Dead-End
Detective
by Amanda Flower is another winner. She combines an eccentric
senior citizen with a tree-climbing cat, a private investigator,
and an Army veteran that make for a fun-loving yet captivating
mystery.
As with all her cozy mysteries, “The banter in all my
books is very similar. It is one of my favorite things to
write. Those who I am close to do see how I tease. I think
it is an attractive quality to be able to come up with a quick
comeback. My fiancé has a great wit and does it better
than me.”
The story begins by introducing Darby Piper and her older
friend and mentor, Samantha Porter, partners in the Two Girls
Detective Agency in Herrington, N.Y. After Samantha tells
Darby she is considering selling the agency and accepting
an offer to be head of security at Lake Waters Retreat, a
luxury resort; she is killed. Her car is forced off the road,
with Darby becoming a prime suspect. Darby had expected to
inherit Samantha’s half of the agency, but Samantha
had recently changed the will to leave it to Tate Porter,
her nephew, who returns to town. Tate is a world traveler
and a veteran whose military past is also something of a mystery.
To
make matters worse, Darby's former boyfriend, police detective
Austin Caster suspects that Darby might be a prime person
of interest. Although Tate and Darby are suspicious of each
other, they agree to work together to find Samantha’s
killer. Racing against time, they must find the killer before
Darby is arrested.
“Darby
is a professional, so I did not have to think of a scenario
of why the average candy maker or matchmaker would be snooping
around. This makes it easier even if this story is in the
cozy lane. She is tough, petite, loyal, driven, goal-oriented,
and distrustful. She questions everyone and everything since
she has been a PI for over ten years.”
I
wrote Tate as fun-loving, straight-forward, athletic, confident,
relaxed, and has his own coping mechanism. He has a cool guy,
veneer. Because he has seen some pretty hard things in his
past, he puts on a façade. If the series continues,
people will see a lot more of his past as he comes to grips
with it.”
Mixed
with humor, suspense, and a gripping story, this is a home
run. Readers will have to wait possibly a whole year before
the next installment, but thankfully they can read Flower’s
other series coming out soon. Since this novel is part of
Hallmark publishing, people can hope that it will be picked
up by the Hallmark Channel.
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