#Spotlight :: Booked for Death by @VGilbertauthor

About the Book:

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A book lover's B&B in an idyllic waterfront village becomes the scene of a grisly murder--and a ruthless battle between treachery and the truth.

Nestled in the historic waterfront town of Beaufort, North Carolina, Chapters Bed-and-Breakfast is a reader's paradise. Built in 1770, the newly renovated inn hosts a roster of special events celebrating books, genres, and authors. It's the perfect literary retreat--until a rare book dealer turns up dead in the carriage house during a celebration of Golden Age mystery author Josephine Tey.

The victim's daughter points the finger at forty-two-year-old widow and former schoolteacher Charlotte Reed, who inherited the B&B from her great-aunt Isabella. Charlotte is shocked to discover that the book dealer suspected Isabella of being a thief who founded Chapters on her ill-gotten gains. Charlotte has successfully learned the B&B business in a year, but nothing has prepared her to handle a death on the premises.

Armed with intelligence and courage and assisted by her vibrant older neighbor, a visiting author, and members of a local book club, Charlotte is determined to prove her innocence and to clear her great-aunt's name. But the murderer is still at large, and equally determined to silence anyone who might discover the truth behind the book dealer's death. Now, Charlotte must outwit an unknown killer--or end up writing her own final chapter.

Read an Excerpt from Booked for Death

Twenty-five minutes and several curious stares and comments later, I pulled my car up in front of the carriage house. I often parked there, as it was an out-of-the-way spot that kept the main lot free for the guests. Popping open my trunk, I grabbed two bags of ice and headed for Chapters’ back door.
“Here, can you deal with these? I have to go back out for a couple more,” I said as I entered the kitchen. When Alicia took the bags, I noticed deep lines crinkling the corners of her dark eyes. “Anything wrong?”
“No, just missing a knife. I think Damian must’ve taken it when he stormed out of here. Mixed it up with his own, I guess.”
I turned to head back outside for the other bags of ice. “Well, we can ask him about that easily enough.”
“Sure, but then there’s the key.”
“What key?” I paused, holding the back door ajar.
“To the carriage house. The extra one I keep in the drawer here with all the other duplicates.” Alicia pointed toward an open cabinet drawer, which held an insert that organized keys. “I can’t imagine who would’ve taken that. Mr. Kepler has his own.”
I frowned, but the thought of ice melting in my trunk made me shrug off this anomaly. “I’ll ask around in a minute. Let me grab the rest of the ice first.”
Looking up when I reached my car, I recognized a tall, lanky figure standing in the open doorway of the carriage house. It was Scott.
I waved. “Oh hi. Mind helping? It’ll only take a minute.”
When he stepped forward into the light spilling from a nearby streetlight, I noticed that his skin seemed stretched too tightly over the angular bones of his face. He was pale, too, which threw his freckles into sharp relief and created a vivid contrast with his auburn hair. “Sorry. but I think you’d better forget that,” he said, his voice eerily devoid of emotion.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s Lincoln Delamont.” Scott blinked rapidly, and his hands, which were hanging loosely at his sides, twitched like beached fish. “He’s inside.”
“Doing what?”
“Nothing, I’m afraid.” Scott pressed one shaking hand to his temple. “He’s been stabbed. There’s blood everywhere, and I think”—his lips trembled so violently he had to take an audible breath before speaking again—“I’m afraid he’s quite dead.”

About the Author:

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Raised in a historic small town near the Blue Ridge Mountains, Victoria Gilbert turned her early obsession with books into a dual career as an author and librarian.

Victoria’s Blue Ridge Library Mystery series is published by Crooked Lane Books. Four books – A MURDER FOR THE BOOKS, SHELVED UNDER MURDER, PAST DUE FOR MURDER, and BOUND FOR MURDER – are out now. Book five, A DEADLY EDITION, will be published on Dec. 8, 2020. The first two books in the series are currently under option with Sony Pictures Television.

Victoria is also writing a new cozy series, the Booklovers B&B series, for Crooked Lane. Set in historic Beaufort, NC, the first book in the series, BOOKED FOR DEATH, will be published on June 9, 2020 with book two releasing in 2021.

A member of Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, and Sisters in Crime, Victoria is represented by Frances Black at Literary Counsel. She lives near Winston-Salem, NC with her husband, son, and some very spoiled cats.

Victoria Gilbert on the Web:

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