By Book or by Crook

Lighthouse Library Mystery Series # 1

By: Eva Gates

Narrated by: Elise Arsenault

For 10 years Lucy has enjoyed her job poring over rare tomes of literature for the Harvard Library, but she has not enjoyed the demands of her family's social whorl or her sort-of engagement to the staid son of her father's law partner. But when her 10-year relationship implodes, Lucy realizes that the plot of her life is in need of a serious rewrite.

Calling on her aunt Ellen, Lucy hopes that a little fun in the Outer Banks sun - and some confections from her cousin Josie's bakery - will help clear her head. But her retreat quickly turns into an unexpected opportunity when Aunt Ellen gets her involved in the lighthouse library tucked away on Bodie Island.

Lucy is thrilled to land a librarian job in her favorite place in the world. But when a priceless first edition Jane Austen novel is stolen and the chair of the library board is murdered, Lucy suddenly finds herself ensnared in a real-life mystery - and she's not so sure there's going to be a happy ending....

©2015 Penguin Group (USA) LLC (P)2015 Tantor

Critic reviews

"This charming, entertaining, and smart series launch by Gates, who also writes under the Vicki Delany pen name, features an unusual (and real) setting and colorful cast of characters that set it apart from other bookish cozies." ( Library Journal starred review)

Nice story

Clean story with a solid mystery ending. The narration was flat and nasal. Love the cat!

Good idea... Love The setting and the cat!

The narrator is bad. So many good stories are ruined because of a bad narrator. I don't know how and why they are chosen. If my eyes still worked I may have enjoyed the story. There are many great ones out there. Maybe its a gifted talent. Hopefully you'll find a talented one.

Very good start to the series

Had to read/listen to the whole book without stopping, when I had to do something I listened, when I didn't have something I had to do I read. It was a good story, it kept my attention and drew me into the story...I sometimes wanted to shake Lucy for not seeing something or for doing something dumb...haha. I bought books 2 & 3 along with the audiobooks so I am now going to start book 2. I hope you enjoy this book too.

Good Story!!! Awful Narrator!!!

There was no life in the voice of the person reading the book. Her voice was monotone and droning. It was so bad that I stopped listening. Sad because the storyline is really good.

Wanted to Love It

I mainly read cozies and this is the first one that has really fallen flat for me. It was partly the narration, which I felt was monotone and dull. I live an hour north of the Outer Banks. I loved the idea of the library in the Bodie lighthouse, even though it wouldn’t be possible but I still enjoyed that aspect. I really loathed the accents. No one sounds like that in the Outer Banks. The story lacked character development. I wanted to like Lucy but it wasn’t easy. Nothing remotely interesting happens until 5 hours in. The ending was better than I expected but it was still a push to finish.

Great new series

Such a wonderful story with good characters! Hope more to come soon!
Library setting is so entertaining!

By Book or by Crook

I really enjoyed the narrator. I read the reviews and almost decided to send it back because of some negative reviews but as soon as I started it I became wrapped up in the story. So I am glad I wasn’t totally influenced and gave it a chance. I didn’t care for all the charms and ghost talk from one of the characters. She sounded batty but other than that and the author repeating herself a few times, such as ‘took off her shoes’ and a sentence or two later she ‘took off her shoes’. But other than those issues the book was good.

library mystery

I wasn't a fan of the readers lisp and the plot was a bit slow but I enjoyed the descriptions and the story overall.

Intriguing storyline somewhere on the coast .

The voice and voices of the narrator and the other people in this particular audio book are fantastic. They're very interesting to listen to and they bring the story and mystery of what happened in the lighthouse to meaning and interest and it makes it the book you Don't Want To turn off and just take with you Everywhere. You're going? The story is well written. And the voices are fantastic. I highly recommend this book..

Great start to a new series

I fell in love with characters in this book. It has just the right balance of mystery and romance. Looking forward to the next in the series.