Better Off Read

Librarian Cleo Watkins won’t be quietened when the new, young mayor threatens to permanently close down her tiny town’s storm-damaged library. She takes to her bookmobile, Words on Wheels, to collect allies and rally library support throughout Catalpa Springs, Georgia. She won’t allow her advanced age to stop her or murder.

A significant benefactor known for his eccentric DIY projects requests all available books on getting away with murder. He’s no Georgia peach, and Cleo wonders if she should worry about his plans. But too late she discovers him bludgeoned, and evidence points to her best friend, Mary-Rose Garland.

Certain of Mary-Rose’s innocence, Cleo applies her librarian’s sleuthing skills to the case, assisted by friends, family, and the dapper antiquarian bookseller everyone keeps calling her boyfriend. Evidence stacks up. With lives and her library on the line, Cleo must shift into high gear to close the book on murder.

Series: A Bookmobile Mystery – Book #1
Author: Nora Page
Genre: Cozy Mystery/Career
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Rating:

Better Off Read, is a series debut by Nora Page. This book is filled with colorful characters, easy to dislike victims. The small town of Catalpa Springs is a wonderful look into small-town life. Mixed with the murder of a very unpopular man, this book has all the makings of a great new series that readers will love.

Cleo isn’t your average main character or the average librarian. Her age gives her insights into everyday life and how to handle rash decisions by young social climbers who don’t know that libraries are for more than just reading books. Cleo is smart, talented, and funny. She worries about her town and its residents to the point of sleeplessness. She is determined and stubborn, with just enough gumption to keep hope alive.

Cleo is passionate about the library and is almost at a loss on what to do when a bad storm destroys parts of the building and closes the doors until repairs can be made. Unfortunately, the new mayor thinks the library is a waste of money, and the budget should go towards his ideas to bring in tourists to the small community.

Other characters are just as appealing as Cleo and enhance the story. Mary Rose is stubborn, at times downright rude and seems to forget her age when tromping through the thick brush or making plans to get even with an old adversary.

This story is easy to read and flows nicely from one chapter to another. The evidence falls into place but never gives away the guilty party until the very end. Overall, Better Off Read and the future series is highly recommended to anyone who enjoys main characters who have experience and knowledge on their side.

About the Author:

Nora Page aka Ann Myers lives in Colorado. Nora enjoys rainy weather, the perfect biscuit, and quiet evenings in with her husband and cat. You can often find her in the company of books. As Nora Page she writes the Bookmobile Mystery Series. This series features a septuagenarian librarian of a small-town library, and who drives the “Words on Wheels” bookmobile in Catalpa Springs, Georgia.