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The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society
by C.M. Waggoner
Berkley, $19.00, 352pp
Published: September 2024

A librarian with a knack for solving murders realizes there is something decidedly supernatural afoot in her little town in this cozy fantasy mystery.

Librarian Sherry Pinkwhistle keeps finding bodies—and solving murders. But she's concerned by just how many killers she's had to track down in her quaint village. None of her neighbors seem surprised by the rising body count...but Sherry is becoming convinced that whatever has been causing these deaths is unnatural.

When someone close to Sherry ends up dead, and her cat, Lord Thomas Crowell, becomes possessed by what seems to be an ancient demon, Sherry begins to think she’s going to need to become an exorcist as well as an amateur sleuth. With the help of her town's new priest, and an assortment of friends who dub themselves the "Demon-Hunting Society," Sherry will have to solve the murder and get rid of a demon.

This riotous mix of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Murder, She Wrote is a lesson for demons and murderers alike: Never mess with a librarian.

Sherry is an older woman working as a librarian in a small town in New York.  It starts to occur to her that there are an inordinate number of murders for such a small town and how odd it is that she manages to solve them each time. As she starts to become aware that there is something not quite right about the town and the way the people, including the sheriff, just accept the high number of murders and her involvement in solving them; the murders strike close to home and then things get even stranger. As she declines to investigate the murder of her boyfriend it becomes very obvious that something is seriously wrong in Winesap as the sheriff first demands her help and then arrests her. Oh, and her cat starts talking to her.

This was an interesting read though a bit slow and hard to get into in the beginning. Winesap is a present-day town that inexplicably seems to be stuck in the 1980s. In the beginning I wasn’t sure I liked Sherry very much but she is definitely the type of person one wants on one’s side if there are problems, real world or supernatural. The cat, while offering a couple of useful insights to help Sherry realize what is going on, really played a small part in the story.  While I can understand the demon being able to control the town and its people I am still not clear why Sherry did not realize that incongruity of a town living like it was still the 1980s - townspeople seemingly ignorant of the existence of cell phones or the Internet - when she apparently went to New York City for plays and dinners with her boyfriend. The conclusion was satisfying and overall this was an enjoyable read. Recommended ~~ Stephanie L Bannon

For more titles by C.M. Waggoner click here

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