Author: Jenn McKinlay
Published: February 13, 2024 by Berkley
Format: Kindle, 304 Pages
Genre: Amateur Sleuth
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Library Lover's Mystery #14
First Sentence: "How's the windy city?: Nancy Peyton asked.
Blurb: Briar Creek Library director Lindsey Norris and her husband, Sully, are at a popular library conference in Chicago to hear book restoration specialist Brooklyn Wainwright give a keynote address. After the lecture, Lindsey looks under her seat and finds a tote bag containing a first edition of Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train , inscribed to Alfred Hitchcock. Brooklyn determines the novel is one of a kind and quite valuable, so Lindsey and Sully return the book to the conference director, not wanting to stir up any trouble.
But just hours after the pair boards the train back to Connecticut, rumors that the Highsmith novel has gone missing buzz amongst the passengers, and they soon find the conference director murdered in his private compartment. And worse—the murderer planted the book in Lindsey and Sully’s room next door, making them prime suspects. Now, they must uncover the murderer and bring them to the end of their line, before they find themselves booked for a crime they didn’t commit.
My Opinion: Though the story surrounds a missing first edition of Stranger on a Train by Patricia Highsmith with notes from Alfred Hitchcock, Fatal First Edition begins with all the usual characters and feelings of Murder on the Orient Express. This book could have been a closed-room mystery, but Jenn McKinley conveniently brought the train to Briar Creek Station so her friends could be part of the adventure.
The second crack in the story was that Sully had gone missing while delivering groceries to people on the surrounding islands during a blizzard -- in his water taxi. Nope. That didn’t work. Islanders would know to be prepared and not need a last-minute grocery run. That part didn’t sit well with me. But how else could McKinley throw in a subplot?
Is the who-done-it obvious from the beginning? Not necessarily, I had my suspicions, but there was a slight twist and a convoluted explanation. Good thing reliable Robbie was there to re-explain it.
By the end, this could have been a novella. The story contained too much fluff, backstory, and twisty conclusion. By the 14th book in a series, followers already knew a quarter of what was on these pages.
Blurb: Briar Creek Library director Lindsey Norris and her husband, Sully, are at a popular library conference in Chicago to hear book restoration specialist Brooklyn Wainwright give a keynote address. After the lecture, Lindsey looks under her seat and finds a tote bag containing a first edition of Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train , inscribed to Alfred Hitchcock. Brooklyn determines the novel is one of a kind and quite valuable, so Lindsey and Sully return the book to the conference director, not wanting to stir up any trouble.
But just hours after the pair boards the train back to Connecticut, rumors that the Highsmith novel has gone missing buzz amongst the passengers, and they soon find the conference director murdered in his private compartment. And worse—the murderer planted the book in Lindsey and Sully’s room next door, making them prime suspects. Now, they must uncover the murderer and bring them to the end of their line, before they find themselves booked for a crime they didn’t commit.
My Opinion: Though the story surrounds a missing first edition of Stranger on a Train by Patricia Highsmith with notes from Alfred Hitchcock, Fatal First Edition begins with all the usual characters and feelings of Murder on the Orient Express. This book could have been a closed-room mystery, but Jenn McKinley conveniently brought the train to Briar Creek Station so her friends could be part of the adventure.
The second crack in the story was that Sully had gone missing while delivering groceries to people on the surrounding islands during a blizzard -- in his water taxi. Nope. That didn’t work. Islanders would know to be prepared and not need a last-minute grocery run. That part didn’t sit well with me. But how else could McKinley throw in a subplot?
Is the who-done-it obvious from the beginning? Not necessarily, I had my suspicions, but there was a slight twist and a convoluted explanation. Good thing reliable Robbie was there to re-explain it.
By the end, this could have been a novella. The story contained too much fluff, backstory, and twisty conclusion. By the 14th book in a series, followers already knew a quarter of what was on these pages.
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