Genre: Mystery
Paperback; Ebook
ISBN #: 9781516100958
Lyrical Underground Publishing
192 Pages
January 24, 2017
✮✮✮✮
Twin sister divorcees Sunny Taylor and Eve Vaughn have had their fill of both heartaches and headaches. So when they settle down in the small Louisiana town of Sugar Ledge and open a remodeling and repair company, they think they've finally found some peace - even though Eve is still open for romance while Sunny considers her own heart out-of-business.
Then their newest customer ends up face-down in a pond, and his widow is found dead soon after. Unfortunately, Sunny was witnessed having an unpleasant moment with the distraught woman, and suspicion falls on the twins. And when an attempt is made on Eve's life, they find themselves pulled into a murder mystery neither knows how to navigate.
With a town of prying eyes on them, and an unknown culprit out to stop them, Sunny and Eve will have to depend on each other like never before if they're going to clip a killer in the bud.
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Twins Sunny Taylor and Eve Vaughn have a remodeling and repair company in Sugar Ledge, Louisiana. When one of their recent clients die, they attend the funeral. When the widow is entering with her husband's urn, she spills some of the contents on Sunny, and in the ensuing chaos, she gets into a minor argument with the woman. When the widow is then found dead by Sunny and Eve, they become the main suspects in the murder. Not too long after, Eve is shot at, and Sunny decides to try and find the killer before he or she completes the job they set out to do.
Since this is the first in a new series, I am always willing to give an author leeway. But when there are questions that can't easily be answered - such as the fact that the urn should already have been in the church, not carried in by the surviving spouse - it tends to make me question other things as well.
Things like the fact the family apparently had a cell phone in 1987 - which, at the time, would have cost around $2300, and since the family doesn't appear to be wealthy, why did they have such an item? It also seemed odd that the sexual aspects of Sunny's marriage would be equal to a traumatic event that occurred thirty years ago, which also leaves her singing Christmas carols when she gets nervous or afraid.
They also are supposed to be thirty-eight-years old, but act much older, and I kept imagining them as in their 70's: Eve is sex-crazy with ex-husbands who still shower gifts on her because they're still so attracted to her (which doesn't even seem realistic), and is about to become a grandmother; while Sunny, who is smothering, needy and co-dependent, doesn't want anything to do with men ever again because of sex with her husband. It makes me wonder what on earth he did that was so horrifying.
The reason I mention these things is because they are the basis for the story. Eve is so self-absorbed that she's perfectly fine with letting Sunny do all the investigating while she's busy planning her latest conquest. Sunny, for her part, is so obsessed with keeping Eve safe because of what happened to their other sister that her neuroses are taking over her life. In the end, it makes neither sister much of a likable character. It's obvious that they love each other, but their personality traits are severely lacking somehow.
When we finally come to the end and the murderer is discovered, everything does come together nicely. The story had a nice flow, and the mystery was done well, which is important in any book and why I gave it four stars. I hope to see the sisters "evolve" in the next book, and look forward to reading it. Recommended.
Since this is the first in a new series, I am always willing to give an author leeway. But when there are questions that can't easily be answered - such as the fact that the urn should already have been in the church, not carried in by the surviving spouse - it tends to make me question other things as well.
Things like the fact the family apparently had a cell phone in 1987 - which, at the time, would have cost around $2300, and since the family doesn't appear to be wealthy, why did they have such an item? It also seemed odd that the sexual aspects of Sunny's marriage would be equal to a traumatic event that occurred thirty years ago, which also leaves her singing Christmas carols when she gets nervous or afraid.
They also are supposed to be thirty-eight-years old, but act much older, and I kept imagining them as in their 70's: Eve is sex-crazy with ex-husbands who still shower gifts on her because they're still so attracted to her (which doesn't even seem realistic), and is about to become a grandmother; while Sunny, who is smothering, needy and co-dependent, doesn't want anything to do with men ever again because of sex with her husband. It makes me wonder what on earth he did that was so horrifying.
The reason I mention these things is because they are the basis for the story. Eve is so self-absorbed that she's perfectly fine with letting Sunny do all the investigating while she's busy planning her latest conquest. Sunny, for her part, is so obsessed with keeping Eve safe because of what happened to their other sister that her neuroses are taking over her life. In the end, it makes neither sister much of a likable character. It's obvious that they love each other, but their personality traits are severely lacking somehow.
When we finally come to the end and the murderer is discovered, everything does come together nicely. The story had a nice flow, and the mystery was done well, which is important in any book and why I gave it four stars. I hope to see the sisters "evolve" in the next book, and look forward to reading it. Recommended.
More on June Shaw's books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/s/june-shaw/
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