Author: Victoria Gilbert
Genre: Mystery
Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN#: 9781643857862
Crooked Lane Books
352 Pages
$26.99; $13.99 Amazon
December 7, 2021
⭐⭐
August in Taylorsford, Virginia finds library director Amy Webber and her new husband, dancer Richard Muir, settling into married life -- and a new project. Richard and his dance partner, Karla, are choreographing a suite based on folk music and folk tales, while Amy scours the library's resources to supply background information the dance's source material. But the mellifluous music comes to a jarring halt when an unknown woman's body turns up in Zelda Shoemaker's backyard gazebo.
Chief Deputy Brad Tucker puts Zelda at the top of his suspect list, thanks to a blackmail letter he finds in the dead woman's pocket. Zelda's best friend, Amy's aunt Lydia Talbot, begs Amy to use her research skills to clear Zelda's name. But the task is confounded by Zelda's very out-of-character refusal to reveal why the victim might have blackmailed her.
Complicating matters further, Amy unearths records of a long-ago tragedy that casts doubt on Zelda's innocence. She enlists hubby Richard, Aunt Lydia, art dealer Kurt Kendrick, Mayor Sunny Fields, and sundry other quirky townsfolk in a quest to exonerate Zelda. But will revealing the truth end up forcing Zelda to spend the rest of her life behind bars?
Meanwhile, the killer is still out there. Amy had better be fleet on her feet, because death is on her dance card, and her number may be up.
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Amy Muir (nee Webber) is settling into new married life with her husband, dancer Richard Muir. Things seem to finally be going smoothly, and she's happy and content. But then she finds out from her aunt Lydia, who lives next door, that Lydia's friend Zelda is in trouble, and insists that Amy and her husband take her to Zelda's instead of calling the police. When they arrive, there is a dead body in Zelda's gazebo, and Zelda is nowhere to be found. But when the woman is identified, it appears she may have been blackmailing Zelda. But the only connection the two women have is a long-ago choir they were both in; one that Zelda dropped out of soon after winning the finals against a neighboring group. To complicate things, it appears that a teenaged girl was killed in a car accident not long after, and Amy wants to know if this had anything to do with the competition.
Once found, Zelda won't talk about it and Lydia wants Amy to research who the woman was and why she was there. But Amy soon finds herself in trouble, but refuses to quit. Will she find a killer who seems to be targeting both Zelda and her? Or will this be her final trip to the library?
Let me first say that I love Victoria Gilbert's books. I have read all of them so far. But this one sorely disappointed me, and I found it to be the weakest in the series. Also, the formatting left out characters, so it was more difficult to read. There were 'if', 'ff', and 'th' missing from many of the words in the Kindle edition. I do not know if this has been fixed or not, but hopefully it has.
Saying that, the author needs to do her homework. Peanut allergies didn't begin until the 90's. In the time period mentioned, nearly everyone brought peanut butter/peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to school. They ate peanuts at ball games. I know people that grew up in that era, and not one of them had ever heard of peanut allergies. A little research would have verified this. So I really didn't find the rest of the book too believable after this.
Also, while others might not have mentioned it, no one really cares about Richard's dance troupe or his choreography. Dance is something that is visual, and it is no different than a film. Yes, you can read a screenplay, but it won't have the same effect as seeing the film on screen. Dance really needs to be viewed in the same manner. I found it tedious and it took away from the mystery and there was far too much of it. It was almost as if we were reading about Richard's career instead of a murder.
As to the mystery itself, it suffered because of all the talk about Richard's dancing. Where was Zelda in the beginning of the book? We read about her, but didn't learn anything until the latter half of the book. By then, it didn't matter. I had already lost interest because of what I mentioned above. I also didn't care for the author subtly throwing in her personal views, as this is supposed to be a novel, not a book on political science. I read to relax and unwind from the world, not have it follow me in my leisure time.
What I would like to have seen is Richard actually helping Amy in her investigations. Yes, I realize he thinks his dancing is so important, but it would be nice to see him be the one to rescue her once in a while. My favorite character is still Kurt; he's mysterious and has a dark past, but is there when you need him.
In the end, there was quite a bit going on in the climax, and yes, it was filled with action, so it had that redeeming quality going for it. But it was not tension-filled nor too exciting, although it did make sense of everything coming before it. Ms. Gilbert is a very talented author and I have always enjoyed her books, and the fact that she can bring words to life. Unfortunately, that didn't occur in this latest mystery.
I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.
More on Victoria Gilbert's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/victoria-gilbert/
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