Author: Betty Hechtman
Genre: Mystery
Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781643857329
Crooked Lane Books
320 Pages
$17.04; $13,99 Amazon
August 10, 2021
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These are the dog days of August, but you won't catch the Tarzana Hookers crochet club napping. While Molly Pink knits together an idea for a new project, Miami Wilson busily converts house she inherited into a rental property. But Miami is left shorthanded when Sloan Renner, the woman helping her clean out the house ends up dead under a pile of smelly seafood.
A large drone had flown over the property discarding mollusk shells all over the backyard. Was it an accident? An ill-fated prank by neighbors up in arms about a rental house in their cul-de-sac? Witnesses clam up when Molly's ex, homicide detective Barry Greenberg, tries to get information, but he thinks Molly may be able to get them to open up to her.
When Molly learns about Sloan's seafood allergy, she suspects that the woman's death was no accident. Can she bait the hook to catch the culprit, or will the killer keep raising shell?
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When Molly Pink, assistant manager of Shedd & Royal Books & More, is asked by a friend if she wants to purchase a large stash of yarn for the store, she decides to look at it before making an offer. But by the time she makes the visit, it's turned into an excursion -- Adele seems to insist on tagging along, because her 'knowledge' is more extensive and she wants to record it for her new vlog; and Elise, one of the Tarzana Hookers, is insisting because she's begun selling real estate and thinks she might be able to undercut the agent already there. But it's never easy for Molly -- while at Miami Wilson's inherited home, the agent who invited Molly, Sloan Renner, is hit with a drone full of seafood shells, and killed.
Sure, the neighborhood is upset because Miami wants to turn her home into short-term rentals, and of course, this is a family street, so they don't want it; but someone has also been vandalizing her sign out front, and she refuses to be cowed. But who hates her enough to do this? With any one of the homeowners as suspects, even if the police think it was a freak accident, Molly's not so sure.
Then there's the problem of Molly's older son Peter, who has unexpectedly shown up at her home with his pregnant girlfriend in tow, moving in without notice, because his life has gone down the tubes. How can she turn him away? Although she seems to want to when the couple decide she might just be in their way while they entertain potential clients and want her to 'stay in her room'. (Seriously?)
But the kicker is her new life is about to take off. Her beau, high-powered attorney Mason Fields, has unexpectedly proposed marriage and Molly is stunned. It means her life is going to change; she'll be traveling with Mason, helping him on his Second Chance legal project, which helps innocent people get out of prison; and that also means she'll have to give up her job as assistant manager at Shedd & Royal. And what about her numerous pets -- who just got a new addition with Sloan's little dog Princess? It doesn't help that her ex, homicide detective Barry Greenberg, once again has asked for her help and doesn't like the idea of her going off with Mason.
Now Molly has a mountain of decisions to make, including who killed Sloan. Is she in over her head? Or will she be able to make this mountain into a molehill?...
This is the fourteenth book in the series, and I have read them all. While I have liked some better than most (and really didn't care for the first, to be honest here,) I have watched the changes in Molly's life with interest. Of course, there are things that bother me -- like Elise going crazy suddenly about being a real estate agent and trying to hound everyone into selling or using her services, including nagging Miami when she first meets her -- if I had an agent like her, I'd tell her I never intend to sell and don't know anyone who does. Elise has become annoying as heck. I also have to wonder about Peter. He supposedly had this great job in Hollywood, but never put any money in the bank? He has to move back in with his mother? Did he blow every penny he made? He should have had some sort of nest egg -- you'd think. Or the fact that Molly never confronted either Peter or Gabby about their treatment of her.
But this is because I notice details -- a lot. And though I let most details pass me by in books, because they are written for entertainment, after all -- I can't let them all pass by. I should. But I don't. Anyway, back to the book...
I did like the mystery itself. We have the woman die at the beginning, and it looks as if it's connected to Miami using her home for short-term rentals, and suddenly some of the neighbors recognize Molly going into the home and assume that she is having something to do with it. So now she's involved, whether she wants to be or not, and when Barry asks for her help, she doesn't refuse. Molly is supposed to be only asking questions (yeah, sure) but she and her best friend Dinah start playing their 'Sherlock Holmes' game to try and find out who the killer is. This, of course, brings the killer's interest to Molly, and now she becomes a secondary target.
But watching Molly navigate her role in the bookstore and assure Mrs. Shedd that everything is just as it's supposed to be, try to figure out who the killer is, and decide who and what she really wants for her life is actually fun. There's a lot going on here.
Then we have the ending -- which is more than we expected. While it was a rather silly conclusion as far as the murder goes, there was a bigger surprise in store...and while I haven't made up my mind as to whether I'm happy or not, it gives me something to look forward to in the next book. Recommended.
I was given a copy from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.
More on Betty Hechtman's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/betty-hechtman/
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