I greatly enjoyed the honesty of characterization in this older cozy mystery - instead of many of the cozy mysteries today that oversimplify the "goodness" of many characters or almost cartoonishly villainize the bad guys, this small town is filled with imperfect characters who are more realistic. There are some old-fashioned and downright wrong mindsets shared in here such as the homophobia toward a gay man on the board that dared to live in the same house with his boyfriend, and this is brought up numerous times without appology. The main character herself has a discussion with her husband, Bill, who irregularly pops up, on how he seems like a nice guy but they do not "support or approve" of his current lifestyle. A friend and respected town member, an elderly spinster of a retired librarian, makes a dismissive comment of the first victim stating the murder of that "creature" did the board a favor.
While some overlook prologues, this one was lengthy and interesting to me. Told through the point of view of the victim, Bitsy, she is honest on how annoying librarian work can be. I sub to the Librarian forum on Reddit and see these similar thoughts expressed with librarians resentful to do story hour that they don't want to because of lack of staff, budgetary woes, disagreements with controlling board decisions and overlords, parents who don't watch their kiddos, bitterness and jealousy with other librarians - especially the older ones. This was covered in the prologue and I identified it with what librarians go through, Meier writes well with getting her points across and makes the characters lively.
The mystery was good as we unravel suspects without obvious clues slammed into us by the author. Unfortunately the ending showdown is a bit cheesy and silly but ah well. This series also takes the non-traditional route of a cozy where the series opens with a woman married with children - this sixth book is well into the development of the fourth child she had with current husband. A mother of four as the lead is an interesting one also, between baking cupcakes, teenagers with potential eating disorders brewing who drain cell phones during storms, kids addicted to the new computer technology -- the scenes with teasing a possible child predator and the husband showing her how easy it is to access porn -- well, an interesting book that does not feel false. Curious on more of the series.