Lucy Richardson, realizing she needs a change from her life in Boston, contacts her Aunt Ellen and moves to the Outer Banks of North Carolina to become the assistant librarian at the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library. Only a week into her new life, the chairman of the library board is murdered in the rare books section of the library. Then a first edition Jane Austen novel is stolen. Lucy is determined to solve the mystery before the wrong person goes to jail for both crimes.

By Book or By Crook is the first in the cozy Lighthouse Library Mystery series by Eva Gates. I needed a lighter read and this cozy mystery hit the spot. I enjoyed getting to know the library staff, some of the island locals and liked most of the characters. There's even a library cat! Lucy isn't the greatest sleuth as most of her time is spent over hearing other peoples conversations. This doesn't hurt her likability in the slightest and leaves room Lucy's character to grow. She sort of gets the hang of things in time for the finale.

What dropped my star rating was the odd editing job of this book. For example, in back to back paragraphs our lead "kicks off her shoes" to settle down to read. The other editing errors were less glaring though they added up. Hopefully this will be smoothed out in the second book as I think I'd like to continue the series. ( )

. I am really enjoying this tale of a librarian in the lighthouse. Lucy has a cozy nest on the top floor and a Siamese Cat, named Charles for Charles Dickens. Of course, a much-hated man was murdered in the lighthouse during a meeting.

The murderer was very difficult for me to figure out. Multiple red herrings. What I liked most about this book is that it is set in a library in a lighthouse and the librarian lives in the snug apartment on the top floor. Lucy adored Jane Austin books, I had to read one for speed reading and it was a horrible experience for me. But I probably would have loved this librarian's second favorite. I kept picturing the library in the lighthouse and loved it. ( )

Okay but the crook was fairly obvious. ( )

Lucy has left her family and former fiancee behind in Boston, as well as her librarian job at Harvard. She is thrilled to be the new (assistant) librarian at a lighthouse library in a small town in North Carolina. But while at a party to open a Jane Austen exhibit when Lucy is just starting to meet people, the chair of the library board is murdered. He seemed to be arguing with a lot of people at the party, including Lucy (he didn’t think another librarian was needed) and the head librarian, who of course, had hired Lucy. Bertie, the head librarian, was found in the room with the murdered man and the murder weapon in her hands by Lucy. Lucy is convinced Bertie would never do such a thing.

I really enjoyed this. Loved the setting of the library inside the lighthouse. I also liked (most of) the characters. I will absolutely be continuing this cozy series. I want to see what happens with Lucy and Butch… or Lucy and Connor! And, of course, I loved Charles, the library cat. ( )

I hemmed and hawed about how to rate this book because it's a good story, with a fantastic setting (a library in a lighthouse!) and good characters. But it is the worst book I've ever read for editing by a major publisher ever.

Quickly: Lucy moves away from her old-money family in Boston to live near her aunt on Bodie Island, North Carolina and gets a job as the Assistant Librarian at the Lighthouse Library. She finds herself surrounded by people who either wanted her job or wanted her job eliminated. During a reception celebrating a showing of Jane Austen first editions, the library board's chairman is killed. Then the Austen books start going missing...

It's a really good story for a first in a series. The murder plotting is really great - I never even considered the guilty person once. Lots of potential here for a very smart, enjoyable series.

But the editing!!! This is what I stumbled over that slipped past the Obsidian/Penguin staff:

Lucy lives in a round lighthouse. She mentions specifically her apartment is round and has no corners. Then proceeds to describe the room as having corners ("the iron day bed... tucked in a corner").

The mayor tells Lucy he's going to bring his friend's daughter to one of her lectures. In the next paragraph, she's his niece (he also tells Lucy he's an only child).

waived instead of waved
providence instead of provenance

corner instead of counter
setting instead of selling
injunction instead of injection

The icing on this particular cake is the acknowledgements at the end, where the author thanks "Laura Fazio, my marvellous editor at Obsidian". What is it, exactly, that she's thanking her for? Because it certainly isn't her fabulous editing. ( )