Deadly Ever After
The Blurb
They’re getting married! Lucy Richardson and Connor McNeil have announced their engagement. Their friends throw a party for the couple at Coquina Beach, close to Lucy’s beloved Bodie Island Lighthouse Library.
As they’re packing up the presents and the (few) leftovers from Josie’s Cozy Bakery, who should arrive, but Richard Eric Lewiston III, Lucy’s former almost-fiancé and his overbearing mother Evangeline. Push comes to love when Evangeline makes no secret of why she’s here: to get Lucy and Ricky back together.
Lucy isn’t tempted in the least, and Ricky is nothing but embarrassed at his mother’s desperate ploy. Before returning to Boston, Evangeline throws a dinner party at Jake’s Seafood Bar for a reluctant Lucy and her family. Lucy hopes to get the dinner over with and see Evangeline and Ricky returning to Boston. But when a body is found at the restaurant’s kitchen door, Lucy is again forced to unwillingly put on her detective’s hat and do what she can to save her family and her engagement. Meanwhile, the classic novel reading club is reading The Hound of the Baskervilles, and open war breaks out in the Lighthouse Library when Lucy agrees to temporarily take care of a dog named Fluffy, but Charles, the library cat, has other ideas.
The Details
Series: A Lighthouse Library Mystery – Book #8
Author: Eva Gates
Genre/Category: Cozy – Library/Pets
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
ISBN: 1643855883
Page Count: 304
Rating: 
The Review
Deadly Ever After, the eighth book in the “A Lighthouse Library Mystery” series, is a delightful addition and an enjoyable read. Lucy and Connor are getting married at long last, but like most things between these two, it isn’t without a murder or danger. Readers have been excited for a long time for this couple to tie the knot, and book eight doesn’t disappoint. All engagements and weddings have issues, but nothing beats a murder at your favorite restaurant while celebrating the upcoming nuptials, even if there are people there who weren’t invited.
The Lighthouse Library is the primary location, along with Jake’s restaurant, for this new book. The victim is one of Lucy’s father’s business partners. Someone stuck a knife in his back, and everyone is looking at his wife and son as the main suspects. Even Lucy isn’t sure that they are innocent, and as it happened at her and Connor’s engagement dinner, she feels it’s her duty to find the killer. This isn’t new for Lucy, she is always getting involved with things that have nothing to do with her, and there is little doubt that she does it on purpose, even though she says it isn’t.
There are other suspects aside from the victim’s family; evidence shows that it could be any number of people. There is some action throughout the story. The mystery of the killer’s identity is very well done, and most readers will not figure out who it is until the last minute. Charles the cat and a new feline character, Fluffy, hold a special place within the story and even help unmask the killer. The Lighthouse Library is a warm, inviting place to visit and appears throughout the book. Deadly Ever After is a lively, entertaining addition to the series that readers will love.
The Author
Vicki Delany (Eva Gates) is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. She has written more than thirty books: clever cozies to Gothic thrillers to gritty police procedurals, historical fiction, and novellas for adult literacy.
Vicki lives and writes in bucolic Prince Edward County, Ontario. She is a past president of the Crime Writers of Canada. Her work has been nominated for the Derringer, the Bony Blithe, the Ontario Library Association Golden Oak, and the Arthur Ellis Awards.
Other books by Eva Gates readers will enjoy include The Spook in the Stacks, book four in the “A Lighthouse Library Mystery” series, or perhaps Tea & Treachery, the first book in the “A Tea By The Sea Mystery” series.
Represented by: Bookends LLC
Contact Eva: 
Find Eva on Social Media:
Contact The Cozy Review
Leave a Reply