There's More to Your Local Librarian than Meets the Eye... (Reviewing the mystery book, The Librarians)

Some jobs just lend themselves to stereotypes.

 

Take librarians. Say the word, and almost everyone envisions something.

 

For most people, that probably looks like an older female—matronly, with grey hair, a cardigan over her buttoned-up dress, high-Rx glasses, sensible shoes, and a stern expression. (Lots of “shushing” with this one.)

 

The rest go straight into fantasyland, with the “Sexy Librarian” trope—beautiful younger woman, long hair in a messy bun, buxom chest straining at the buttons of her shirt, snug pencil skirt, not-really-necessary glasses, and impractical high heels. (The secret dominatrix just waiting to get her freak on.) 

 

So it’s like a breath of fresh air, that Sherry Thomas offers up not one, but four, stereotype-busting librarians in her latest mystery novel, The Librarians... and tosses in a murder or two for them to solve, as well.

 

 

A cozy, suburban branch of the Austin, Texas public library system. 

 

Nothing fancy, just a friendly, inviting space, serving the local community, manned by a competent, knowledgeable staff. 

 

Sophie, as head librarian, ably helms the branch... an efficient but standoffish single mom who takes her job oh-so-seriously... and has a very big secret she guards with her life.

 

Astrid, a late-twenties free spirit with Swedish roots, is quirky, kind, and interesting... but also incredibly lonely, seeing good things happening for everyone but herself.

 

Jonathan, the hunky, ex-high-school quarterback, who decided to become a librarian after finding solace in books during his military stint... and now longs, more than anything, to find true love (after finally finding his way out of the closet).

 

And newcomer Hazel... quick to point out she’s merely a clerk (having no librarian degree to her name), is a sophisticated half-Asian, half-American (but until very-recently, all-Japanese) transplant, dabbling in books because her grandmother suggested it.

 

What none of them—even with all their real-life messiness—ever expected, though, was to be dropped in the middle of one... no, make that two mysterious deaths... after a couple of unrelated people were seen at—or in the immediate vicinity of—the library, on its first ever Murder Mystery Gaming Night.

 

Two people who were, in all likelihood, murdered.

 

From that point, everything changes... for the horrified library patrons, certainly, but more so, for the library staff... who each, in one curious way or another, seem to have had some connection to the newly-deceased.

 

The investigating police are highly suspicious.

 

But possibly even worse? The librarians worry that more deaths are yet to occur.

 

Including, possibly, one of more of their own...

 

 

Any book by Sherry Thomas (with multiple series under her belt) is pretty much guaranteed to be a good read, and for me, The Librarians is definitely that.

 

But... I have a feeling this may be a polarizing book to some.

 

Not because it features LGBTQ characters—which it does (although there are no graphic scenes among those of any orientation, here)—but because this book is first and foremost a character study.

 

Put another way, The Librarians is maybe one-third about the mystery, and two-thirds about the characters... who they are, why they are, and how events in their lives have shaped them into the individuals we meet, when the story begins.

 

[If you’re thinking to yourself, “well, that’s part a major part of any psychological suspense”, then I agree with  you wholeheartedly... but I also recognize that some readers may not be expecting such a thoughtful look into motivations which inform character... but may/may not have much to do with the murders.]

 

Bottom line for me is I enjoyed The Librarians immensely. It takes the time to let us understand and really care about the leads. The various issues each person is facing/has dealt with provide great richness and depth.

 

Solving the mystery of the deaths is interesting, as well... and not entirely expected.

 

Above all, The Librarians is an absolute love letter to librarians, everywhere—and in an ancillary way, to anyone who has ever loved going to the library. 

 

And that, in my book, makes it a total winner.

 

If you’re a booklover looking for a long-weekend read? Give The Librarians serious consideration.

~GlamKitty

 

 

 

[Thanks to Penguin Random House and Berkley Publishing Group for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are, as always, entirely my own.]