HITTING THE BOOKS

A Long Island librarian searches for justice.

It’s not easy for Lindsey Norris, the library director for the little town of Briar Creek, to adjust to living with her boyfriend, Capt. Mike Sullivan, a cheerful soul whose early morning whistling drives her up a wall. While enjoying the relative peace as she glances out a library window, she’s horrified to see her friend Theresa Huston, a tennis coach, struck by a hit-and-run driver. Lindsey does her best to help police chief Emma Plewicki identify the car and driver, but the incident has unfolded so quickly that all the eyewitnesses are confused about everything but a single point: This accident was no accident. A few minutes later, Lindsey learns, the same car came close to killing part-time boat captain Charlie Peyton. Theresa is engaged to wealthy Larry Milstein, and in addition to becoming his wife, she's about to become the stepmother to Liza, his college-age daughter, whose own mother went missing when she was a young child. After Theresa insists on returning home despite her badly broken leg, only the security system Larry had installed saves her from another attempt on her life. Lindsey, who’s no stranger to either puzzles or solving crimes (Death in the Stacks, 2017, etc.), is determined to apply her research skills to the case. Who could hate the justly popular Theresa enough to kill her? The only person who comes to mind, the girlfriend Larry jilted, seems an unlikely suspect. Even the bodyguards Larry has hired may not be enough to protect Theresa from a really determined killer. So it’s no surprise that whatever the danger, Lindsey resolves to stay the course.

Prolific McKinlay enlivens a run-of-the-mill mystery with several twists and a good deal of excitement.