Book Review: Shelved Under Murder | Victoria Gilbert

This is a sweet, fun cozy mystery, and a great weekend read! Victoria Gilbert offers her second installment in her Blue Ridge Library Mysteries and what an interesting ride! The settings for this book are so adorable, from the winding driveway up to the farm, to the town square hosting the Heritage Festival—Gilbert really has a way with descriptions that make the settings pop right off of the page!

I do want to caution readers up front that this book heavily and frequently spoils the first book in the Blue Ridge Library Mystery Series  (A Murder for the Books), so please go back and read these in order if that bothers you. I’m ok reading things out of order, but knowing the whodunit from the first book does make it difficult to recommend reading this first. That said, this book works as a standalone, so if you don’t plan to go back, feel free to jump in here!

About the Book

The book opens with Amy Webber, Director of the Blue Ridge Library in Taylorsford, Virginia, preparing for the annual Heritage Festival. The Festival attracts tourists from all over to celebrate the history of Taylorsford, and purchase some local arts and crafts. Amy and her colleague Sunny are running errands to pick up items for their sale, only to discover the dead body of a local, renowned artist murdered in her own studio!

The police are on the scene quickly to investigate the murder. As the investigation progresses, the evidence only gets more confusing. Who was the man seen running away from the studio the day of the murder? Why would a local artist who keeps to herself be murdered? And, is there an underground art forgery ring going on with ties to Taylorsford?

Lucky for the police, Amy has a degree in art history, and she’s able to help them look into the potential forgeries and the murder until an expert can arrive. But as Amy investigates, strange characters start cropping up all over town with links to the case. Amy may find that the case hits closer to home than she ever could have imagined. With a number of close calls, Amy finds herself in danger and desperate to help the police solve this crime before another body turns up—maybe even her own!

Reflection

With a cast of zany characters, some outlandish narrow escapes, and cute settings out the wazoo, this is a book many cozy mystery fans will enjoy!

I found the pacing of this book quite odd. It would be slow for 10-15%, then speed up with action, then return to slow, then speed back up again. I do think readers should give that a chance because I got used to it and let the story just unfold. Often the slower parts are used to develop the characters through dialogue and interactions. Though important, they do detract a bit from the mystery (for instance, Amy takes a mini trip somewhere mid-mystery and it completely derailed the case for me). I think these are used to develop the character arcs for the series, but I do think the author could have done a better job tying them into the mystery more.

Overall, this was a fun, quick read filled with wonderful settings and loveable characters!

I want to thank NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books, and Victoria Gilbert for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.