The Broken Spine by Dorothy St. James
Series Name: Beloved Bookroom #1
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Release: January 19, 2021
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Trudell Becket, known to her friends as Tru, finds herself in a bind when her library in lovely Cypress, South Carolina, is turned into a state-of-the-art bookless “technological center.” A library with no books breaks Tru’s book-loving heart so she decides to rescue hundreds of beloved tomes slated for the town dump. Under the cover of darkness, Tru, along with her best friends—coffee shop owner Tori Green and mysterious bestselling author Flossie Finnegan-Baker—set up a secret bookroom in the library’s basement and prepare to open it to their most loyal, trustworthy patrons.

But as Tru and her crew are putting the finishing touches on their new book room, the town manager, who was behind the big push for the library’s transformation, is crushed by an overturned shelf of DVDs. Tru becomes the prime suspect as she hadn’t hid the fact that she hated having all of those wonderful books replaced by tablets and computers. But if she gives the police her alibi, she’ll have to explain about the secret book room and risk losing the books.

Tru knows she’s in a heap of trouble, and it doesn’t help that the officer in charge of the case is her old crush from high school, who broke her teenaged heart. To keep herself out of jail and her beloved bookroom up and running, Tru—with the help of Tori, Flossie, and a brown tabby stray cat named Dewey Decimal—decides to investigate. And faster than you can say “Shhhh!” Tru quickly finds herself on the same page with a killer who would love to write her final chapter. . .

Dru’s Musing:
This was a well-written and evenly paced whodunit that quickly became a page-turner as I had to know how this was going to end. Who wanted the town manager dead? Was it the newcomers to the town? Was it a long-time resident? You’ll have to read this book to find out.

The author knows how to stage a story with a tightly woven, multi-plot storyline that had me completely immersed in the various aspects in the telling of this tale. The mystery was nicely done giving up enough of the drama to keep me intrigued and in suspense. With visually descriptive narrative, I was pulled in the middle of all the action as I followed along with Tru and the people that she encountered in her search for answers to the murder. The engaging dialogue kept paced with how well this story was being told and the feel of a small-town atmosphere added to the closeness of the residents. The author did a great job and when I thought I had a handle on things, the author changed directions with a few red herrings that enhanced my reading pleasure. What a fun time I had learning about the various characters, a bit of their backstory and their role in this bright and exciting beginning to this new series and I look forward to more adventures with Tru and her friends.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received a digital ARC of this book from the author via NetGalley.