After solving her sixteenth murder in five years, small-town librarian Sherry Pinkwhistle is only just beginning to grow alarmed by the sheer number of death piling up in Winesap. But when her boyfriend is murdered and her cat gets possessed by a demon called himself Sir Thomas Cromwell, Sherry becomes sure there is something dark at work.
This is the book for every person who has looked at how many books can pile up in a cozy mystery series and wondered what on earth is going on in that town to achieved such a high murder per capita. In this book, the answer is demonic influences.
As such we get thrown into the tail end of Sherry’s crime-solving adventures, which I think threw some readers off but made perfect sense to me. The mystery of Alan’s death is a compelling one with plenty of suspects and twists and turns, and I enjoyed how Sherry engaged with it as a very trope-aware detective. I also enjoyed the character of Sherry, who (like she herself claims early on in the book) might appear like a sweet older lady, the real story – as is the case for other people throughout the book – turns out to be darker and grittier than you would expect.
However, I did think the fantasy plot was more vaguely plotted than the mystery, and I’m not quite sure how well the magic all hangs together – the time warp especially feels to apply only semi-regularly, though it did give rise to some amusing moments. While I loved the idea of a cat possessed by the spirit of Sir Thomas Cromwell, he didn’t really add much to the story and could have possibly been left out entirely. Though there’s an opening left at the end of the book for the possibility of a sequel, I think I’d prefer Sherry to stick to the real world.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.