Late Checkout (Witch City Series #9)

by Carol J. Perry

Overview

A dead ballplayer means foul play in Salem . . . 
 
Field reporter Lee Barrett is not happy that her hours are being cut back at WICH-TV, although it is nice to spend more time volunteering with Aunt Ibby, a research librarian at Salem's main branch. But Lee's least favorite task is going up to the stacks, a spooky, seldom-frequented upper section of the library. On this day she has good reason to be afraid—she finds a dead man, surrounded by hundreds of scattered books and torn-out pages.
 
Her police detective beau, Pete Mondello, is soon on the scene, and the deceased is identified as a former minor league baseball player—and ex-con—named Wee Willie Wallace, who hasn't been seen in Salem for twenty years. With help from her friend River's Tarot reading, her clairvoyant cat O'Ryan, and Lee's own psychic gifts, she steps up to the plate to catch the killer who took the old ballplayer out of the game . . . 
 
Praise for the Witch City Mysteries

“Perfectly relaxing and readable.”
—Kirkus Reviews
 
“This rewarding paranormal cozy series debut will have Victoria Laurie fans lining up to follow.”
—Library Journal
 
“An entertaining story that keeps readers guessing until the very twisted and eerie end.”
—RT Book Reviews

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496714626
Publisher:	Kensington
Publication date:	09/24/2019
Series:	Witch City Series , #9
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	101,245
Product dimensions:	4.10(w) x 6.60(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Carol J. Perry was born in Salem on Halloween Eve. She has written many young adult novels, and is also the author of the Witch City mystery series. She and her husband Dan live in the Tampa Bay area of Florida with a cat and a black Lab. Visit her at www.caroljperry.com.

Editorial Reviews

2019-07-01
A library volunteer gets more than she bargained for when a body turns up in the stacks: a scary murder victim but a great potential research opportunity.

Though she doesn't really need the cash from her job as a field reporter at WICH-TV, Lee Barrett is at loose ends when her hours are cut to make room for a nepotistic new hire. Luckily, Lee's Aunt Ibby has an excellent suggestion: Lee can volunteer at the local Salem library. Lee's happy to help, but she's immediately thrust into a mystery when she encounters a body that's been surrounded by books in the back of the stacks. What a first day! Is her discovery related to the vision of a black shoe with a maroon dress sock that Lee had in her car mirror earlier, when all she was trying to do was check her hair? It wouldn't be the first time Lee's had an ambiguous vision that she somehow knows is linked to a murder (Final Exam, 2019, etc.). Of course, the vision might also be connected to Larry Laraby, WICH-TV's original sports guy, who was also recently found dead in a way that Lee thinks is definitely suspicious. Whether because of the library setting, her new free time, or her connection to the law through her detective boyfriend, Pete Mondello, Lee decides to dig into the network's early days to find out if there's a connection between Larry and the library murder. After learning that the body in the library is that of former minor league ballplayer Wee Willie Wallace, Lee's all the more convinced of a sports link to be uncovered, and she's sure that she and O'Ryan, her sidekick cat, are the ones who can get to the bottom of it.

Great for readers who can get lost in a flood of everyday details others may find mundane.

Kirkus Reviews

"Her performance of this story was done well, with good voices for the female characters." ---Carla Loves to Read

From the Publisher