Thank you NetGalley!

The cover alone appealed to me and I wanted to read the book!
Somehow I didn't read the subtitle "A Larkspur Library Mystery" and didn't expect it to be so much about solving the case! But I loved the characters, the descriptions of the place, the library.... I know sometimes the characters' reactions were a bit plain and predictable, but I still read through the book very quickly.

I also really loved the allusions to other books. This book made me feel all good and I really wanna visit this place and the lake!

Looking for a mystery but not gory (or scary)? How about a cute, cozy mystery!
Leah always creates fun characters and towns. I love the imagery in her books. This setting, on a lake in WI, is the perfect setting to give you all the cozy vibes! I really enjoyed this one and am excited to see how the series progresses!

I enjoyed reading this small town mystery. There is some romance too! I could tell part of the ending pretty early on, but I was still intrigued in the story. This novel was the perfect length with the perfect amount of character building. I loved the main character Greta Plank, I also adored the small town residents. I was not expecting a portion of the ending, If that makes any sense without telling the end 😂 I couldn't imagine I'd do things differently than Greta if I were the main suspect in a murder I didn't commit. I love when authors can put me in the setting and Leah did a great job with that. I felt like I could picture every scene in the book. Easy read, cute mystery, lovely characters! I will be reading the additional books to this series when they come out!

Greta Plank has made a life in small town Larkspur WI after needing a fresh start. She is the head librarian and has a sunny and positive outlook. She has befriended her neighbor and town curmudgeon, Franklin Halloway and his cat, Biff

Greta discovers Franklin dead at the bottom of his deck and thinks it was an accident. The new brooding detective in town, Mark McHenry, doesn't believe it was accident and has his sights set on her as his prime suspect. If she is going to clear her name and find justice for her friend she will need the help of her 2 coworkers, Iris and Josie as well several other Larkspur residents to find the real killer.

This is one of the most fun cozy mysteries I have read in a while. I was kept guessing until the end, which is always nice.

I highly recommend it.

If you've followed me for a while, you know I can't ever pick a favorite, but as a librarian, I love cozies that feature libraries and librarians AS LONG AS THEY ARE DONE WELL.

📚 And Leah Dobrinska knows her libraries and throws in some rare books, a small lakeside town, a gruff police detective, two best friends, a sleuth with a past, and a mystery with a few unexpected twists. (Plus, some most excellent library puns effortlessly woven throughout her prose).

📖 Read this if you love The Lighthouse Library series by Eva Gates.

🎁 It's a little late to order in time for Christmas, but if you love cozies, maybe you'll get a gift card, and you can get it for yourself.

Death Checked Out is a small town mystery with your typical grumpy guy and ray of sunshine girl. The main character, Greta, is one of the town's librarians and is trying to solve the mystery of what happened to her neighbor. This book had me guessing who was the bad guy the entire time and it was an easy read!

A great start to a new cozy series. A librarian, a cat, a murder--what else can a reader of cozies ask for?

This was my first read for 2023 and to be honest I got halfway through and had to stop. It is the first book in a new series and I wanted to enjoy it more but I simply could not get into the plot or storyline. Very disappointed since I wanted to enjoy this book more based on the synopsis.

A wonderful cozy mystery! I read this book in one day from start to finish, and I wish I had done this sooner. Greta is your typical busy body who refuses to keep her secrets to herself, but she does a lot of great sleuthing. Her mother as a lawyer is a great addition as well.

Just when you think you have it figured out there’s a great twist at the end. Hopefully we will see more from this librarian trio & the brooding detective

Can I just say how much I love this cover? I didn't even realize this was a cozy mystery at first because of how cute and different the cover is. It's much different from the typical design that a lot of publisher's in the genre use and I really appreciate that.

Now, let's get on to the story!

Death Checked Out takes place in the small town of Larkspur, Wisconsin. There's a beautiful lake with lots of cabins nestled around the surrounding area. Our main character Greta is one of the town's librarians and is very busy with work, but she also enjoys hanging out with her girlfriends and going paddle boarding in the lake.

