I was first introduced to Sherry Thomas back in 2011, when historical romance was still very much a thing.  Thomas has been a hit-or-miss romance author for me.  Normally, I am delighted by her writing, but occasionally she writes something that does not work at all for me.  Her recent series (up to book eight now!) is a quirky retelling of Sherlock Holmes, where Sherlock is a woman.  These Lady Sherlock have been getting more and more overly complicated and ridiculous, so I was highly curious to see how a cozy mystery would fare in my eyes. 

I almost DNF’d (“Do Not Finish”’ed) THE LIBRARIANS early in the book.  I found the beginning too slow, and the story was stuffed chock-a-block with extraneous details meant to demonstrate how overly quirky each of the main four librarian characters is.  I found the story disjointed early on.  But as I kept reading, the storyline kept pulling together and became much more compelling.  I was able to look past the elaborate backstory of each of the four librarians to see how their stories interlocked in a tricky tangle that ended up being pretty tightly plotted.

The dual murder story is set in current-day Austin, Texas, a city I know well as I have family there.  It is fun to read about so many Austin places I know intimately showing up as backdrops for all the action.  The main drama centers around a public library branch staffed by four oddball librarians.  All of the librarians have some sort of secret in their past that threatens their current existence.  And lo and behold, these secrets turn out to unravel in an intricate overlay one with another.  The interwoven skeletons in the closet are well done!

I like how each of the four ends up with some sort of confirmed love in their lives, but not necessarily an active romantic love interest.  Sort of like the movie ‘Love, Actually,’ where different types of love are celebrated.  Lots of pop culture references pepper the pages, with a wide range of offbeat similes and descriptions enlivening the tale.  For the reader who sticks with Thomas’ THE LIBRARIANS, they will ultimately be rewarded with a complex puzzle and a very satisfactory solution.