Proof of Murder - the fourth Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery

The books in this series are coming out faster than I can keep up with reading them!  I just now finished the fourth book in the series, and the sixth book came out already at the bookstores.  Which, is not necessarily a bad thing, since that simply means I have more stories of Addie Greyborne to look forward to!  And that, without a doubt, is definitely a good thing!  I've grown to appreciate Addie and her sleuthing skills, as well as her will she/won't she relationships with the police chief (Marc) and the doctor (Simon).  This go-around though, the status quo definitely changes!

In Proof of Murder, Addie finds herself facing a locked-room mystery that would make Sherlock Holmes proud.  Of course, that would be too easy, so author Lauren Elliott throws in another twist - Addie becomes the prime suspect in the theft of some very rare and very expensive Sherlock Holmes first printings!  It seems Marc Chandler, the Chief of Police for Greyborne Harbor is back in town, and he has brought Special Agent Ryley Brookes from the FBI with him!  So, when Addie stumbles across the body of an appraiser at an allegedly haunted house whose contents are being auctioned off and simultaneously finds that several first edition Sherlock Holmes books that she had seen the previous day have been mysteriously replaced with more recent copies, it turns out her keen sense of observation and theories are the last things Chandler and Brookes want to hear.  Addie quickly learns that Agent Brookes believes Addie is the one who stole the books, and if the appraiser was murdered, then it was likely Addie who did that, too!

Now, I'll quickly admit that Marc's attitude toward Addie seems completely out of character and out of place in this story.  Yes, the two of them have had their ups and down in trying to figure out whether they have a relationship or not, but this sudden about face, and his not only cold shoulder but outright cruelty towards Addie does not read like the Marc of the previous three books.  Now, this could be because of his new relationship with Agent Brookes (who has some secrets of her own, and who, throughout the entire book, seems to have it in for Addie, determined to prove her guilty of the crime no matter what the evidence says), or it could just be that his time away from her and his return to find her in a budding romance with Simon Emerson, the town's coroner.  In either event, I found it very difficult to read the scenes featuring Marc and Addie, and I was the same as Addie in not at all understanding this sudden harsh treatment of her.

Aside from that, the mystery was exceptional!  The death of Charlotte McAdams in a library that was locked from the inside, the door bolted and the window jammed shut, makes for a wonderful mystery.  Spilled tea and a missing feather pen leave one to wonder if she was poisoned.  The missing books lead one to wonder if she was killed solely for the purpose of stealing those books.  And the room locked from the inside leave one wondering how in the heck did the murder and theft take place?  Of course, these are all questions that Addie has to answer in order to clear herself of the crime that she is being accused of committing.  Despite repeated warnings from Marc to stay out of it, she brings out her trusty board in the backroom of her bookstore and starts keeping a list of suspects and clues.  

Now, I'm not going to say that the secret passage in the library was not really a surprise - I mean, read enough mysteries, and you pretty much know that in a locked room murder, there is more than likely a hidden passage.  However, in this instance, the hidden room, and the passage that went out from the hidden room was rather unique, and I have to wonder if Elliott researched and discovered a house that contained a real floor plan like this to be able to describe it in such detail.  If she did, then I'd sure love to know where that house is!  With passages and hidden rooms like this, it is definitely a house I'd love!

What was a surprise, however, is the identity of the killer and thief!  I definitely did not see that one coming.  With the plethora of suspects, including Addie's very own cousin who unexpectedly showed up in town, helped her catalogue some of the books, then disappeared, it was hard to narrow it down to just one person.  In fact, at one point, I thought I was certain I had it all figured out - and then, wham! Elliott throws the reader a curve ball that, once revealed, definitely makes sense and fits with all of the clues in the story.  So, bravo to Elliott for keeping me guessing up until the very end (not too many mysteries do that any more!).

Thus, aside from the very off characterization of Marc, this book is another winner for Elliott, and I look forward to seeing what she has in store for Addie and her ever-growing supporting cast in the next book.

RATING:  8 wisps of white, ghostly smoke out of 10 for giving readers a mystery that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would be impressed by!