Better Late Than Never (A Library Lover's Mystery, Band 7) - Softcover

McKinlay, Jenn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451488644 ISBN 13: 9780451488640

Verlag: Penguin Publishing Group, 2017

Inhaltsangabe

In this Library Lover’s Mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of A Likely Story, a decades-overdue book puts library director Lindsey Norris hot on the trail of a cold case…
 
When the Briar Creek Public Library holds its first overdue book amnesty day—no fines for late returns—the volume of incoming materials is more than Lindsey and her staff can handle. But one tardy tome catches her attention—a copy of J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, twenty years past due.

When Lindsey looks up the borrower, she’s shocked to discover it was a murdered teacher named Candice Whitley, whose killer was never found. Candice checked out the novel on the day she died. Now Lindsey wonders if it could provide a clue to the decades-old cold case. No one noticed who brought the book back in, but could it be Candice’s killer? Lindsey is determined to catch the culprit one way or another, because justice for Candice Whitley is long overdue...

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New York Times bestselling author Jenn McKinlay also writes the Cupcake Bakery Mysteries and the Hat Shop Mysteries.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

***This excerpt is from an advance uncorrected copy proof***

Copyright © 2016 Jenn McKinlay

Chapter One

“Let the wild rumpus start!” Beth Stanley cried as the cart of books she had stacked to bursting abruptly regurgitated its contents all over the Briar Creek Public Library’s main floor with a loud rushing noise followed by slaps and thumps as the books landed on the ground.

“Shhh!” Ms. Cole hissed. She was an old-school librarian—nicknamed the lemon because of her frequently puckered disposition—who was in charge of the circulation of materials for the library located on the Connecticut shore.

“Sorry, I tried to stop it but I couldn’t hold it in,” Beth said. She was wearing a crown and carrying a sparkling scepter, which was really a bejeweled cardboard tube from a roll of wrapping paper with a tissue-paper flower sticking out of the end.

Lindsey noted the tail pinned to the back of her yoga pants and the pointy ears poking out beneath her crown. With her short, dark hair styled in wild disarray, Beth bore a remarkable resemblance to Max, the character she was representing.

“Where the Wild Things Are for story time?” Lindsey guessed.

“Best story time book ever,” Beth said.

“Brilliant! I love Maurice Sendak,” Paula Turner said.

“No one asked you,” Ms. Cole said. Her glance was frosty as she took in her part-time clerk with undisguised suspicion.

Paula was the library’s newly hired clerk, and with her sleeve of colorful arm tattoos and long hair dyed a deep purple, she had been a challenge for the conservative Ms. Cole to supervise from day one.

“That’ll do, people,” Lindsey Norris said. She was the director of the small library and tried to maintain some semblance of order. “We have three more loaded book trucks coming in. We need to make room behind the desk.”

“There is no more room,” Ms. Cole said. Her tone was as dry as butterless toast, and if she were anyone else Lindsey might have thought she was teasing. Ms. Cole was not.

A monochromatic dresser, Ms. Cole was in all black today, as if she were in mourning. Lindsey figured she probably was, given that they were holding their first annual fine amnesty day, which went against everything in which Ms. Cole believed.

She was a punitive sort who enjoyed using fines and shushing to curb their patrons’ naughty behavior. Lindsey had been trying to get her to roll with the times for a couple of years now. It was a battle.

“Why don’t we get the crafternoon ladies to help?” Beth suggested. She was picking up the books that had fallen off of her cart. Lindsey and Paula helped her. Ms. Cole did not.

“In what way?” Lindsey asked. She stacked the books back on the cart.

“They can fine-sort the book trucks that are already checked in, which will make room for the new ones,” Beth said. “In fact, if we wheel the trucks to the meeting room, we can do that while we discuss our book of the week.”

“They are not cleared to work in the library,” Ms. Cole protested.

“Drastic times,” Lindsey said. She looked at Paula and Beth. “Let’s wheel the checked-in carts to the crafternoon room to make room for the incoming.”

