When Bea Cartwright moved to South Bass, a summer resort island on Lake Erie, from Manhattan to open a bed-and-breakfast, she certainly didn't expect to get involved in a three-way courtroom brawl. She's unhappy because her next-door neighbour, new-age cat-lover Chandra won't stop her cat from peeing on Bea's property. Chandra is angry because winery owner Kate plays her opera music too loudly for her liking. And Kate, in turn, is seething because the delivery trucks that keep coming to Bea's property are creating too much traffic in the area. Even the judge can't stand the bickering and sentences the three women to try to get along in the form of a mandatory book group at the local library.

The first book the women read is Agatha Christie's classic Murder on the Orient Express, which the women read (or not) with mixed reactions. After the inaugural meeting of the book group, they all coincidentally end up going to the island's best Chinese restaurant, Orient Express. Unfortunately, they aren't able to eat as the find the dead body of the owner, Peter. Freshly inspired by Christie's work, the three ladies put aside their differences (at least temporarily -- bonded by trauma) and decide to work together to find out who would kill a mild-mannered restaurant owner who made the best orange-peanut chicken they ever had.

There are a few clues at the crime scene to start them off, and Bea saw Peter arguing with a man before the book group meeting, but other than that, the ladies have little to go on. The detective investigating happens to be Chandra's ex-husband who is merely amused by their attempts to put clues together and doesn't feel the need to share information. As a winter storm claiming the island's electricity rages on, Bea begins taking on more boarders until people are sharing rooms. Soon, the ladies realise that their lives are mirroring the book they are discussing - there are 13 of them trapped together in a snowbound place, and one of the 13 is a killer.

The premise of this book is interesting, and I enjoyed how the real mystery mirrored the mystery the ladies read. If all of the books in the League of Literary Ladies mystery series follow this formula, though, it could get old quickly because the plot would be revealed as soon as the reader knows which book the ladies are reading. I really love how each character had a completely separate personality, but none were so overdone that they became caricatures. I also appreciated that, even though so many characters were introduced, it was very easy to keep track of them and the book never got confusing. I will definitely be adding this series to my list of series to keep an eye out for!

Book Summary

At a local Chinese restaurant, it's the owner who gets taken out... Most folks aren’t forced by court order to attend a library-book discussion group, but that’s just what happens to B and B proprietor and ex-Manhattanite Bea Cartwright, hippy cat lover Chandra Morrisey, and winery owner Kate Wilder after a small-town magistrate has had enough of their squabbling. South Bass, an island on Lake Erie, is home to an idyllic summer resort, but these three ladies keep disturbing the peace. The initial book choice is Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, and that sets their mouths to watering. The Orient Express is the island’s newest Chinese restaurant. They might not agree about much, but the ladies all love the orange chicken on the menu. But their meal is spoiled when the restaurant’s owner, Peter Chan, has the bad fortune of getting murdered. Now, with Christie as their inspiration, the League of Literary Ladies has a real mystery to solve if they can somehow catch a killer without killing each other first.