If you like Hallmark’s Aurora Teagarden mysteries, you’re going to LOVE Death Checked Out!

As a cozy mystery, it ticks all the boxes. Small town, seasonal coziness with a likable main character and a dangerous mystery. Halfway through, I wanted the next book in the series! It definitely doesn’t seem like Death Checked Out is Dobrinska’s cozy mystery debut.

Her romance background definitely shines through in the light-hearted tone of the book, but the mystery is amazing and she nails all the tropes. We also see a main character that is optimistic, but not annoyingly cheerful and has to confront her problems head on. While Detective McHenry is gorgeously gruff without being too aloof for future development. There’s room for growth and an exploration of every character’s backstory, so I’m excited to see where future books take us.

And the plot! There was a point I thought I knew how everything was going to end, but Dobrinska added just enough of a twist that readers were left surprised but satisfied. Her writing style and the pacing of events and everything were perfect. It all came together to create a book that was hard to put down!

So, if you’re a cozy mystery fan or you like books about books, this one is for you. It’s a lighthearted, quick read that feels a lot like a pumpkin spice latte in a book.

A super fun new series. Very well written with characters who are well developed. Greta Plank, the library director is a very likable character. When a friend is murdered, it puts Greta under suspicion . She investigates. A cozy that will keep you guessing until the end. Highly looking forward to more! Thanks #netgalley and #LevelBestBooks for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

Greta Plank actually really enjoys her job as a library director in a small town. She's new and she's settling in after leaving a larger town and her rat of an ex-boyfriend. One of the things she's started doing is bringing library books to her neighbor as he is in a wheelchair and it can be hard for him to get around. She's delighted to learn that he seems to have a new love interest. It makes it that much more difficult to believe when she finds him dead. Even worse, it looks like it may have been a murder.
Of course, the detective sent to investigate is new to town from a big city. Also not a surprise, he's fairly handsome. I did appreciate the addition of two friends from the library and some parents that seem to appreciate and love Greta. A decent first book in a series.

Three stars
This book comes out December 6, 2022
ARC kindly provided by Level Best Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Death Checked Out was such a fun and lighthearted read! If you haven’t read a cozy mystery before, this would be a great start. I loved Larkspur, the budding romance thrown in, and all 3 librarians with their friendship. It was fast paced and kept me enthralled until the end. I also really loved how real Greta felt. After getting attacked, instead of saying ‘I must be getting close to the killer, better keep going no matter what’ like a lot of main characters in other books do, she takes a step back. Thinking she could have been killed, she has such a normal reaction to let the police handle it. It was surprising in a good way because it felt like a reaction most people would have. That shouldn’t give away any spoilers, but I felt it was an important part to mention!

I’m not a big one on series, but I would definitely read another book with the Larkspur Librarians! I give this one 4/5 ⭐️s!

* Thank you to Net Galley and to Leah Dobrinska for this ARC! *
(Also Leah Dobrinska retweeted me about this book and I think I about DIED.)

I already normally love cozies, and this one was great! I thought the characters were really well rounded and thought-out, and the storyline flowed really nicely. The true tell for me is always whether or not I can figure out the killer before the end of the book, and I didn't! I was getting close before the reveal, but definitely didn't have it figured out. Greta and her crew are eclectic and easy to imagine. I'm already looking forward to the next book.

I made two highlights, but I don't have my kindle with me, so I'll have to come back and add them later.

"Greta hated being left in the dark. It went against the nature of her job - librarians knew things, and what they didn't know, they knew how to find out."
- As a librarian, I feel this on a cellular level. It definitely made me appreciate Greta's character.

"She kept her voice firm but cordial - just like they taught her in library school - and stared at the intercom, waiting to see what Richard would say."
- All of the de-escalation techniques I learned I did not learn in library school. I could get on a soapbox here about how my MLIS was purely theoretical knowledge, and anything dealing with actual patrons comes from on the job experience, but I won't. Just know that this particular phrase struck me funny.

Greta Plank, library director in the small, lakeside town of Larkspur, Wisconsin, prefers her rose-tinted glasses extra rosy, thank you very much. It’s how she copes with the hard stuff in life…like her sister’s death and her ex-boyfriend’s deception. But Greta’s cheery resolve takes a hit when she stumbles upon a dead body on her way home from work. What she assumes is a terrible accident Greta soon learns is something more sinister, and to make matters worse, a new-to-town detective cites her as not only his primary source for the case, but his top suspect.
To clear her name and save her reputation, Greta decides to do some off-the-books clue cataloging of her own. After all, asking questions is what she does best. With the help of her fellow librarians and her lawyer mom, Greta flips through the pages of the murder, uncovering details about Larkspur’s real estate market and the deceased’s rare book collection as she tries to understand why anyone would have authored his death.
With friends and neighbors stacking up as both victims and suspects, Greta must cross reference the facts and put a hold on her idyllic worldview if she wants to get the full story without paying the fine of her life.
The villain in this story was unexpected.
This is an excellent book! I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion of this book which I read and reviewed voluntarily.

I really enjoyed this start to a new cozy series! I loved the setting and really liked Greta. It’s always fun to read a cozy where the sleuth is a librarian. Greta had some great friends (& supportive parents) who I liked. The mystery had me guessing to the end. I had my suspicions but it was about something else in the storyline! Ha!

I thought this was fun and I think any cozy reader out there would enjoy it! I’m looking forward to more in the series.

This has all the ingredients of a typical cozy mystery: quirky female lead who’s not a detective but plays one in the book, small town, brooding detective, murder, lead character is a suspect. If you like this type of recipe for a cozy mystery you may like this one! Greta is a librarian, and her friend and neighbor is murdered. The storyline was okay for me, but I didn’t love the writing. It personally felt a little choppy for me, I did like the small town ambience! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to provide my honest review!

