Happy Release Day to CHECKED OUT FOR MURDER by Marilyn Levinson

As Allison Brook, I write the Haunted Library mystery series. Checked Out for Murder, the fourth book in the series, was released last Tuesday, September 8th. No matter how many books an author has written, a book's birthday is always an exciting occasion and deserves a celebration.

The idea that my sleuth should be the head of programs and events of a small-town library came to me while attending a drum presentation in my library's beautiful outdoor park. As soon as the librarian in charge of adult programs presented the drummer I told myself There's my sleuth! A librarian responsible for its programs and events has colleagues and perhaps a nemesis at work as well the opportunity to meet people eager to give a library presentation. And so Carrie Singleton was born! I added Evelyn Havers the ghost and Smoky Joe the library cat along with several other characters. As for the setting, a beautiful Connecticut town I once visited came to mind and the Haunted Library series was born!

A cozy mystery series is more than a collection of books with the same sleuth and many of the same characters. Relationships develop, characters mature and each novel in my series, while showing progression also stands as an entity on its own. In Checked Our for Murder, Carrie's relationship with her mother undergoes unexpected changes, and two homicides might have a connection to a twenty-year-old murder. Mystery. Intrigue. Romance. And a touch of the paranormal. What fun it was to bring it all together in Checked Out for Murder.