The Liar in the Library by Simon Brett

What drew me to this was the setting - a small town public library. As an eternal lover of libraries, I couldn't resist this warm and cozy whodunnit full of interesting characters. One of the writer's admirable qualities is always coming with alliteration for his titles and this one is yet another example of a good one.

The Story:

Burton St Clair is a well known author who has come to the library for an event about his latest book. A pompous womanizer, he makes a lot of enemies even before the evening ends. The nextday however, the quiet village of Feathering wakes up to the fact that the author's body is found in the library car park.

Jude was at the author event the evening before and had known Burton from before, ends up a suspect. She must find the killer soon if she wanted to get out of it.

My Review:  

• There is a constant resonance to the Golden age of crime well in keeping with the library setting of the story. There is a bunch of characters who have their ties to the victim and the connections are very nicely explored.

• What really appealed to me, is how the writer explains the dwindling fortunes of libraries, many of which are shutting down across the country. A library is a special place for me and it was great to see the writer use the place as a setting and as a platform to reitarate their value. 

• A short racy read. I was too caught in the how the writer had structured the story with its interesting cast of characters that never guess the killer, the revelation came as a surprise. 

• A brilliant example of how a good story doesn't need a lot of pages to tell a good story. It can be delivered within a few pages if you know how to tell one.