Book Clubbed by Lorna Barrett is the 8th book in the “Booktown” mystery series. Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime, July 2014

New York Times bestselling author Lorna Barrett is back in town—Booktown, that is—with another page-turning mystery. This time bookstore owner Tricia Miles and her sister, Angelica, put their own problems on the shelf to catch a killer who turns a bookcase into a murder weapon.

Cranky Chamber of Commerce receptionist Betsy Dittmeyer is done reading people the riot act. After she’s crushed by a fallen bookcase, the next item to be read is her last will and testament—which is packed with surprises. It soon comes to light that Betsy was hiding volumes of dark secrets behind that perpetual frown of hers—and one of them just might have been a motive for murder.

While Tricia tries to help Angelica—the newly elected Chamber of Commerce president and Betsy’s boss—solve the mystery, she discovers a hidden chapter in her own family history that rocks her to her very core. And with her ex-husband and the chief of police vying for her affections, it’s doubly hard to focus on who might have buried Betsy in a tomb of tomes.

But as Tricia and Angelica try to read between the lines, they need to watch their step…and make sure the killer doesn’t catch them between the stacks.

This series continues to get better and better and I love it. In the latest adventures of Tricia, she becomes involved in yet another murder. This was a well-written whodunit that had a comfortable tone and the story was easy to follow as each chapter led us with clues to the killer identity. The author did a great job by providing us with several likely suspects who when revealed, I didn’t see that one coming. There were some occurrences within the pages of this book that tested the strength of our heroine and I like how she prevailed in the aftermath. A good strong showing in the telling of this story and I look forward to the next book in this delightfully charming series.