Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781496727114
Kensington Publishing
304 Pages
$6.79; $1.99 Amazon (Sale)
October 27, 2020
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January isn't the season for the seaside, but the big Fire and Ice festival is keeping bookstore owner Addie busy. Amid the plans for a fireworks display and an ice-carving competition, she's also dog sitting for a friend in the hospital. When Addie goes to her friend's house to gather supplies, she notices an interesting item on the nightstand which belongs to her shop assistant, Paige: a very valuable copy of the beloved children's book The Secret Garden.
But Addie's blood runs cold when she finds something else: a dead body behind the bakery next door to her shop. Martha, the bakery owner, has no alibi -- and has been seen in a heated argument with the victim. And the next thing Addie knows, that first edition has gone missing. Is there a connection between the body and the treasured tome? If there is, it's up to Addie to find a killer with a motive as hidden as Frances Hodgson Burnett's famous garden...
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Addie Greyborne lives in a small New England town and owns a bookshop. One morning a friend's little dog shows up at her shop barking. When she runs across the street to the park, she finds his owner Gloria on the ground, having fallen from a ladder while decorating for the local festival. When it's determined she needs to have a hip replacement, Addie is determined as the best person to care for the little dog, and goes with her friend and next-door business owner Martha to collect things for the dog.
While at Gloria's home she also notices a copy of The Secret Garden on Gloria's night stand. When Martha tells her that it belongs to her daughter Paige, Addie's employee, Addie tells Martha that it might just be worth over $25,000, which stuns Martha.
But there are other things occupying Martha's mind and which Addie wants to ask her, but won't: like who were the men and woman she was arguing with outside her shop? And why was she threatening them? Unfortunately, the next day, when Addie goes to work, she and a homeless man named Bill find the dead body of one of the men behind Martha's shop -- and it promptly puts Martha in lead position as the suspect in killing him. When she's arrested for the murder, Addie promises Paige to do all she can to save her.
But Addie has other things on her mind, too: when she goes to Gloria's home to retrieve the book for her, it's missing. And there doesn't appear to be any forced entry. So where is the book? Is it related to the death? If the police won't listen, Addie has no choice but once again to try and find a killer. But maybe this time she'll wish she hadn't...
This is the fifth book in the series, and I do believe that it might be one of the best ones. Addie has more trouble than she wants with her cousin Kalea living with her -- honestly, this woman is a royal pain and I would send her back where she came from after the things she does; but then, that's only my opinion. Addie's too nice to her. I also don't like Ryley much; she really doesn't like Addie and allows it to color her professional work. Marc should rein her in. She's unlikable.
Other than that, I did like the mystery itself. It was interesting to see Addie trying to understand if the missing book was somehow connected to the murder, even though the police had to 'follow the evidence'. True; but sometimes you need to follow your instincts, too, which is what Addie does and why she's so good at figuring things out.
I did like all the little subplots and getting to know more about Martha's past and what has made her the way she is; it's always nice when you learn about the lives of the secondary characters; and I did like the hint that we may see more of Jonathan in later books. He enchanted me, but only because I like the cloak-and-dagger history of his life.
The story is rife with twists and turns that take the reader to other area's besides Addie's life; although we do see her still struggling with certain areas of her budding relationship with Simon, but it centers more on her not wanting to see Paige hurt or even caring for the little dog in her guardianship, as it were. There were clues throughout; you just had to look for them.
When Addie starts to get closer to finding the answers she wants, it comes from an unlikely source, and that's when she puts it all together. It was a satisfying ending that left me pleased with the book and looking forward to the next in the series. Recommended.
More on Lauren Elliott's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/e/lauren-elliott/
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