t notice, in fact. They feel an underlying dread that things aren’t as they should be, but when that feeling comes to the surface, reality glitches and their worries disappear. The time period, for example, is deliberately ambiguous; cell phones don’t seem to be a thing but then someone gasps at our protagonist at one point: “What happened to the internet, Sherry?” [p. 253] (Don’t worry, Sherry will find out the answer, for better or worse, before the end of the book.)

The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society, by C.M. Waggoner, is a riotous mix of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Murder, She Wrote is a lesson for demons and murderers alike: Never mess with a librarian. In a rural village in Upstate, New York called Winesap, there lives a woman named Sherry Pinkwhistle (63) who happens to be a librarian. Sherry, it seems, is a cross between Poirot, Jessica Fletcher, and Miss Marple. Sherry is an unofficial consultant to the local Sheriff, as she is always investigating and solving the murders.

She is smart, self-sufficient, and always creative in working with the sheriff, and the towns people all know that Sherry will find the culprits. But when her boyfriend who she grew close to is murdered hours after they were together, Sherry has the feeling that she is a pawn in a much larger game. You see, nobody close to Sherry has ever died before. Oh sure, she's been divorced once, and she apparently may have been friends with a not very nice person who may have been guilty of murder, but this seems personal. Things get even more twisted when her cat (Lord Thomas) starts talking about HER which can only mean a demon.

Sherry realizes she is going to need an exorcism more than a detective. With the help of her town's new priest and an assortment of friends who dub themselves the "Demon Hunting Society," Sherry needs to solve the murder and get rid of the demon. But the demon has plans for Sherry, and those plans may have to be interrupted if Sherry is going to save her town where nobody, it seems, has left in a very long time. I would have likely given this a higher rating, but I searched all over the place to see if this was a standalone since the author definitely hints that Sherry isn't done with being the towns investigator.

This is a cozy murder mystery with a splash of supernatural. It was fun and funny, perfect for fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Murder She Wrote.

Fans of Murder, She Wrote and Sabrina the Teenage Witch take note. I am so glad I stumbled upon this paranormal cozy mystery. The quirky title really says it all and it ended up being a surprise five star read for me. I absolutely adored Sherry Pinkwhistle, a sixty-three year old librarian and local amateur sleuth living in the small town of Winesap. Just when Sherry starts to wonder why there have been so many strange murders lately, her cat, Lord Thomas Cromwell starts giving her demon hunting advice. By talking! Thanks to her trusty group of friends and Colombo inspired investigation style, Sherry is ready to get to the bottom of all the bizarre coincidences. While there are some creepy parts to this tale, the observant humor outweighs the scary bits and I could totally enjoy it before bed without being worried about nightmares. There were so many hilarious lines, I found myself reading them aloud to my husband often. I will be thinking of this story for a while and I sure hope it gets a sequel!
Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for this e-arc. Thoughts are my own.

Content warning: murder, body possession, forced imprisonment

As someone who grew up watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I could not pass up reading a book that is being promoted as BtVS meets Murder, She Wrote. Unfortunately, other than that there is a demon and a librarian fighting against it, I do not see where the BtVS comparisons are coming from. I kept waiting for the book to get there and it never did. I expected the snappy wit and precocious characters of BtVS and they just weren't there.

Sherry is a decent protagonist, and I appreciate that this isn't a story about a teen having to fight the demon that took over their town. I wish Sherry's "Scooby Gang" was fleshed out more, they didn't have much depth to them as side characters. The pacing on the plot is glacially slow without much payoff. I never managed to get invested in the characters or the murders, when I would normally finish a 350ish page book like this in a little over a week, it's taken me a month because I was only reading about a chapter at a time. I will say that the second half was more engaging.

Decent premise and I can see many murder mystery readers enjoying this one, it just wasn't for me.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, Berkley Publishing Group, and Ace in exchange for an honest review.

A small town librarian has a knack for solving murders. It is a little odd however that so many residents in her town end up killed off and she is always the one to uncover the mystery. It doesn't take long until she expects something a little more nefarious.

