Genre: Mystery/Fantasy
Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781496726360
Kensington Publishing
304 Pages
$11.71; $9.99 Amazon
June 19, 2021
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When Courtney's friend Wanda gets into a ponytail-pulling wrestling match in public with a nasty local art critic, Courtney stops the fight with the help of a garden hose. But Lana Lamar has a talent for escalating things and creating tension, which she succeeds in doing by threatening a lawsuit, getting into yet another scuffle -- in the midst of an elegant fundraiser, no less -- and lobbing insults around like pickleballs.
Next thing Courtney knows, Lana is on the floor, stabbed with a decorative letter opener from one of Courtney's fairy gardens, and Wanda is standing by asking, "what have I done?" But the answer may not be as obvious as it seems, since Wanda is prone to sleepwalking and appears to be in a daze. Could she have risen from her nap and committed murder while unconscious? Or is the guilty party someone else Lana's ticked off, like her long-suffering husband? To find out, Courtney will have to dig up some dirt...
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Courtney Kelly owns a fairy garden shop in Carmel. She helps people create their own fairy garden while she cultivates hers, and communes with her own little fairy, Fiona. Fiona in turn helps Courtney in order to gain her full set of wings. Courtney's been asked to create two gardens for people to bid on for a local fundraiser by her friend Wanda, who is her best friend Meaghan's mother. But while at her shop one morning she hears a commotion, and goes outside to see a fight between Wanda and Lana Lamar, an art critic, and it's turned physical. Lana has Wanda by the hair and refuses to let her go. So Courtney does the only thing she can: she grabs a hose and waters both of them down to stop the fight.
But Lana isn't about to be deterred, and continues to hound Wanda, even up to the point of the fundraiser, where she has no problem making a scene with anyone and everyone. When Wanda feels a bit tired, she goes to lie down, and later Courtney hears a crash and runs toward the sound. She finds Wanda kneeling over Lana's body, holding the end of the letter opener stuck in her -- the one that Courtney had used in the now-smashed garden. Now Wanda is the main suspect, and if Courtney doesn't find the true killer, her friend's mother won't wake up from this nightmare...
This is the second in the series and I found it just as delightful as the first. The idea of a little fairy helping Courtney solve a murder is indeed a cute plot addition, and it makes for a fun read. While Courtney starts looking at Lana and who would want her dead, she comes up with a plethora of suspects, none of whom seem to have solid alibis. There's also a couple of secondary plots which keep the story going without a lull in the action, and these are engaging as well.
I do like the fact that whatever information Courtney digs up, she immediately transfers to Detective Summers. While he gets annoyed with her, at least she's offering up what she discovers and doesn't try to accost her own suspects and accuse them of murder face-to-face. One gets tired of protagonists who confront suspected murderers without the police knowing about it. Courtney is intelligent and caring, with her heart and mind open to not only seeing fairies, but helping others as well. I do like her character.
When the ending comes and the murderer is revealed, I pretty much had gathered who it was early on, but finding out the motive for murder was what I was waiting for, and I wasn't disappoint in the outcome. All in all, I do like this series and wait eagerly for the next book. Recommended.
More on Daryl Wood Gerber's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/daryl-wood-gerber/
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