Book Review: Death Overdue by Allison Brook (2017)

Synopsis: Carrie Singleton has plans to leave the small town of Clover Ridge, Connecticut until her uncle Bosco helps her land a job as the local library's head of programs and events. The money is good but Carrie's boss, Sally, clearly doesn't like her, another co-worker, Dorothy, thinks the job should have been hers and the only friend Carrie has is Evelyn, a now-deceased librarian who haunts the library and only Carrie and Carrie's young niece can see.

To make matters worse, one of the first programs Carrie is in charge of turns to a disaster when a retired police detective, Al Buckley, is poisoned prior to revealing new details about one of Clover Ridge's most notorious unsolved crimes, the murder of Laura Foster. Feeling guilty, Carrie decides to help Laura's son, Jared, continue Al's work, only to find a series of dead ends, a complicated relationship with her investigative partner and her life in danger.

Review: As I've mentioned, our local library is temporarily closed during the final stages of a renovation and, prior to that closing, I made sure to grab a stack of books to hold me over. Most of the books I checked out where on my list. Death Overdue was one I picked pretty much at random on my way to the checkout counter. I finished reading it this morning and can honestly say I was happy with my choice.

The thing I really liked about this book is it does have a solid murder mystery. More often than not, I can point a finger at a book's murderer reasonably easily, even if I don't necessarily know all the details about the motive. With Agatha Christie books, for example, it's usually the person who has the most air-tight alibi. That was not the case with this book. There were multiple solid suspects, ranging from family members to some of Carrie's co-workers and even some people who were mentioned but had no interaction with the protagonist (that she knew of).

Even the motive was a bit fuzzy. In the case of Al, it was likely to keep him from revealing what he learned about Laura's death, but it was unclear if it was the same murderer, as Carrie suspected, or someone who just wanted to keep the past buried. In the case of Laura's death, the motive could have been just about anything - a spurned lover, a jealous husband, a lover's spouse getting revenge, an argument with her violently tempered son, Ryan, an argument with Jared (who also turned out to have a temper) or just a burglary gone wrong.

While romantic subplots don't usually interest me, I did find Carrie's complicated relationship with Jared intriguing. It was clear he was hoping for it to become something more while Carrie was largely turned off by Jared's child-like behavior. Her romantic interest in her landlord, Dylan, added a little extra to this because I did wonder if she was falling for someone who may turn out not to be a good person. I didn't think he was the killer, but I did wonder if maybe he was lying to her about what he did for a living. At minimum, there was a question about which she would end up with or if she would realize neither were right for her.

I did have some mixed feelings about Eveyln. The ghost did add something unique, and I always want to give credit for originality. However, I also felt as though she really wasn't needed because the mystery itself was so good. Evelyn did admittedly give Carrie a few clues, including one major piece of evidence, but it was information/evidence she could have just as easily gotten from one of the many living characters. This was the first book in a series so maybe she is more impactful in later installments.

Final Opinion: There were a couple things I probably would have changed, starting with Eveyln and possibly including a better explanation about why the killer decided to keep pieces of damning evidence (and why they took them in the first place). However, as I said, it is a solid mystery with plenty of potential suspects and a likable, easy to relate to, protagonist. I'm glad I gave it a chance.

My Grade: A

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Here are some reviews of other murder mysteries:

Book Review: Death of a Ghost by M. C. Beaton (2017)

Book Review: Dead Man's Folly by Agatha Christie (1956)

Book Review: The Case of the Daring Decoy by Erle Stanley Gardner (1957)

Book Review: School for Murder by Robert Barnard (1984)