This is the perfect cozy mystery. Sherry was a hoot and really did remind me of Hercule Poirot. The supernatural element was a tad random but the fact that her cat became possessed was very funny. I was not expecting that ending and I absolutely loved it. We were left on a note that would allude to another book so i'm looking forward to the hopeful continuation

The synopsis of this book was very intriguing & hooked me from the very beginning. Sadly, this didn’t meet my expectations. I enjoyed the authors writing style, I think my disappointment stems from the pacing of the storyline. The authors attention to detail is great, just overdone many of times.

One-word review: Inventive
Emojis: 🧐🫢😂
Rating: 5 🌟s

My Top-Five-style Review:

5. The loving orange-tabby cat - Lord Thomas Cromwell - who may or may not be possessed by the ghost of the actual Thomas Cromwell. Cats have my heart, especially orange tabbies, so this little cat with a big name stole the show for me at times. Also, the name 'Thomas Cromwell' is a nod to history and adds an intriguing layer to the story.

4. The setting is perfect for the story: a sleepy town in Upstate NY with a diner and a sassy librarian. A place where tea and coffee breaks are frequent, and they are quick to make a newcomer feel welcome.

3. The nod to fictional cozy detectives is a treat. It lends itself to immediate buy-in from the reader, as do the other instances where the story shows self-awareness.

2. The story is a delightful blend of humor and intelligence that I thoroughly enjoyed. The witty banter between the characters had me laughing out loud more than once, adding a light-hearted touch to the narrative.

1. What I loved most about this story was how it surprised me by being fun and chilling simultaneously. I got goosebumps more than once when the demons came to play. Usually, cozies can be too… well, cozy for me. I want a little more action. And the paranormal aspects of this story, including the unique abilities of the characters and the eerie encounters with demons, kept me on my toes and engaged throughout.

The premise of this drew me in and I was really digging the older FMC (the thing about little old ladies, nobody sees us coming), but the execution did not live up. It took far too long for the demon element to become part of the plot (almost 150 pages in) and then it felt like an afterthought and the resulting explanation was very “so what?”

Everyone loves tropes! They can be relied upon to orient a reader in a familiar genre, they can be exploited for new purposes, and they provide that sense of coziness so many 0f us look for, particularly in murder mysteries. It turns out, human readers aren't the only ones who enjoy neat endings and visiting with a savvy sleuth over and over again. Sherry is great at solving mysteries, which is lucky because she lives in Winesap, New York which has had way more than its fair share of ingenious murders. She begins to notice that things seem to work out in a way that allow her to solve the cases just a little too easily. When a murder finally strikes close to home, she unravels not only the whodunnit, but the reason so many murders are happening in the first place. This book is perfect for any one who has wondered why anyone would move to Cabot Cove when it seems like every other day Jessica Fletcher is tripping over corpses.

This was cute, quirky, and unique. The “Murder, She Wrote” aspect was creative, but the demon thing got as weird as expected. I enjoyed the story to some extent but felt torn on it in another. I’m not sure whether I’d recommend it - I think it would only be to open-minded people that are OK with offbeat books.

Thank you to the publisher - I received a complimentary eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Teeny, tiny Winesap, New York might just be the murder capital of the whole, entire world, and from a certain perspective it’s all Librarian Sherry Pinkwhistle’s fault. And she wouldn’t have it any other way.

That sounds terrible, doesn’t it?

Which is exactly what Sherry realizes when the latest victim of the town’s absolutely-not-a-serial-killer crime spree is the gentleman she’s been seeing for several months now. (Sherry, as a woman of a certain age, has a difficult time thinking of him as her ‘boyfriend’ because that just sounds ridiculous – but it is the truth all the same.)

But Alan Thompson’s murder is the first death that has touched her personally, and it shakes her out of her waking daydream of being Winesap’s equivalent of Jessica Fletcher, assisting the police with their investigations no matter how much it embarrasses them.

After all, just like Jessica, Sherry is good at it, and the local police clearly need her help. Just as much as Sherry needs to feel useful and needed and smart and at the center of everything – something that she’s otherwise never been in her whole, entire life.

Alan’s death shakes Sherry and rattles her self-absorbed, contented little bubble. She doesn’t feel any compulsion to investigate Alan’s death – she just wants to grieve for the man who might have been the love of her life. If she’d let him.

