Death in the Margins is the seventh A Blue Ridge Library Mystery. It can be read as a standalone if you are new to the series. Amy Muir is a developed, realistic character. It is nice to see her happy with Richard. We get to catch up with Sunny, Aunt Lydia, Richard, and the other secondary characters. The mystery involves Richard’s new dance production. Meredith was a part of the production, but she was making everyone miserable. I am surprised it took this long for her to be murdered. A young dancer is accused of the crime since he had a public altercation with Meredith (mostly her berating him) the day she was killed, and he was found standing over the body with the murder weapon in his hand (that is a compelling reason to arrest him). Amy dons her sleuthing cap once again. Amy makes up her suspect list and begins asking questions. There are a couple of red herrings, incidents to deter Amy, and clues to help readers solve the crime. There is a suspenseful reveal. The wrap up answers all lingering questions. I like how Richard’s dance production was incorporated into the mystery. I liked that Chief Deputy Brad Tucker asked for Amy’s assistance. She made sure to keep him in the loop. The ending is one fans of the series will enjoy. There is some repetition of details, but I was pleased that it was minimal. This was a satisfying cozy mystery. Death in the Margins is a jazzy cozy with a spiteful performer, a dramatic death, bird feeder bandits, a surplus of suspects, a myriad of masks, a pleasing performance, a helpful horse, and a special surprise. ( )

After talking about it the last few books, this book revolves around the project Richard and Karla had been working on. Richard's ex buys it in this one and I was very happy that the two of them were never suspects, nor Amy. I am tired of Amy always ending up in danger at the end though. Can we mix that up a bit, please? Great to see almost the entire cast of characters showing up at different points and I did guess wrong on who the murderer was, which was also a pleasant surprise. Keep Sunny from getting married and I will stick with this series, even with the big changes set up for Richard and Amy that I'm usually not a fan of. ( )

Death In The Margins is the seventh book in The Blue Ridge Library Mysteries series by Victoria Gilbert.

Richard Muir is working on a summer dance program with his long-time dancing Karla, and his wife, Amy, uses computer research skills to find information on folktales and Blue Ridge Mountains music to use in the program. Richard’s ex-fiance, Meredith Fox, is also a member of the troupe, Richard's college dance group, and children from Karla’s dance studio. The rehearsals are going on, and Meredith is needed on stage. Richard asks Amy to check in the basement for Meredith and ask her to come to the stage. When Amy finds Meredith, she is dead, and Conner, a sixteen-year-old male dancer, is standing over her, holding a bloody knife in his hands. Conner is immediately taken into custody.

Meredith was not well-liked, and many thought she was arrogant. She had argued with the mother of a young autistic daughter, and a dance couple tried to get Richard to get rid of her. Amy, Richard, and Karla don’t think Conner can murder. Amy decides to investigate and attempt to find the killer. Her friend Deputy Brad Tucker is not working the case as it is out of his district but has said he will try to help her without interfering with the other department's investigation. Amy will soon learn that there are many other suspects, including her ex-husband and the mother she argued with, among others.

The book is well-written and plotted with enough red herrings that I kept guessing until the end. The characters are well-developed and believable. The book moves at a nice pace. Amy and Kurt seem to be getting together better and might be leaving the past.

I’m looking forward to reading more books in this series. ( )

The seventh Blue Ridge Library mystery is set around a stage production that Richard and his partner Kendra are preparing. It's a fundraiser and includes a lot of Richard's students and Kendra's students too. Richard has also hired his ex-fiancé - Meredith Fox - to be one of the principal dancers along with a couple of his other friends from the professional world.

Meredith is not a very nice person. She has managed to upset a number of the student dancers and the accompanist too. So, when she is found dead in one of the rehearsal halls there are a lot of potential suspects. The one person Amy doesn't suspect is the young student who is found standing over her with a bloody knife in his hands. Unfortunately, the sheriff's department doesn't agree with her.

As Amy helps her friend Deputy Brad Tucker, she uncovers a number of possible suspects including her ex-husband and his family. There is also a mother who is very angry at Meredith for upsetting her autistic daughter. And neither of the other two principal dancers or the accompanist are at all upset that she's dead and they might have reasons to want to help her along.

This was an entertaining episode in an engaging cozy series. ( )

Newlyweds, Amy and Richard Muir make every effort to spend as much time together as possible but Richard with his partner are producing a dance program to open the newly refurbished theater. Richard has hired Meredith Fox(his last partner) for the female lead but unfortunately, she turns up dead making the company of dancers all suspects.

Amy works to gather details for the police, most aren't really anxious to tell the police anything and Amy has a sympathetic ear as well as being Richard's wife.

The mystery was good but I was disappointed that it centered more around the dance troop and had very little to do with the library. I'm guessing it was to further the main characters development, but I'm hoping that Amy will return to her antics at the library. ( )