A Likely Story: 11/02/23

A Likely Story by Jenn McKinlay and Allyson Ryan (Narrator) (2015) is the sixth book in the Library Lovers mystery series. Lindsey Norris and Sully find a body when they set out to deliver books to a pair of shut in brothers. Now the other brother is missing. Did he do it or is he in danger?

This volume returns to the many islands that make up the Thumb Islands. This one is remote and privately owned by a pair of brothers who live in their family mansion and their hoards of junk. To make things more treacherous, they are known to have boobytrapped the island and the house.

Just as most slasher stories that involve taxidermy, cross dressing, or cannibalism stem from Ed Gein, hoarding siblings in old houses all stem from Homer and Langley Collyer. The only difference here is that the brothers haven't had a chance to be killed and/or entombed by their junk. Instead, someone has killed the one and is threatening the other.

I'm not a fan of stories derived from either source. The temptation to rework the sorted details to fit the newest fiction does a disservice to the new story. This version is no different. Put simply, this mystery is clunky.

On top of the derivative mystery, there's also the on-going romantic triangle. Robbie spends most of the book out of town, allowing things to settle and recover between Lindsey and Sully. If only he could have stayed away. Nope. At the end he's back and claiming he's divorced.

Three stars

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