Lucy Richardson lives and works in the Bodie Island Lighthouse, which is the centre of events in this seventh ‘Lighthouse Library’ mystery. The location on the Outer Banks of North Carolina greatly appealed to me. I’ve read several library mysteries from various series, some of which include ghosts, and all including cats. I had to hope the unique setting of A DEATH LONG OVERDUE would allow me to keep this separate in my mind.

A college class is having their 40th anniversary reunion and some of the ladies were or are librarians, so the group happily attends a local history event and party in the library. When it’s fully dark, they are encouraged to go for a spooky walk and tale-telling session in the marshes, or along the boardwalk to the pier. Louise Jane McKaughnan apparently keeps insisting the lighthouse is haunted, though Lucy has never seen a spook. The library cat called Charles has a relaxed and playful personality, and doesn’t indicate anything unseen. But death is on the prowl, and a former librarian is killed in the dark.

Helena Sanchez, the former director, hadn’t made friends and few people have anything good to say about the departed. Lucy tries to solve the mystery, getting on well with the local police. She is also in a relationship with Connor McNeill, the handsome mayor.  

An interesting development is a tie-in to the past – as hinted at by the title - when a wealthy Nags Head home had a theft of a diamond necklace 25 years ago. Spoilt, wild child Rachel Blackmore has matured and given up hope of finding her property, but it’s possible someone at the reunion knows something.  

As this tale features book lovers, I enjoyed the inclusion of a 1990s novel, The Celestine Prophecy, contrasted with the classic detective tale The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, which sounds like a great book club read.  Most of the characters in this Lighthouse adventure are women, a contrast to early tales of detection. Author Eva Gates is a prolific crime novelist, with six other exciting series on the go under her other pen name Vicki Delaney. I admit I was slow to get into A DEATH LONG OVERDUE because I didn’t know the characters, and Lucy Richardson grumbles a lot at the start. However, once the story unfolded, I became happily absorbed piecing together the puzzle. I’d enjoy revisiting the setting and the good folks of the atmospheric Outer Banks.