Author: Stephanie Blackmoore
Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781496717559
Kensington Publishing
320 Pages
$6.79; $.99 Amazon
September 29, 2020
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When Mallory discovers some old lace at a Port Quincy antique shop, she knows it'll make a perfect headpiece. But she's barely gotten it out of the store before Helene Pierce tears it from her hands. Helene claims it's a family heirloom that went missing when her late husband died in a hit-and-run twenty-five years ago.
The conflict gets more complicated when the veil is attributed to none other than famed seamstress Betsy Ross. Mallory may have a genuine museum piece on her hands, but meanwhile Independence Day is right around the corner and she has to host the town's Revolutionary War re-enactment. then it becomes clear there's a bigger mystery behind all this history when a local woman is murdered with a musket -- and Mallory's investigation could set off some fireworks...
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Mallory Shepard owns and operates Thistle Park B&B, a mansion that was left to her by its late owner. She's usually busy, but even more so since she's planning a wedding for the local bridal shop owner and catering the food for a Revolutionary War re-enactment, along with trying to find time to get married herself. When she's out shopping for antiques for her friend Bev, she spots a length of lace that she thinks would be perfect for a veil, so she and her friend split the cost and leave the store. Unfortunately, they come across Mallory's ex-mother-in-law-to-be, except for the fact that she broke it off with her son. However, Helene Pierce isn't a woman who takes things lightly, and sees the veil, insisting it belongs to her and rips it from Mallory's hands. When the police chief, Truman Davies, shows up, it's shown that the lace is legally Mallory's, and Helene insists this is not over.
But Mallory has bigger problems: her mother wants her married -- and pregnant -- now, and is setting about insisting she do so. She's telling her that her younger sister can run the B&B while she's having babies, and is pushing her. Mallory's at her wits' end, which doesn't help when there's a murder. Now she's looking for a killer -- and a thief -- and trying to figure out how it all ties together...
I have read every book in this series, and especially enjoyed the last two, but this one seems different, almost as if the author was just trying to finish it. There are inconsistencies -- in earlier books, Rachel was seven years younger, then six, and now she's only four years younger. Huh? And how could Rachel be part owner of the B&B when it wasn't left to her and she didn't put any money into it? Rachel, in my opinion, is selfish, self-serving, and extremely vain. Mallory's mother isn't much better; if I had a mother like that I'd ship her off to parts unknown to live. I really don't like either of them at all. (Besides, who wears jelly sandals?)
The murder didn't occur until the book was halfway over, so you had to read about a lot of 'filler' until you got to it, including her mother and sister hounding her constantly. (If her mother wanted grandbabies so bad, why wasn't she hounding Rachel, too?). It was starting to get annoying. Not to mention, when did Summer become vegan?
Now that I've got that off my chest, the identity of the murderer was a complete surprise, which I do like, and Ms. Blackmoore has been able to pull off in other books. It's always nice to be as surprised as the protagonist, and this book was no different. So there's the big plus in the book. But I get the feeling that this book may be the last in the series, and I could be wrong, but there were some things which seemed out of place that made me think so. I would have loved to have seen a different ending altogether, but oh, well. I would love to see this series continue, as I do like Mallory and many of the other characters and enjoy spending time with them. At any rate, the book was a nice read, and I am still glad that I read it.
More on Stephanie Blackmoore's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/stephanie-blackmoore/
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