Genre: Mystery
Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781496726346
Kensington Publishing
304 Pages
$15.95; $9.99 Amazon
June 30, 2020
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Since childhood, Courtney has loved fairies. After her mother died when Courtney was ten, she lost touch with that feeling of magic. A year ago, at the age of twenty-nine, she rediscovered it when she left her father's landscaping business to spread her wings and start a fairy garden business and teashop in beautiful Carmel, California. At Open Your Imagination, she teaches garden design and sells everything from fairy figurines to tinkling wind chimes. Now she's starting a book club tea.
But the light of the magical world she's created inside her shop is darkened one night when she discovers the neighboring dog-grooming business owner Mick Watkins dead beside her patio fountain. To make matters worse, the police suspect Courtney of the crime. To clear her name and find the real killer, Courtney will have to wing it. But she's getting a little help from an unexpected source...
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Courtney left her father's landscaping business to create her dream: a fairy garden business in Carmel. So far she's doing well enough to hire an employee, elfin Joss. She also offers classes on how to make your own fairy garden as well as others. Her business is thriving and so is she. One morning her neighboring business owner Mich Watkins enters, and she's afraid he's going to start trouble, but he doesn't; in fact, it seems as if he's looking for someone. But he tells her that their landlord is on the warpath and wanting the tenants out because he wants to sell their shops to a developer -- and Courtney wonders if it's true.
But Courtney has a secret of her own -- she has her very own fairy, Fiona. Fiona, unfortunately, is on probation for some unnamed act and hasn't earned her full set of wings. Fiona is also a righteous fairy (there are four different types), which means she needs to bring resolution to embattled souls. What this means Courtney has no idea, but she's grateful for Fiona's help -- that is, until Fiona tells her early the next morning that she needs to get to her shop right away. Courtney finds the body of Mick in her garden, dead.
After calling the police she figures out how Mick got in, but not why. What's worse is that Courtney is now a suspect in the murder, and the detective on the case doesn't think her alibi is strong enough. So with Fiona's help, and that of her friends Joss and Meghan, Courtney is on the trail of a killer...
This is the first in a new series and I honestly didn't know what to expect. I will say upfront that I don't read books about witches and such; I'm just not interested enough to invest my time. But this book had a beautiful cover (yes, I am sometimes swayed by them), so I decided to take a chance and am glad that I did.
The concept of one having their own personal fairy is a new idea for a book, and quite an intriguing one. Also the fact that the fairy is quite adept at helping solve a murder without going against her own rules. I found the mystery was done nicely, with a few clues here and there, but also giving Courtney the chance to seek them on her own.
I do like Courtney's character. She never puts herself in harms' way. and she's more concerned with getting herself off the hot seat than putting someone else in it. She's not going around accusing every person she meets of murder, and that's a good thing.
The descriptions of fairy gardens were done well enough that it is explained what they are; and perhaps someone who reads the book might want to create one of their own. While this book was peopled with many characters throughout, it wasn't difficult to keep them straight, and there were a few red herrings thrown in for us to sift through. While I had figured out the murderer early on (I read a lot of mysteries) it was still fun getting through the journey until we got to the end of it and Courtney, with help of course, figured it out and put everything together.
In the end, it all came together nicely and while there was no nail-biting climax, it was still done well enough that I want to read the next in the series. Highly recommended.
More on Daryl Wood Gerber's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/daryl-wood-gerber/
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