Cathy C. (cathyskye) - , reviewed on 3/19/2015 + 2307 more book reviews

I've enjoyed this series since its inception. Lila Wilkins is a smart, optimistic, talented woman who grabbed the chance to follow her bliss. She's found it at the Novel Idea Literary Agency and in the arms of a police officer named Sean. Lila's job is one of the many reasons why I enjoy this series; I love learning how a literary agency works. Having Damian York be an expert in landscaping, interior design, and food was icing on the cake because I'm extremely interested in all three-- as long as I'm not expected to be in charge of the third.

In this fourth book, the author deals with the Cabot Cove Syndrome-- what happens when a small town has recurring dead bodies. Lila is now known as the "murder magnet" since she's always the one who stumbles over the corpses. She is not happy with her new nickname. In fact, Played by the Book reminded me so much of Cabot Cove that I almost immediately knew the identity of the killer.

But knowing that is small beans in a character-driven mystery, and Arlington has delivered a fine cast of secondary characters, from Lila's son, to the man in her life, to her mother, to her best friend, and on to the people with whom she works. An interesting group of people living and working in an idyllic town-- perfect weekend reading.

But by the end, I had a strong feeling that this is the last book in the series. There was no preview chapter of the next book, and throughout Lila seemed to be paying more attention to tying up loose ends with all the most important people in her life than she was in solving the mystery. If this is indeed the case, I will be sorry to see the series end, but I'll also look forward to finding out what Lucy Arlington has in store for us next.

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