I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of cosy mysteries. The story is based around the main character, Greta and is written in the 3rd person. Not my favourite style of writing but the storyline is good and the characters are likeable. It’s quite fast paced and an enjoyable read. Thank you #netgalley

This book was a cute, cozy read. Grab your blanket, a cup of hot cocoa and help Greta solve a mystery!

Larkspur Lane is home to the Larkspur Community Library and a coffee shop called Mugs & Hugs. The town is so small that the library, police station and Mayor office are all nestled inside the same building.

Greta, a library director, at Larkspur Community Library has been delivering books to her good friend and neighbor. Franklin has quite the book collection that’s worth thousands of dollars but still enjoys Greta’s deliveries and company.

When Greta finds Franklin’s body in a pool of blood, a target is placed on her back by both the murderer and the new detective in town.

Greta doesn’t trust Detective McHenry and begins her own investigation into Franklin’s murder with help from her friends at the library. The secrets that she uncovers have put her life in extreme danger! Does she confront a killer or leave the investigation to the detective?

I was excited to see this book is apart of a series! I can’t wait to see what mysteries Greta solves next!

The world needs more clean mystery books, and this one fits the bill! Greta, a small town librarian, becomes entangled in a murder case when she visits her neighbor and finds him dead. To her dismay she finds out that she is one of the suspects, so she determines to do her own sleuthing to prove her innocence and solve the mystery. As time passes and she learns more, more people become injured and the stakes run higher. Ultimately she finds out that her neighbor was hiding a few secrets, which lead to the discovery of his murderer. I enjoyed that this book wasn’t too graphic, and the small town feel of the characters. An overall great read!

Thank you to the author and Net Galley for the advance copy. All opinions are my own, I was not required to share a review of this book.

Death Checked Out is a cozy murder mystery set in a small town named Larkspur in Wisconsin.

When Greta is the main suspect of a murder she is set to find who did it and clear her name.

This was such a fun read. I was happy to see that this is the first book in a series. This was the first book I read by this author and I enjoyed it so much I will definitely check out her other books.

I give it 4 stars.

*** Thank you to NetGalley and Level Best Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to Level Best Books, Leah Dobrinska, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I like cozy mysteries but this one didn't do it for me. I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't get into it. I found somethings were over-explanation in certain parts.

Death Checked Out was a sweet quirky mystery novel for fans who love simple reads where they're not thinking too much. It was a fast read and one that put me in the holiday mystery mood where I now am planning to play Clue with all my friends!

The characters were all fairly fun and easy to like, sure they said some things that made me arch a brow upwards but I still enjoyed their quirkiness and friendships.

The book was fun, easy, and definitely one of those quick reads I could see myself picking up from time to time!

Thank you NetGalley for a e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Death Checked Out is a fantastic library-themed cozy mystery about a woman named Greta Plank and what happens after she stumbles across the body of one of her neighbors. I thought the mystery was strong and almost fell for a few of the red herrings placed throughout the book. The characters were intelligent and thoughtful. I look forward to reading more by this author, they have a great writing style.

I’ve been getting into cozy mysteries a lot more and when I saw this one on Netgalley I figured why not give it a try! It had a librarian as the MC and that’s pretty cool to me.

The book is told from one point-of-view and it comes from Greta who is a small-town library director. I didn’t think that she was a bad character in any way, but I didn’t feel a connection towards her or any of the other characters. They all just felt very basic and it didn’t feel like anyone had a personality. I think this is why I had such a hard time getting into the book. The romance, start of it/love interest, didn’t feel natural and I wasn’t a fan.

It doesn’t take long in the beginning to get the murder mystery started. I was actually kind of sad with the choice of the first victim and I didn’t even know them that well, ha. The best part of this book was definitely the murder mystery. I didn’t guess who it was or what the reasoning would be. The author does a good job keeping the reader off the trail and that can be hard to do.

Overall, this an alright read. I do wish the characters had a bit more personality. I think it would have helped to make this book shine. I did at least like the mystery!

Rating: 2.5 stars

This was a cute, cozy mystery, and it was perfect for fall. Overall, I really enjoyed the characters and the chemistry between them. At times, I felt like the author was overexplaining what was happening and it didn't feel organic, like the plot or the characters weren't really progressing, the author just told you they were. I thought the setting was realistic, and the overall premise made sense. I also really enjoyed the mystery and had fun guessing along as I read. If you're into cozy, fall mysteries, this is worth the read!!!

Everything about this book sounded right up my alley. Cozy mystery, book appreciation, library appreciation--I'm in. And I always appreciate an author who writes fondly about libraries and books. But the writing in this just didn't do it for me. I can be really picky about writing style when I read and if I can't vibe with it, then it's really hard for me to get into the story. The writing in this felt awkward at times, and never really seemed to flow--especially the dialogue.

I still think I could recommend this one to people who really love cozy mysteries though.

Thank you to Level Best Books and NetGalley for the e-ARC.

I do love a cozy mystery but this wasn't my favorite. I'll probably read the next book in the series to see if it improves because there were things I liked such as the character of Greta and I am curious about her mysterious backstory. We'll see -- the setting is good and the library information is a definite plus!

Death Checked Out comes out next week on December 6, 2022 and you can purchase HERE.

Her formal education in Library Science was about the furthest thing from nursing or the medical field, which was how Greta liked it. She much preferred the happiness and fictional world of books to the blood and gore of real-life medical emergencies.

This was a very fun and entertaining cozy mystery and I really enjoyed it. I loved Greta, the main character and the descriptions of the small, idyllic town of Larkspur. This was the first book I've read by this author and I will definitely be checking out her others!

Thank you to the publisher and to netgalley for the e-ARC!