“You’re developing quite a tendency to stumble across murder in your middle age.” Said to our heroine, Rachel, after she finds a corpse in the men’s room on the first page of the Books of the Dead.
Rachel lives in Paris with her husband, Alan, and her best friend Magda. After solving one murder in the previous book in the series, the Capitaine asks for her to “observe and report” who among the murdered man’s co-workers would like to see him dead. The quick answer is everyone. Guy Laurent was universally hated by all who knew him. So how will Rachel, Magda, and the Capitaine solve the crime?
The reader definitely has to suspend disbelief to read Books of the Dead. I can’t picture any country’s police force asking a rank amateur to go undercover. However, if you can get past that plot point, this book has a lot to recommend it to cozy readers. Middle-aged characters, a library, and last but not least, Paris are all here to entertain any cozy reader tired of one more restaurant owner. The characters are great too. The three main characters are realistic and feel like friends to the reader by the end of the book. For those reasons, I recommend this book highly. 4 stars!
Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.