Character Blog — Marilyn Levinson/Allison Brook

Time to move on, decides my sleuth Carrie Singleton at the start of the first book in the Haunted Library series,. Approaching thirty, Carrie’s life is rootless and without focus. She’s been staying with her great aunt and uncle for the past seven months, and working in the Clover Ridge Library reshelving books and performing other menial tasks. Her mind made up, Carrie is about to decline the library director’s offer of a permanent position when a voice advises her to at least reconsider. The voice belongs to Evelyn Havers, the library ghost, who only Carrie and her little cousin can see.

Reconsider, Carrie does, and trades in her goth look for one befitting the head of programs and events. Carrie lucks out and rents a fantastic cottage at an amazing low rate from Dylan Avery, who used to play with her older brother when she and Jordan came to stay at the Singleton Farm when they were very young.

Evelyn helps Carrie adjust to her new position, and when Carrie’s first presenter, a retired homicide lieutenant, falls down dead while discussing a cold case he’s finally solved, Evelyn helps Carrie solve both murders by providing information about Clover Ridge residents and their secrets.

Carrie has grown up in a dysfunctional family. Her father, a crook, has spent most of his time away from his family. Her mother is self-centered and manipulative. Carrie’s older brother, the one stable influence in her life, has died in a car accident. Is it any wonder that Carrie finds it difficult to make close relationships?

Determined to do well, Carrie works hard to be a success at her new position. She forms a close friendship with Angela Vecchio, who works at the circulation desk, and gets along with most of her colleagues. Only Dorothy, the grumpy reference librarian, dislikes Carrie and does her best to sabotage Carrie’s best efforts until Carrie puts her in her place.

Carrie and Dylan’s relationship develops slowly. Given her background, Carrie worries that love and marriage aren’t a possibility for her. As she succeeds at her job and solves a few murders, she gains confidence. Her relationships with her parents, now divorced, evolve. She is appalled when her father Jim Singleton turns up after years of not seeing him and wants her to contact one of his partners in crime. When that person is murdered, Carrie finds herself defending her father and finding the murderer. Jim, eager to make amends for having been an absent father, gives up his life of crime, and he and Carrie grow closer.

Carrie’s mother and her husband Tom spend time in Clover Ridge while Tom is in a movie being filmed there. Tom’s ex-fiancée, also in the movie, has been murdered and Tom is a suspect. Her mother is grateful when Carrie proves Tom’s innocence and identifies the murderer, but Carrie realizes her mother hasn’t changed and never will. Carrie is learning to accept her mother as she is.

Carrie and Dylan’s relationship grows stronger, and Carrie takes an interest in community issues. She gets involved in a project that provides a location when homeless people can spend their days. She joins the town council as a replacement for a member who has moved. Carrie and Evelyn continue to solve murder cases. Occasionally, Evelyn will ask her to help someone, like her niece who is depressed after having been abandoned by her husband, and an old friend in a nursing home. Carrie does this gladly. Over time, people turn to her for help.

With each book, Carrie evolves more and more into a mature member of her community. She takes on challenges, often on behalf of someone in need of assistance. She continues to solve murders, now often with Dylan, who is an investigator. Even on the day of their wedding, Carrie and Dylan help a recent high school graduate deal with his brother whose life is in danger. What results is an action-packed adventure that delays their wedding ceremony.

Carrie’s story arc is complete. Now it’s my turn to move on to other sleuths and other series.

Booked on Murder

(A Haunted Library Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
8th in Series
Setting – Connecticut
Publisher : Crooked Lane Books (Aug. 6th, 2024)

Librarian Carrie Singleton must catch a killer before she can say “I do” in the 8th delightful installment in Agatha Award-nominee Allison Brook’s Haunted Library mystery series.

Carrie Singleton is ready to kiss the single life goodbye. Her wedding to Dylan Avery is just a few weeks away, and a happy ending is about to be hers. But when a body is found on the lawn of their wedding venue, happily-ever-after is looking deadlier than ever.

The victim turns out to be Billy Carpenter, a young man recently released from prison after serving time for a bank robbery. The stolen money he’d buried is gone and Carrie and the police suspect Billy’s two alleged co-conspirators, his friends Luke Rizzo and Tino Valdez. But then Luke is murdered and Tino is nowhere to be found.

With no leads and only a week to go before her big day, Carrie is on the hunt for clues. She hopes to wrap up this investigation with a neat bow before she and Dylan tie the knot. Carrie has something old, something new, and something borrowed ready for her walk down the aisle. Now she needs to find the killer without becoming the ‘something blue.’

Buy links:
Amazon * Penguin Random House * B&N

A former Spanish teacher, Marilyn Levinson writes mysteries and novels for kids. Her books have received many accolades. As Allison Brook, she writes the Haunted Library series. Death Overdue, the first in the series, was an Agatha nominee for Best Contemporary Novel in 2018. Other mysteries include the Golden Age of Mystery Book Club series and the Twin Lakes series.

Her juvenile novel, Rufus and Magic Run Amok, was an International Reading Association-Children’s Book Council Children’s Choice and has recently come out in a new edition. And Don’t Bring Jeremy was a nominee for six state awards.

Marilyn lives on Long Island, where many of her books take place. She loves traveling, reading, doing crossword puzzles and Sudoku, and chatting on FaceTime with her grandkids.

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2 Copies of Booked on Murder (A Haunted Library Mystery) by Allison Brook, Hardcover or eBook, Winners Choice 

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