Past Due for Murder: A Blue Ridge Library Mystery

In Gilbert’s so-so third Blue Ridge Library mystery (after 2018’s Shelved Under Murder), the relationship between Amy Webber, the plucky director of the Taylorsford, Va., Library, and her choreographer beau, Richard Muir, heats up. In one amusing scene, Richard’s difficult parents meet—and size up—Amy. Meanwhile, dance student Lacey Jacobs goes missing, and Richard is the last person to see her before her disappearance, thus becoming a person of interest for the police. Amy’s ex-boyfriend Charles Bartos, a music professor, is also drawn into the case, as is abrasive folklorist Ramona Raymond. Until a body turns up well into the book, Amy keeps busy researching the disappearance of two women back in 1879 and what might be supernatural doings in the woods. The plot moves slowly, weighed down by backstory. That Amy’s romantic triumphs and travails overshadow the crime solving won’t bother cozy fans. Agent: Frances Black, Literary Counsel. (Feb.)