Review of:  Death Overdue (A Haunted Library Mystery)

Allison Brook

Great start to a series!

Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2017

I would really give this 3.5 stars - I enjoyed this book and think it has good potential for a successful series! The writing is excellent, the elements everything a cozy-mystery lover would want: a young, maturing heroine; problematic but loving family and romantic relationships; a puzzle mystery without violence or gore; quaint setting; new pets to love; a paranormal element (but not over-the-top distracting); and of course, justice served at the end for the murder mystery at hand. I loved the presence of Evelyn the ghost, Smokey Joe the cat, and Carrie's aunt & uncle as well as the intrigue of Dylan and the paranormal element. I hope the author gives us more backstory and exploration in future novels as to Carrie's relationships with her mother and father. I also suspect Dylan has an intriguing past and one that needs to be tapped more extensively in future books! The drawbacks, in my opinion, were that most of the characters seemed to be drawn two-dimensionally, rather than as full human beings capable of having both good/ bad traits and tendencies. In addition, the emphasis on the importance of women's outer appearance in terms of what the author and her characters consider to be "appropriate/ attractive/ proper" clothing/ hair/ makeup/ weight for a woman was frankly stereotypical and very disappointing. Women characters commented negatively on other women's weight and their choices of daily clothing. Yikes. I also hope the author explains in future novels why Carrie and only her niece can see Evelyn, and why Evelyn apparently isn't acquainted with any of the ghosts of the murder victims even though they're all dead (right??), and what she is doing hanging out at the library as a ghost. Has Carrie seen or experienced the paranormal before? Because she doesn't seem surprised, intrigued, or like she even much cares, that somehow she is seeing a ghost that only she and her niece can see and communicate with. This series has good potential, but the author needs to explore her characters more as full human beings and provide more explanation of the paranormal element.