Review of Books Can Be Deceiving by Jenn McKinlay

Books Can Be Deceiving, published in 2011, is the first book in the Library Lover’s Mysteries series.  Currently, there are twelve books in the series with number thirteen coming out in October 2022.

Librarian Lindsey Norris recently moved to coastal Connecticut to run the Briar Creek Library.  Under Lindsey’s library directorship, the library hosts the crafternoon club, a weekly craft/book club.  The crafternooners get together to discuss a book while doing a craft, which sounds like a club I’d like to join.  Crafternoon club members include Beth, the library’s children’s librarian and an aspiring children’s book author; Violet, a retired Broadway actress who volunteers at the Briar Creek Community Theater; Nancy, who is Lindsey’s landlord; Mary, who owns the Blue Anchor restaurant with her husband; and Lindsey herself.  Life in Briar Creek seems quite lovely until Beth’s boyfriend, Rick Eckman, turns up dead.  The town’s chief of police arrests Beth almost immediately, and Lindsey sets about trying to prove Beth’s innocence.  Lindsey’s detecting sidekicks include Beth and Sully, the owner of the local tour boat company.

Briar Creek’s locals make Books Can Be Deceiving a fun read.  Even though she’s suspected of killing Rick, Beth is an especially enjoyable character.  For story time at the library, she always dresses up as a character from the story she’s reading to the kids.  She also comes up with the best nicknames for people.  For example, she calls Ms. Cole, who runs the library’s circulation desk, “the lemon” because of how disapproving Ms. Cole can be towards everyone.  Other descriptions of Ms. Cole include old-school and “frozen in time since 1955.”  Don’t get me wrong, though.  Ms. Cole has some good qualities, which you’ll discover if you read Books Can Be Deceiving.  Getting back to Beth, she has the best sense of humor.  When Lindsey tries to do the tree pose during yoga class, Beth likes to call out “timber” as Lindsey loses her balance.  Speaking of yoga, Milton is an 82-year-old certified yogi who is also considered to be “the institutional memory of the town.”

The only thing I didn’t like about the book was how horrible Rick was.  He was the victim, but he had no redeeming qualities whatsoever.  During the course of the book, nothing good was learned about him, and Beth was the only one who had anything nice to say about him even though he treated her like she wasn’t good enough for him.  It’s no wonder someone killed him.

In all, though, Books Can Be Deceiving is an enjoyable read.  The mystery is clever.  I wasn’t able to guess who the killer was until Lindsey and Beth also figured it out, and that’s always a good thing in my opinion.