“I really must protest,” Ms. Cole said.

“Of course you must,” Lindsey said. She met Ms. Cole’s upset gaze with her own and tried to channel her inner calm. “Answer me this: Do you have a better idea?”

“You mean aside from never having another fine amnesty day ever again?” the lemon asked. “No.”

“Then to the crafternoon room it is,” Lindsey said.

She, Beth and Paula each took a cart and pushed it to the back room where the crafternoon ladies met every Thursday afternoon to eat, discuss a book and work on a craft.

As they entered the room, they found Nancy Peyton and Violet La Rue already in place on the comfy couches placed in the center of the room. Violet had been in charge of the food today, so it was ham and cheese sliders, potato soup and a veggie platter.

Lindsey felt her stomach rumble. She tried to remember the last time she’d eaten. It must have been last night because when she’d arrived at the library this morning, the book drop had been full to bursting. She’d skipped breakfast to help unload it and hadn’t had a chance to think about eating since.

“What’s this?” Nancy asked as the parade of carts appeared.

Nancy was Lindsey’s landlord as well as one of her crafternoon buddies. A widow, Nancy had inherited her old captain’s house when her husband, Jake, went down with his ship many years ago. Nancy then turned it into a three-family house and rented out the top two floors. Lindsey lived on the third level while Nancy’s nephew Charlie Peyton was the filler in their house sandwich and resided on the second floor.

“How married are you to the idea of doing a craft today?” Lindsey asked.

“Not very. Why?” Violet asked.

She was dressed in her usual jewel-toned caftan, which made her dark complexion glow. A retired Broadway actress, Violet had an innate grace and flair that, despite her gray hair, which she wore scraped into a tight bun at the back of her head, made her seem eternally youthful. Truly, she could command a room like nobody’s business. Right now, her tone was cautious. Smart lady.

“I’m throwing myself on your mercy,” Lindsey said. She bowed with her arms out in obeisance just so they would know she was sincere. “We are so far behind on sorting the books that have been returned we may never catch up. Would you ladies be willing to help us get these trucks in order?”

Nancy and Violet exchanged a glance. The two ladies were long-time best friends and Lindsey knew they communicated without words. It was no surprise to her when they both faced her and answered at the same time.

“Yes, of course,” they said together.

“Is Ms. Cole going to come in here and yell at us for eating near the books?” Violet asked. “Because that would be a problem for me.”

“So long as we don’t eat over the books, I think we’ll be okay,” Lindsey said.

“Food, I need food!” Mary Murphy hustled into the room with Charlene La Rue right behind her.

“Girl, every time I see you, you are either eating or napping,” Nancy said. “Are you feeling all right?”

She moved to stand beside the food table and loaded a plate for Mary before the woman even had her jacket off.

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” Mary said. “Just storing up for winter, you know, like a squirrel.”

“It’s May,” Violet said. “You keep packing it in like this and you’ll be able to hibernate for two winters.”

“Heh heh.” Mary laughed uneasily and her gaze darted to Lindsey.

Lindsey smiled at her to let her know her secret was still safe. The truth was Mary was pregnant with her first child. Lindsey had figured it out, but the others were still clueless. Lindsey had promised Mary she wouldn’t say a word to anyone, including Mary’s brother Sully, who Lindsey had an on-and-off-again sort of relationship with, so Mary’s news and the fact that Lindsey knew about it and Sully didn’t made things a teensy bit complicated.

Charlene La Rue paused beside her mother, Violet, to kiss her cheek. Charlene had inherited her mother’s slender grace and beauty but instead of...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Penguin Publishing Group
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2017
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0451488644
• ISBN 13: 9780451488640
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 304
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: BERKLEY; https://www.penguin.com/?s=BERKLEY; ; Unit 2 Limavady Business Park; Limavady; County Londonderry; BT49 0HR; Vereinigtes Königreich
• Verantwortliche Person: preigu; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; 49078; Deutschland