Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Review: A Likely Story (Library Lover's Mystery #6) by Jenn McKinlay








  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 1509 KB
  • Print Length: 293 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0425260747
  • Publisher: Berkley (Nov. 3 2015)
  • Sold by: Penguin Group USA
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B00SI026IS


Book Description


 A new hardcover in the Library Lover's mystery series from the New York Times bestselling author of On Borrowed Time. Small-town librarian Lindsey Norris must solve a murder and a missing person's case involving two reclusive brothers.

NOT HIS BROTHER'S KEEPER

Delivering books to the housebound residents of the Thumb Islands, just a short boat ride from the town of Briar Creek, library director Lindsey Norris has befriended two elderly brothers, Stewart and Peter Rosen. She enjoys visiting them in their treasure-filled, ramshackle Victorian on Star Island until she discovers that Peter has been killed and Stewart is missing. Now she's determined to solve a murder and find Stewart before he suffers his brother's fate.


About the Author

 Jenn is the New York Times bestselling author of several mystery series. She lives in sunny Arizona in a house that is overrun with kids, pets and her husband's guitars. 



From Jenn's Website Bio:

When did I decide to become a writer? Funny story. True story. I was a teenager and went to see the movie Romancing the Stone. I don't know that I decided to be a writer so much as I decided to be Kathleen Turner. Yes, that would be quite a stretch for me, but living in an apartment in New York City, writing romance novels for a living seemed like a good gig and so the dream began. I did nothing with it for YEARS.

I went to Southern Conn State Univ, where I studied English Literature and Library Science and worked at a bar called Toad's Place. I then took a full time job working as a librarian in Cromwell, CT. Still, I wrote nothing. Full time work was not conducive to writing time. I knew I needed to live in a place where I could afford to live, working part-time.

So, I packed up all of my crap and my cat and moved 3,000 miles across the country to Arizona and then I started writing -- romances. Hmmm. They were pretty bad, but I learned a lot along the way about POV, character development and plotting, etc. I took a wide variety of part-time jobs, convinced that it was all temporary because one day I would be a published writer.

While I was pursuing this dream with some pretty impressive (also called psychopathic) single-mindedness, I had my heart broken a few times and I broke a few along the way. I found my soul mate (in a library - for real) and married him. I had a gorgeous baby boy.

And then the call came! A lovely woman called from Harlequin and wanted to buy a book I had submitted a year (yes, a WHOLE year) before. She said, "We want to buy your book." I looked at the bundle of joy in my arms and asked, "What book?" She said, "Hmm. Usually people scream about now." I said, "I can't. It'd wake the baby." This was my first lesson in perspective and what is truly important in life, my family, but I still wanted to be a writer.

I signed a contract and went on to write for a couple of Harlequin's romantic comedy lines. I learned so much and I joined a group of writers who quickly became friends that I still talk to pretty much every day. I had another gorgeous baby boy.

The writing was hard for me and I learned that I was not a romance writer so much as a mystery writer. I'm just better at killing people than I am at making them fall in love. Knowing this, my husband sleeps really well at night, really! Bwa ha ha.

So, I started over. I wrote several mysteries. I submitted to agents and publishers. No one loved the whole package. They loved my characters and hated my plot or vice versa. It was agony. Then a lone voice, an agent, decided she thought I was a genius (always a good sign).

She signed me and now I had a buddy to suffer the rejection with me. It still hurt. We kept trying. It went on for two years. And then we sold! In 2008, I agreed to write a decoupage mystery series, then I submitted an idea for a cupcake bakery mystery series and it sold. Sadly, my original agent left to pursue new and different dreams of her own.

I stayed with my agency, liking her partner very much. I knew it was a good match when I submitted an idea for a library lover's series and my new agent loved it and sold it.

You'd think I'd rest now. You know, take a chill pill and just enjoy the ride. Yeah, I'm not built that way. After so many years of hours hunched over my keyboard, banging out stories, years spent checking my mail box and my email inbox for good news, I don't think I'll rest until I really feel like I've achieved what I set out to do. And so, I agreed to write the bargain hunters series and most recently, I sold another idea for a mystery series set in London that looks like it will be a blast to write! This will be my fifth mystery series. Wow. I am very excited!

Is it enough yet? I don't think so. So far, three of my series have landed on the New York Times best seller's list. Awesome, but still, there's something just outside my reach. I guess I'll know what it is when it's in my grasp. Maybe it is something only time can give me. I don't know.

In the meantime, I am writing up a storm in the corner of my kitchen in my house in the desert. While my house, which is filled to bursting with kids, pets and my husband's guitars, is not the New York City apartment I dreamed of as a teen, I wouldn't trade it or the life I am living for anything!

My Review

 A Likely Story is the sixth book in the Library Lover's Mystery series by author Jenn McKinlay.  This is a great series and McKinlay is one of my favorite cozy mystery writers. McKinlay is a great writer and storyteller!

Set in coastal Connecticut, in the fictional town of Briar Creek, Lindsey Norris is the librarian of the small town library. Lindsey has a great supporting cast of friends to assist her with solving local mysteries. As the town librarian, Lindsey has been delivering books to inhabitants of the local Thumb Islands. The book opens with Lindsey along with her friend Sully trying to deliver books to two older brothers who are recluses on a local island. They are hoarders who are rarely seen in town. Lindsey and Sully quickly discover the island is booby-trapped and one of the brothers is dead. Could the other brother be to blame? Where has he gone?

A Likely Story moved along a brisk pace. I found it hard to put down. At one point my heart was racing. Great cozy mystery!


I highly recommend A Likely Story. I'm looking forward to the next book in the Library Lover's Mystery series.


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