As Bound for Murder by Victoria Gilbert opens, and life continues for librarian Amy Webber, who is planning (or avoiding planning) her wedding and helping to campaign for her best friend, Sunny, to become mayor. But things get disrupted when a backhoe in Sunny’s family’s farm turns the wrong way and digs up a set of bones. Police soon identify the bones as those of Jeremy Adams, an African American young man who disappeared in the 1960s from the commune owned by P.J. and Carol Fields, Sunny’s grandparents.
Doing her own research into the commune, Amy looks up old material on the group and talks with former members of the commune. She learns that the members were not as sexually wild as they were purported to be, but they did indulge in drugs, some using only marijuana but others being into much harder drugs. Jeremy had been one of these but had left the commune shortly before he disappeared. So the discovery that he not only died but was murdered sends shockwaves through the community, especially since the current mayor is using this discovery to smear mud over Sunny and her campaign to unseat him.
Bound for Murder is the fourth book in the Blue Ridge Library Mystery series, each of which is a delight. I especially love the way Amy gets involved in the case through her position as a librarian and researcher. Her studies become crucial to the solution of the case, which is empowering to librarians. Further, cozy mysteries involve civilians doing investigations, and often authors have to stretch a bit to justify the civilian’s involvement. Usually the excuse is bad law enforcement who don’t know what they are doing. In this book, the police are highly competent, and Amy works with them because as a librarian, she has research skills the police do not.
Coleen Marlo performs the audiobook edition of Bound for Murder, making listeners feel at home. She gives an able performance that excites listeners in the dramatic points and keeps listeners attached to the audiobook.
I appreciated getting to listen to Bound for Murder, especially since I loved the previous books in the series. I especially love the way Amy uses her library research skills to help solve the murder without putting down the local police. However, I did find this book less enthralling than the first three in the series. I give this book four stars.
