Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781496727022
Kensington Publishing
320 Pages
$8.99; $6.89 Amazon
January 26, 2021
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With her Let It Bee honey boutique buzzing along nicely, life is as sweet as nectar for Wren Johnson -- until she takes a morning walk along the Pacific beach with her Havana Brown cat, Everett, and stumbles upon the body of Agnes Snow, the cranky queen of the local craft fairs, stiff as driftwood. More unfortunate? Clutched in the victim's fist is a label from Wren's homemade beeswax-and-honey lip balm. Which makes Officer Jim Hampton focus his dreamy-blue Paul Newman eyes on Wren as suspect number one.
With fabulous feline support from Everett, Wren must comb the town for clues and clear her name before someone else gets stung.
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Wren Johnson owns Let It Bee, a boutique shop that sells all things honey and beeswax - candles, skin care, etc. She even makes honey candy for Halloween. But one morning, while she's walking her Havana Brown cat, Everett, he stumbles across a dead body -- Agnes Snow, who also happened to be a rival of her Aunt Eloise, in all things crafty. When one of Wren's labels is found with the body, she becomes the main (and only) suspect. Now it's up to her and her friend/employee Porsche to try and figure out who's framing her -- and why they killed Agnes...
This is the first in a new series by Nancy Coco. Since I've read her other series, I wanted to give this one a chance. I always give the first in a series a bit of a pass, since the author is trying to figure out the characters and how everything "works." Saying that, I found a few scenes unbelievable, and there's a big error at the last of the book.
But I also wondered why an officer was investigating a murder. Since it wasn't stated that Jim Hampton was a detective, wouldn't the case have been handed off to the homicide department? A street officer wouldn't handle it. So that was a big question for me. There were a few other things that bothered me, but I'm not going to mention them here.
I understand that the characters are going through their development stage, and that's fine. Wren can turn out to be interesting, but I'm not especially fond of her aunt. I also wonder if we're going to have the dreaded "evil nemesis" show up in the next book (not needed to make a good book) or a love triangle. I really didn't understand what a certain character was doing there; it was as if the author were trying out boyfriends for Wren and just couldn't make up her mind.
Yes, I know I'm going on a rant, but I like to read books that are smooth in their transition, even for first in a series. This one, while it has an interesting plot, has a bit of a problem. However, I do like the fact that Wren cares for the environment, that she's basically a small-scale beekeeper, and knows her subject well. This bodes well for the continuation of the series.
I do like Everett, but I'm a cat lover at heart. I have a Russian Blue, and he has a very definite personality also. (For instance, Blues do not like change. If they have their resting places in a certain area, you can't move things around. They get upset. He's also very vocal, like Havanas). So I love books with cats, obviously.
In the end, I did like the plot quite a bit, so that's a plus in itself; and aside from the huge gaffe at the end (which one might forgive), it ended on a nice note and I look forward to the next in the series. Recommended.
More on Nancy Coco's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/nancy-coco/
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