Goodreads Summary:

Halloween in North Carolina’s Outer Banks becomes seriously tricky when librarian Lucy Richardson stumbles across something extra unusual in the rare books section: a dead body.

Wealthy businessman Jay Ruddle is considering donating his extensive collection of North Carolina historical documents to the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library, but the competition for the collection is fierce. Unfortunately, while the library is hosting a lecture on ghostly legends, Jay becomes one of the dearly departed in the rare books section. Now, it’s up to Lucy Richardson and her fellow librarians to bone up on their detective skills and discover who is responsible for this wicked Halloween homicide.

Meanwhile, very strange things are happening at the library—haunted horses are materializing in the marsh, the lights seem to have an eerie life of their own, and the tiny crew of a model ship appears to move around when no one is watching. Is Lucy at her wit’s end? Or can it be that the Bodie Island Lighthouse really is haunted?

With The Legend of Sleepy Hollow on everyone’s minds and ghoulish gossip on everyone’s lips, Lucy will need to separate the clues from the boos if she wants to crack this case without losing her head in The Spook in the Stacks, the delightful fourth in national bestseller Eva Gates’ Lighthouse Library mysteries.

My Thoughts:

I saw this on display at my library and it looked so cute I had to check it out – how could I pass up a cat reading Sleepy Hollow? This was my first introduction to both Eva Gates and the Lighthouse Library Mystery series, and I will definitely being going back for more. It is the fourth book in the series, yet it was not hard to figure out anything I had missed in the previous books.

The Spook in the Stacks was the perfect little cozy mystery for this time of year, with its slightly spooky vibe set at Halloween. The characters were just quirky enough without being annoying, and the main character Lucy is a great mixture of headstrong and practical; she is a woman who seems very confident and sure of herself, and I really liked that. I also loved all the literary references that of course accompanied this book.

The mystery itself kept me guessing, which is always a good sign for a book. It is a bummer when you pick up a mystery and guess who it is right off, and I did not do that with this book. I also enjoyed the parallel of the love triangle within this book compared to the one in Sleepy Hollow (one of my favorite stories!)

Also, seriously how cool would it be to live above a library, much less one in a lighthouse? I have always thought living in a lighthouse would be so cool, and contemplated for a second applying to live at the Mission Point Lighthouse in Michigan for a week. I still would love to do it but right now it is just not practical. And another thing I loved was Charles, the library cat, who kept me entertained with his antics. I have my own opinionated Himalayan here at home, so I know just how well this breed can judge the company around them. Lol.

Overall, I really enjoyed this quick, cozy mystery – curl up with it, get cozy as the genre suggests and enjoy!