Village Library Demon Hunting Society

English language

Published 2024 by Penguin Books, Limited.

ISBN:: 978-1-80495-238-2

(1 review)

A librarian with a knack for solving murders realizes there is something decidedly supernatural afoot in her little town in this cozy fantasy mystery.

Librarian Sherry Pinkwhistle keeps finding bodies—and solving murders. But she’s concerned by just how many killers she’s had to track down in her quaint village. None of her neighbors seem surprised by the rising body count…but Sherry is becoming convinced that whatever has been causing these deaths is unnatural.

When someone close to Sherry ends up dead, and her cat, Lord Thomas Crowell, becomes possessed by what seems to be an ancient demon, Sherry begins to think she’s going to need to become an exorcist as well as an amateur sleuth. With the help of her town’s new priest, and an assortment of friends who dub themselves the “Demon-Hunting Society,” Sherry will have to solve the murder and get rid of a demon.

This riotous mix …

A librarian with a knack for solving murders realizes there is something decidedly supernatural afoot in her little town in this cozy fantasy mystery.

Librarian Sherry Pinkwhistle keeps finding bodies—and solving murders. But she’s concerned by just how many killers she’s had to track down in her quaint village. None of her neighbors seem surprised by the rising body count…but Sherry is becoming convinced that whatever has been causing these deaths is unnatural.

When someone close to Sherry ends up dead, and her cat, Lord Thomas Crowell, becomes possessed by what seems to be an ancient demon, Sherry begins to think she’s going to need to become an exorcist as well as an amateur sleuth. With the help of her town’s new priest, and an assortment of friends who dub themselves the “Demon-Hunting Society,” Sherry will have to solve the murder and get rid of a demon.

This riotous mix of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Murder, She Wrote is a lesson for demons and murderers alike: Never mess with a librarian.

3 editions

Soh Kam Yung reviewed Village Library Demon Hunting Society by C. M. Waggoner

A murder mystery that involves a librarian, and also a demon.

3 stars

A story that centres on librarian Sherry Pinkwhistle as she goes about solving murder mysteries in her small town; until a murder gets personal for her. At that point, the story segues into fantasy as a demonic character reveals that it wants her to solve this murder mystery, too.

At this point, Sherry, and the reader, might start to notice many strange things about the small town, like why there are so many murders there, why she can solve them better than the local sheriff, or why the town seems to lack certain modern amenities. Also, her cat suddenly develops a voice, and would guide her in her investigation and in how to break the demon's hold over the town and its people.

An intriguing premise, but the execution of the story could have been better. The demon's power and restrictions over Sherry are never really stated, making the reader …

A story that centres on librarian Sherry Pinkwhistle as she goes about solving murder mysteries in her small town; until a murder gets personal for her. At that point, the story segues into fantasy as a demonic character reveals that it wants her to solve this murder mystery, too.

At this point, Sherry, and the reader, might start to notice many strange things about the small town, like why there are so many murders there, why she can solve them better than the local sheriff, or why the town seems to lack certain modern amenities. Also, her cat suddenly develops a voice, and would guide her in her investigation and in how to break the demon's hold over the town and its people.

An intriguing premise, but the execution of the story could have been better. The demon's power and restrictions over Sherry are never really stated, making the reader (and Sherry) guess what she can and can't do. One of the things she can do would lead her to discovering who the real murderer is. But the reader might not have a fair chance of deducing this before Sherry as a vital clue is not fully revealed, although hints are there, in hindsight. This reader was able to deduce that one suspect was not the murderer only moments before Sherry reveals this.

Still, an interesting story with hints of more stories to come involving Sherry as her investigative powers are more fully revealed in the end in a side-story that involves her from an event from years ago that proved to be pivotal in causing the demon to become interested in her.