MURDER CHECKS OUT (Blue Ridge Library Mysteries #8) by Victoria Gilbert will be released on November 14, 2023 by Crooked Lane Books.
As if library director Amy Muir doesn't already have enough on her hands, the chair of the Winter festival committee has just been murdered and the top suspect is Amy's brother-in-law. Between fulfilling her duties at the library, taking care of her twins, helping her husband and children prepare for their roles in the upcoming "The Nutcracker" production, dealing with her medaling mother-in-law, and get ready for the Christmas holiday, Amy now has to track down a murderer to clear her brother-in-law's name. It doesn't help that her brother-in-law has gone missing or that his absence casts further doubt on his innocence.
Amy Muir is back, and there has been a significant jump in time since the last novel in the series. At the end of DEATH IN THE MARGINS, Amy has only just discovered that she is pregnant. In MURDER CHECKS OUT, not only have her children been born, they are five-years-old. Amy has cut back in her duties at the library and Richard is more focused on teaching others to dance than he is on his professional career. There have been other changes around Taylorsford, and it takes a minute or two to catch up. Overall, MURDER CHECKS OUT is a solid, enjoyable story. There were enough suspects and motives to keep me guessing.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.