This book took altogether too long to read. I didn’t feel invested in it for the most part. I didn’t find the characters sympathetic, felt no urgency for the murder to be solved and there was too much domestic talk. 

Juniper Blume has just started her new job as head librarian of the Calverton collection. On her first day she is accosted be protestors when she tries to enter the Calverton estate, and she finds out funding for the museum she would be setting up has been frozen. Her second day is even more eventful when she meets the Calverton board for lunch and upon her return to the reading room she finds a dead body. (The book keeps refering to the second day as her first day and that made me roll my eyes a few times. Though I didnot roll me eyes nearly as often as Juniper did.)

Juniper thinks his death has something to do with the book that was next to him on the desk. The Calverton board agrees with her and she’s asked to investigate. What I’d actually like to know is: how did the victim get past security? He’s found in a building he’s not supposed to be in. How did he get there?

There’s a lot of fluffy domestic stuff and it takes a while before anything resembling an investigation by Juniper gets on the way. It’s probably because Juniper is easily bullied by people. I guess that makes it hard for her to step up to people and ask questions. At least it makes it hard for her to eat lunch. But when the investigation gets going, the story did manage to hold my attention. At least a little bit.

There are some unnecessary repetitions, such as Leo is a gluten-free vegan and Rory’s staying with Harmoney his aunt. And there us more than one person that snaps their fingers in a “oh, yeah, that’s right sense.”

I read an ARC through NetGalley.