Which is the point where the story switches from Murder, She Wrote to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Not that there are any actual vampires around Winesap in need of slaying. But the town might be sitting on a Hellmouth all the same.

Because suddenly there are demons – or at least A demon – possessing random townspeople who all berate Sherry, at increasing volume and at all hours of the day and night, to stop crying over Alan and put on her big girl panties and investigate his murder – whether she wants to or not.

As far as all of those possessed townspeople are concerned – or at least as far as the demon possessing them is concerned – investigating murders is Sherry’s purpose in Winesap and she needs to get right to it.

So she asks herself, “What Would Buffy Do?” (not exactly but close enough) and puts together her very own Scooby Gang to figure out what’s really going on in Winesap and what she needs to do to set it right.

Even if it involves closing a Hellmouth. Or her own.

Escape Rating A-: Were you teased by that blurb description of Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Murder, She Wrote?

I absolutely was, because that’s not exactly a combo that anyone would expect to see, pretty much ever. They absolutely are two great tastes – but whether they’d be great together is definitely an open question.

It turns out that it is, but not in the manner that you might expect. Just like it certainly is a cozy fantasy mystery, but likewise, not in the way that blurb might lead a reader to expect. And I definitely have quibbles about the description of it being “riotous” because that’s not true at all.

More like darkly snarky and filled with a lot of wry ruefulness – along with a bit of righteous fear and a whole heaping helping of pulling back the corners of a surprising amount of self-deception.

I think that the blurb description should be reversed, because at the opening it’s very much Murder, She Wrote, to the point where Sherry acknowledges that she often feels like she’s playing the part of Jessica Fletcher in a story for someone else’s entertainment, just as Angela Lansbury played Fletcher in the TV series.

What makes the story work AND descend into the creeping darkness of Buffy is that Sherry discovers that feeling is the literal truth. Winesap is a stage set where murder plays are acted out in order to entertain and amuse an epically bored demon.

Because immortality is both lonely AND boring, and this particular demon, like so many humans, has discovered the joys of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, particularly the stories of Agatha Christie, and is having a grand time watching Sherry and her fellow villagers play out ALL the parts for her.

Particularly as the demon doesn’t actually know how it will end. She claims she’s not forcing anyone to do anything – the increasing frequency and volume of her importuning of Sherry notwithstanding. The demon claims she’s only making suggestions and providing opportunities, that all of the murderers Sherry has ‘caught’ have acted of their own free will.

As has Sherry in her zeal for investigation.

All of which, if true – and it might not be, after all demons lie every bit as much as humans if not a bit more – makes the story a whole lot darker than it first seemed. And opens up the possibility of a sequel – which has the possibility of being even more fascinating as Sherry would have to enter into the thing with full self-awareness.

Along with the awareness that her cat, Lord Thomas Cromwell (the blurb infuriatingly misspells his name – and it MATTERS) really does contain the spirit of the actual historical figure, Lord Thomas Cromwell, the architect of Henry VIII’s infamous divorce, and that her cat is not only watching and judging her – as they all do – but has the ability to tell her all about herself whenever he damn well pleases. Or whenever the demon lets him. Pretty much the same thing.

I hope we’ll get to see them both again.

Thanks to NetGalley, Berkley Publishing, and Ace Books Publishing for this copy of "The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society."

Sherry is a 60ish librarian in upstate New York who helps the police solve murder cases. But why can't she remember how many cases there have been in this sleepy little town?

This book was fun and creative, especially when Sherry starts assembling her friends and the town priest to help uncover if there is something "wicked" involved in these murders.

This was a fun little cozy fantasy mystery with a librarian doing some mystery solving in a charming little village. I can see why this was billed as Buffy meets Murder She Wrote because it is like a fantasy Jessica Fletcher. I did think this was maybe a bit too long and maybe would have been better as a short novel of 250 pages or so because about halfway or so, my interest started to diminish. I did have a pretty good time up until that point though.

My favorite part was absolutely the possessed cat.

**Many thanks to Berkley and C.M. Waggoner for an ARC of this book provided via NetGalley!**

Of all things you'd think of when someone mentions Lord Thomas Cromwell, a talking cat who BECOMES a version of Lord Thomas Cromwell (via demonic possession....OBVIOUSLY) probably isn't one of them.