There is a new detective in town who moved to Larkspur from Chicago, and he is immediately put to the test when one of the town's residents is found murdered. Given the fact that Greta had a close friendship with the resident, things don't look very good for her when she is the one who finds the body.

I liked the banter between Greta and Detective McHenry. He's from Chicago and he takes his job very seriously, so even though Greta is innocent, he's very tough on her until she can come up with the proof to show him that she is innocent. Meanwhile, Greta feels like she is doing everything she can to show him that she's not a criminal but keeps running into roadblocks while trying to solve the murder.

Larkspur is filled with interesting people. There's Josie and Iris, who work with Greta at the library. There's Allison who works at the cafe, Mugs & Hugs. There's Dean and Sidney, who spend a lot of time at the library working while there office is being renovated. And then there are out of town guests, like Greta'a parents, or Liam the estate lawyer.

I felt like Death Checked Out was a great first book because there were a lot of leads on who the murderer could be, so the story really kept me guessing. I'm also a HUGE book lover myself, so it was really fun to read about the rare book collection as well as all of the fun literary references, like Nancy Drew and James Bond and other book series.

I can't wait to find out what happens next in Larkspur. Hopefully Greta can stay out of trouble, although I'm sure she'll get wrapped up in another case soon. Detective McHenry may not like it, but with her research skills and thoughtful personality, she could be a great asset towards his police cases in the future.

Thanks to Netgalley and Level Best Books for an eGalley in exchange for an honest review!

xo Marian

Rounded up to 2 stars
I really thought I would love this book, it totally sounded like my kind of thing but it really didn’t do it for me
I didn’t enjoy any of the characters as they all felt very one dimensional and…unfortunately rather dull. I would have loved to have gotten to know the characters in order to root for them. There were a lot of characters and they all merged a little as every character felt one dimensional - toxically positive, grumpy, loved up etc.
Who asks someone on a date at a funeral? You just met and exchanged maybe two sentences?
I didn’t buy McHenry as a detective. Just bring the suspect into the house for a wee nosey, sure! Then let her parents come too. Ah it’s fine, just wear gloves
This book quickly became infuriating and I wish I’d DNF’d but I did want to know who the murderer was…I called it quite early on and wanted to know if I was right. I was. This hasn’t put me off of cosy mysteries as that remains one of my favourite genres
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank Level Best Books and NetGalley for granting me this ARC in exchange for writing an honest review!

I AM TOTALLY NOT WEEPING 😭, I just can't.

I walked into this book excepting a comfy read but little did I know that a huge plot twist would fall and shatter that idea; I literally wept because of it. This book is about new beginnings, betrayal, friendship, grief, and it does contain thriller (hence the plot twist- ain't spoiling much). Imagining the events taking place made it feel like a warm and genuine book (aside from the plot twist of course). As I imagined it unfold, I felt happiness radiating and how it captivates you. It is written in a simple way compared to advanced English books but nonetheless, I loved this book. I would recommend this to people who are thriller (not extreme) and follow a girl who works in a library.

Comments about the characters (may contain spoilers):
- I relate to Gret way more than I expected to.
- Dolores is sweet
- I want a friend like franklin, ugh so sweet.
- I would love to work in a library like Greta and live in a small community.
- I would love to live in a cabin that’s identical to Franklin's (especially the books room)

"Like crisp pages brimming
with fairy tales and happy endings"

"What I wouldn't give for your heart. But I'd hate to see it come back to bite you. Even you can't cure everything with your kindness!"

"Life is messy"

"The truth will come to light."

"You can do this. Think happy thoughts. Everything will be okay."

"Being cheerful is a great gift, G. But you also have to let yourself feel real feelings, too. You like to keep things all tidy and wrapped in a nice little box because it makes you feel in control, but life is messy. More like a package that's ripped open or split at the seams with its contents spewed everywhere?"

"There's something good somewhere in every book?"

