I really wanted to like this one. I’ve enjoyed Sherry Thomas’ romances, but this was the exact opposite of steamy. Neither the romances nor the mystery worked for me, though it might for others.
Set in Austin, the book revolves around four people working in a library. Jonathan is a former football player who’s in love with a friend but he’s afraid to do anything about it. Sophie is raising her teenage daughter and is keeping a very big secret about her daughter’s parentage. Astrid is an insecure young woman who somehow started pretending she was Swedish and didn’t know how to stop pretending. And Hazel, the newest member of the library staff, has just come from Singapore after the betrayal of her husband.
After the library holds its first Game Night, two of the library patrons are found murdered the next morning. Are the murders connected, and are they somehow connected to the library? Why did Sophie return to the library late that night? And how is Astrid connected to the young man who died of an overdose in his car, who was asking just that day about how often books are moved around on the shelves?
There’s a lot of drama, but somehow very little of it translated to the page. I never found myself liking these characters, and the situations each character found themselves in often seemed ridiculous. Everything felt over the top, either heartbreaking or romantically perfect — Hazel’s pining for a guy she spent a single day with many years ago, for one.
The mystery itself felt much the same way. It just lost me – from Singapore to London to Austin, it involves Russians and bitcoin and antiquarian books and somehow involved every character. I literally got tired trying to follow each new revelation.
I was most disappointed by the romances. The writing felt wooden and the characters all felt distant. Yes, it’s hard to balance romance, action, and mystery, but perhaps if Thomas had focused on one couple rather than jumping from character to character, I would have felt more engaged. I never warmed to Hazel as a character, maybe because I couldn’t find anything I had in common with her. I think I’d have enjoyed a book more focused on Astrid or Sophie.
I did enjoy the library setting. I volunteer in a library, and the work Thomas described seemed realistic to me, such as the process of collecting and going through donated books. I also appreciated the tentative and growing friendship among the four library staffers.
This is meant to be a cozy or “feel-good” mystery. I know cozy mysteries are all the rage right now, so maybe this was Thomas trying her hand at it (though the story didn’t feel cozy to me). I don’t love books that tie everything up neatly at the end, and I didn’t care for the way she does it in this book. I know she’s a better romance writer than this.
Note: I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley and publisher Berkley Publishing Group. This book published September 30, 2025.
