Death Overdue

In the pseudonymous Kirwin's charming, low-key sequel to 2012's Killer Librarian, Karen Nash has to decide whether to stay in England and run a bookstore with her book-collecting boyfriend, Caldwell Perkins, or return to her job as a librarian in Sunshine Valley, Minn. She's unprepared for the sudden appearance of Sally Burroughs, Caldwell's book-hating ex-girlfriend, who abandoned him%E2%80%94and the London B&B that he owns%E2%80%94several years earlier, and now wants a share of the property. But there's a bigger shock coming when Sally is killed by a falling bookshelf in the B&B's library. The police call it homicide, and Caldwell is suspect No. 1. Karen knows only a few people were in the building at the time: Sally's exuberant Italian boyfriend; her semi-estranged sister; a devoted book collector hoping to look at Caldwell's acquisitions; and the longtime housekeeper-assistant. The gentle tone of the book takes most of the suspense out of the "romantic suspense" framework; clearly these two dedicated book lovers will stay together. And their forays around London to find a bookstore space that is not too big and not too small evoke a fairy tale. Agent: Marly Rusoff, Marly Rusoff Agency. (Nov.)