“There will always be bad things that happen, to greater or lesser degrees. You can't run from the bad in the world"

“It’s better to put roots down and surround yourself with people who'll support you and lift you up when you get trampled down by some of the bad"

"All these friends and neighbors. They had their own stories. Their own secrets. And that was just the way it was, wasn't it? People were messy. Life was, too."

This cozy mystery was an easy, yet utterly predictable read.
I didn't relate to any of the characters. Greta was naive & chipper to the point of being annoying. She’s a suspect in a murder investigation and doesn’t understand why the detective refuses to share details of the case with her? Girl, come on. You should be smarter than that.
The rest of the characters were flat, lacking personality, and felt interchangeable. Iris and some of the lesser developed characters were cloyingly sweet.
Sadly, nothing in this book stood out. That being said, this is the first book in what will become a cozy series, so I'll hold onto hope that the next book is better

Overall I enjoyed this start to a new series, but, in my opinion, it was a tad longer than it needed to be; some of the info, especially the stuff not connected to the murder could have been condensed. I was also kind of annoyed at the protagonist and her 2 besties; how old are they??? The murder itself was finally good and had a lot of things thrown in, from rare books to a secret hiding place. Also, thanks to this book, I feel an urge to visit Wisconsin now.

I loved, loved, loved this book!
Greta Plank is the new librarian in a small town. She has managed to make friends pretty quickly and her life is nice and quiet, just the way she wants it to be. Until one of her friends dies and she is the one who discovers the body.
The town’s new detective treats Greta as a suspect and this makes her decide to start her own investigation into what actually happened.

This book was the first one in a new cozy mystery series and I can’t wait to get my hands on the next one! This story had all the elements I love in a cozy: lovely characters, great friendships, an idyllic town, lots of talk about books and just a touch of romance.
I kind of guessed who’d done it but I didn’t mind at all. I still enjoyed this book a lot!

Thank you so much for this review copy.

What a great first Cozy in a new series! I love the friction filled budding relationship between Greta, the FMC, and Detective McHenry. There were some instances where the story fell victim to "first-in-a-series" issues, but overall a great read and I'm looking forward to future books in the Larkspur Library Mysteries.

I’m a fan of cozy mysteries and books that involve libraries. I did enjoy it but there were some dull moments and things not explained well or waiting too long to be explained. And the chemistry was a bit off.

Thank you NetGalley and Leah Dobrinska for providing this ARC to review. ~I was given this book and made no commitments to leave my opinions, favorable or otherwise. ~

I have a real soft spot about books about libraries, so I was eager to read Death Checked Out by Leah Dobrinska. I genuinely enjoyed reading this book. It is a murder mystery novel set in a small Wisconsin town and the local librarian, who is new in town and someone who's made it her mission to befriend everyone in Larkspur, is determined to use her research skills to solve the murder of her friend because the (also new in town) detective isn't used to small-town living. Along the way, they find out a lot of small town secrets, some truths about themselves, and also friendship (or more?) in each other. This book delivers all of the fell good, heartwarming, warm cup of tea feelings you want from a romance novel with the mystery and suspense of a detective novel. I honestly wasn't able to guess who the killer was before the big reveal, the writing was that well done. I look forward to reading more from Leah Dobrinska again in the future.

I volunteered to review this book in exchange for an advanced reader copy - any opinions expressed are my own. My sincere thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

#MurderMystery #Librarians #Romance #ARC #NetGalley #LeahDobrinska #DeathCheckedOut

DNF--I was bored and the characters didn't pull me in, despite the main character being a librarian! I don't read a lot of cozy mysteries however, so another reader might enjoy it very much so. Just not my cup of tea.

A LIBRARY MURDER MYSTERY!!!

I am OBSESSED! with this unique and cozy mystery book. Its dark academia meets cottage core in the most perfect setting. The setting is captured perfectly in the beautiful writing by Leah Dobrinska. Descriptions, images and characters are all so well written with depth.

The cover was what initially caught my attention. it is goregus and i know its gonna be popular with the booktok girlies!

I cant wait to follow this series and explorer more of the authors writings.