title: Mabel Frye: Accidental Private Eyeauthor: Kayt Miller
series: Mabel Frye: Accidental Private Eye #1
published: 7 August 2023
publisher: self-published
genre(s): cozy mystery
pages: 60
source: client
format: manuscript
buy/shelve it: Amazon | B&N | StoryGraph | Goodreads
rating:
| series rating: the blurb
Meet Mabel Frye. Librarian by day, super-sleuth by night.
Wait a second, that's not how Mabel's story begins.
Chicago native, Mabel Frye finds herself jobless due to budget cuts at the library where she works and homeless thanks to her cheating ex. After sleeping on her best friend's sofa for a bit, Mabel discovers she's inherited a house in Savannah, Georgia left to her by her beloved grandmother.
With nothing to lose except her pride and possibly her mind, Mabel sets out on a new adventure––a fresh start at a library in the heart of Savannah's historic district.
Only things don't go all that well for Mabel. No one at the library will give her a chance, no matter how hard she tries and that's disappointing. Getting framed for murder by one of those same employees is beyond the pale.
a few notes
content warning: ❗minor talk of violence❗
steamy rating: 🔥🔥🔥
language level: 🤬🤬🤬
POV: 1st person
keywords/phrases: grief, loss, murder, library
my review
This short novella introduces the main characters in the upcoming new series by Kayt Miller, of whom I’m an unabashed fan! And if this story is any indication of what’s to come, I’m hooked.
Mabel is a librarian/administrator, newly hired at a library in Savannah, Georgia. The city holds memories of her grandmother, now passed. Mabel inherited her house and is now living in it, hoping it doesn’t fall to pieces around her. Her house woes are only made worse as she tries and tries to assimilate into her new life in Georgia after fallout from a doomed relationship in Chicago. But things are not going well for her. With a cast of characters as quirky as this one, that should not be a surprise!
Much of the cast introduced are her colleagues at the library, and those that are kind to the “Yankee” are in the minority. The rest seem hellbent on destroying her. Her only savior seems to be Leo Watts, a detective who becomes involved when Mabel, as one does in the library, happens upon a body. And, of course, it seems as if her colleagues are trying to pin the murder on her.
I can’t get enough of Kayt Miller’s books! It’s the way she creates characters that keep me coming back for me. I adore the feisty FMCs she creates, the sassiness of them. And I love the men she creates for them, their unexpected vulnerability and strength of character. But almost as much, I love her villains. They are so antagonistic, so simply awful. She creates bad guys that are just terrible, right to the line but without going over it in any way that could be seen as “too much.” There are moments when I get viscerally angry with them! I love having that level of involvement and feeling elicited from me. The cast of villainous characters in this book do that for me!
About Kayt Miller
Kayt grew up in the midwest surrounded by a loving family which included three brothers, one sister, and parents who always fostered her creative side.
Kayt wrote her first book when she couldn’t find a story about a certain type of a woman and a specific kind of man. She called it Game Changer and it couldn’t have been a more appropriate title. It changed her life in many ways.
Her goal, as a writer, is to write stories that relate to all of us, to make readers laugh and maybe cry sometimes. Kayt hopes her readers can escape into a fantasy, one that’s actually possible. Sure, some of the stories are dubbed “Insta-love” but that’s okay.
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reading challenges:
- 2023 Craving For Cozies Reading Challenge
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