Thursday, March 24, 2022

Murder Calls at Shadow Falls (An Olivia Twist Cozy Mystery Book 1)

Author:    Irene Jorgensen
Genre:     Mystery

Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:    9798421945772
Apatite Publishing
123 Pages
$7.99; $3.99 Amazon
February 22, 2022

⭐⭐⭐



The gossip has finally faded.

Is it safe to go home now...

...and make amends?

Olivia knew it was wrong.  But she had her reasons.  Desperate to get out of Shadow Falls, she stole the money her best friend needed to start her dream bakery.  Now, at thirty years old, Olivia wants one thing, to repair her friendship with Annie.  Is there a chance for redemption?

To find out, she must go home.

But there is a risk.

With one year left on the statute of limitations for her crime, Olivia must craft a plan to keep her return a secret.  And in the small town of Shadow Falls, secrets aren't kept for long.  Can she stay under the radar disguised as a fake psychic?

Will she find forgiveness?

In a twist of fate, when Annie is accused of murdering the local bakery owner, it falls on Olivia to unravel the mystery of what really happened -- without revealing her identity.  Because if people find out who she is, Olivia and Annie could end up renewing their friendship in prison.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

When Olivia Swift left town years ago, it was under a cloud -- she had stolen several thousand dollars that her best friend Annie needed to start a bakery.  Now Annie is a caterer, and the woman who bought the bakery isn't pleased that Annie has apparently whipped up a lemon meringue gluten-free pie that she hasn't been able to.

Olivia returns because her aunt sent her an ominous note, and she's wearing a disguise to cover herself, in order to stay out of jail.  If she can make it one more year, when the statute of limitations runs out on her crime, she'll be safe.  She's tried to make amends to Annie by returning the money, but there are others she needs to make amends too also.  Her aunt has offered to help her if she remains in Shadow Falls.  The only way Olivia can stay is if she hides out under her guise of a fake psychic, using her observations of people that she's learned.  

When the bakery owner dies and Annie is accused of the murder, Olivia must use all of her powers of observation to save her.  But since everyone hated the woman, who hated her enough to kill her?  What reason could they have?  With Annie the only other person who knows who she is, the two team up to find a killer who isn't going down easily...

This is the first book in the series, and I really wanted to like it a lot.  Unfortunately, it has some problems I can't get over.  If her aunt is so wealthy, why didn't she just give the money to Olivia to help her out when she needed it?  But then again, I don't really like the aunt because she doesn't like cats.  I don't trust people who don't like cats.  Cats are pretty good about ferreting out people, and I'd trust their reactions first.

I also felt that the book was a bit too short to give us a true picture of Olivia.  While the book was a quick, fun read, it just left me on the fence a little bit.  However, the ending was done very well, and I will read the second in the series, since I want to give this series another chance.

I was given a copy of this book from BookFunnel but this in no way influenced my review.



No comments:

Post a Comment

A Corpse Among the Carolers

A Food Blogger Mystery Book 7 Author:     Debra Sennefelder Genre:      Mystery Paperback; Digital Book ISBN #:     9781960511928 Beyond The...