Sunny
Meadows: how could a gal not have a happy and fulfilled
life with a positive name like that? Sunny is the resident
fortune- teller in her adopted hometown of Divinity,
New York. She has a boyfriend, sort of. Detective Mitch
Stone reciprocates Sunny’s romantic feelings,
but the two of them can’t seem to catch a break
long enough to have any real dates.
Divinity
has an annual Summer Solstice Carnival that is a week
of fun and fundraising for local charities. What could
go wrong? In a nutshell, just about everything. There
is the feuding between the local Sewing Sisters and
the vacationing Knitting Nanas. As well as unhealthy
competition between the two charities, Animal Angels
and the Parks and Rec Program.
Then
there’s a little thing called murder. Local bakery
owner Bernadette Baldwin is hit by a car and killed.
Unfortunately, the car is Granny Gert’s, and she
and her archrival Fiona Atwater are arrested and charged
with the crime. Sunny can’t help but investigate
the case on her own despite dire warnings from Detective
Stone. Will she be able to use her psychic abilities
to find out what really happened or will it be lights
out for Sunny if the killer finds her first?
There
are several subplots to this story, including some romances,
an upcoming wedding, questions about unethical animal
adoptions and loan sharking. Personality clashes abound,
and there are plenty of red herrings. Author Townsend
does an admirable job of making her characters likeable
and realistic. I especially love the magical and opinionated
cat, Morty.
I
enjoy this series very much and hope there will be many
more books to come. However, I am a bit concerned that
Townsend has started painting Sunny into a corner as
a protagonist with a tendency towards being “Too
Stupid to Live.” This is an off-putting character
trait in which the author has the character leap into
dangerous situations with hardly a second thought towards
consequences. The character knows better than to go
somewhere alone, but throws caution to the wind and
goes anywhere. In Sunny’s case, she calls Mitch
more than once, but still goes ahead into danger. The
calls to Mitch which go to voice-mail and then he shows
up to save the day have become overdone, and almost
cliché. All that said, I do enjoy the series
and highly recommend it to mystery fans who love a touch
of the paranormal. I hope Townsend puts this ship back
on course by shaking some common sense into Sunny in
the next fortune- teller mystery.
Reviews
of other titles in this series
Tempest
in the Tea Leaves #1 [review]
Corpse in the Crystal Ball #2 [review]
Trouble in the Tarot #3 [review]
|