But here in Sherry Pinkwhistle's world...it's just another lovely, sunny, murder solving kind of day!

You see, rather than just the fastidious and stereotypical elderly librarian your mind's eye can conjure up in a split second, THIS slightly sassy, always inquisitive, and unfailingly kind lady has a special gift: she has a knack for solving murders in her tiny town of Winesap, NY (and as a side note, the author frequently mentions 'nearby' Albany, which is near and dear to her heart, and mine too, as a nearly life long New Yorker!) But when she ends up losing not-quite-a-boyfriend-but-more-than-a-friend Alan, Sherry realizes that maybe the murderer is trying to stop HER from intervening...or even worse, wants her to keep GOING...as the body count rises.

Sherry finally decides it is time to call in reinforcements....and now, enter the motley crew that becomes fondly known as the "Village Library Demon-Hunting Society", which consists of Sherry, her best friend, the local priest, and a few selected others. As Sherry encounters the demon more frequently (and let's face it, she never really got used to the CAT talking to her to begin with!) the stakes get higher, the suspect list grows, and time seems to be running out to get to the bottom of the mystery. And there's also the small fact that there is ONE name on the suspect list that wannabe Miss Marple herself can't quite reconcile...her own. Could the demon have targeted HER to take down her beau? Or is this particular demon relentless enough to make Winesap its PERMANENT home...where NO resident can ever truly feel safe again?

It's a bit strange to say, but if I'd jumped the gun and written a review for this book anywhere prior to about oh, halfway through, it would have been a pretty solid, glowing 4 star review. I liked the character of Sherry immediately, the setting felt cozy and familiar (I do love you, NY!) and there was plenty of humor and heart in the early pages. I truly felt for Sherry when she lost Alan, thought some of the ancillary characters were pretty accessible and lovable enough, and the introduction of Lord Thomas Cromwell was pretty hilarious in and of itself.

But as time wore on and references to Sherry's past murder investigations multiplied, the beautifully woven and intricate thread art of the first half started to look more like the back side of the cross stitch...you know, the part where all of the string looks like a knotted, jumbled mess.

At first, the mystery was sort of cheeky and fun, and I bought Sherry as a fairly thorough yet somewhat amateur investigator...sort of a Miss Marple meets Jessica Fletcher (which was pretty clearly the author's intention, as several references to Christie are made throughout) and I was pretty much on board, despite this being a bit outside the norm in terms of preferred genre for me. But when it got to the point where I was sort of praying that she would just GET to the conclusion already, the tide had most certainly turned. There's also the small fact that for a while, the demon is the MOST important part of the story (and Sherry sees it frequently) but then it sort of fades into the background until the very end of the third act. For a 'character' that was so important it is part of the TITLE of the book, I just wanted the demon to sort of maintain the same intensity throughout...and to be honest, it was a little bit bizarre that it didn't.

But the part that perhaps tripped me up the most along the way is the fact that this is book one in what seems likely to become a series...and yet, we were supposed to feel a level of familiarity and kinship with characters and a town, not to mention Sherry's crime-solving history, that just wasn't possible in the context of this one book. While these characters had the potential to be enchanting, quirky, and fun...I just didn't feel like I really got to KNOW them as well as I would have liked. Sherry ultimately gets so wrapped up in her neverending sleuthing quest that I started to forgot who SHE was too, outside of this 'hobby', and the sort of emotional gravitas I felt at the beginning over the loss of her beloved Alan was all but gone by story's end. There are plenty of quippy and silly moments in the opening sections, but these too petered out towards the end and just left me missing everything that had sort of 'hooked' me in the first place.

And while this author was aiming for to write something along the lines of a cozy mystery with a dose of demon hunting and a splash of "Murder, She Wrote"...I think instead Waggoner ended up inadvertently murdering most of what she wrote.

3 stars

“It was always strange to be in a room that conspicuously lacked a dead body.”

This delightful story begins as a cozy mystery but takes a sharp turn into the realm of paranormal fiction. Sherry is a fun character—a little off-the-rails at times, but still relatable. I appreciated her inner monologues and tangents as well as her methodical way of solving crimes. I also enjoyed the side characters. Despite all the murder (and possible demon problems), there’s also a lot of humor. I caught myself laughing aloud multiple times.