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Nina
(pronounced Nine-ah) Fleet has retired at 41 years of age
and using the proceeds from her recent divorce has recently
purchased a historic Queen Anne house in Cymbeline, GA. Cymbeline
is a small town, but it’s not without shady characters
and deeply buried secrets. Nina plans to open her home as
a B&B. But when a man in a penguin suit shows up at her
door with a letter showing that his great-aunt intended for
him to have the house after she died it appears that there
may be a measure of legal wrangling involved to fix the sticky
situation. Harry Westcott is in the costume acting as the
local ice cream shop’s mascot. Harry is also a professional
actor with a handful of movie roles to his credit.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in town, the Sisters
of Perpetual Poverty are being evicted from their convent
by real estate developer Gregory Bainbridge who intends to
develop a golfing community on the property. Mayor Melissa
Jane Green arrives at Nina’s house with the nuns in
tow and asks her to take them in at her B&B. The B&B
isn’t ready for business yet, but Mayor Green vows to
fast track zoning changes and get Nina set up with the necessary
insurance. Nina agrees, because who could turn homeless nuns
away?
As the nuns stage a peaceful, silent,
and sign-carrying protest there is evil afoot in town. A screaming
woman pleads for help because she has found the Taste-Tee-Freeze
penguin in an alley and he’s been stabbed! It’s
not Harry Westcott in the costume this time. Instead, it is
Gregory Bainbridge, the most hated man in town.
The first mystery is whether the killer
knew it was Bainbridge in the costume and killed him or if
the intended victim was Harry Westcott. As with most small
towns, one mystery invariably leads to the unraveling of others.
In order to make a go of her new B&B business, Nina decides
to do some investigation of her own.
This
is a quick read chock-full of twists and turns, interesting
characters and just the right amount of humor. I look forward
to the next book and a return visit to Cymbeline and Nina.
Great for a summer read or a book club selection, “Peach
Clobbered” has my stamp of approval and I recommend
that cozy lovers everywhere get their own copy today.
Reviewer’s Notes: Author also writes
as Diane A.S. Stuckart and as Ali Brandon
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