Author: Barbara Cool Lee
Genre: Mystery
Digital Book
ASIN #: B098PSN8M2
Pajaro Bay Publishing
149 Pages
$2.99 Amazon
July 19, 2021
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Can Maggie find the real killer when her teenage student threatens to strangle her mother with a jet-black necklace...hours before the woman is found dead? And what deep, dark secret is movie star Reese Stevens hiding from the world? Can Maggie help him face the truth?
Maggie McJasper is starting over in a little California beach town. She has a bead shop, a nice circle of friends, and a handsome movie star who keeps flirting with her. Life would be pretty great if she could just stop stumbling over dead bodies...
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Maggie McJasper is starting life over after her divorce from a Hollywood mogul. Unfortunately, when she got the beach mansion in the divorce, she also got its mortgage and bills. So she has to rent it out of a Hollywood star who's also a friend. But she's happy, living in a tiny house in the driveway; she has her bead shop and her dog Jasper, who takes up a lot of the room but whom she wouldn't know what to do without him.
After getting into yet another argument with Alexis, who owns the art gallery next door, she witnesses an argument between Alexis and her daughter Willow, and it doesn't end well, with Alexis slashing her own paintings with a knife. But later, she's teaching a class on making mourning beads, with two of the of the customers being Willow, and Willow's boyfriend Grey. Both are making bracelets to remind them that their relationships with their mother and father respectively, are dead to them. It saddens Maggie, but there's nothing she can do to heal the relationships.
Later, Maggie finds Alexis's body in the alley and the natural suspect is Willow, since others heard their argument. But neither Willow nor Grey can be found, and Maggie worries for them. She doesn't believe they're murderers, but even Willow's father think they did it. So how is she going to prove their innocence?
On top of this, Maggie's tenant, Reese Stevens, is having issues with his ex-girlfriend, who isn't happy that he's got custody of his son for summer visits. When he gets Shane home, it seems the two of them don't have anything in common. Maggie wants them to find a common thread, but she knows it will have to be something they work out between them. Not to mention Reese is indicating he'd like to be more than friends, but Maggie isn't sure she wants to be part of that world again.
Setting her personal problems aside for the time being, Maggie is sure she can find out who killed Alexis. She just needs time -- and to stay away from the real culprit...
This is the second book in the series, and I must say that I enjoyed it more than the first. The characters are showing a little more depth, and we're getting to see the reasons behind their past and their current actions. It makes for an enjoyable read. Watching Maggie try and find a killer is rather fun, and looking for clues along with her make it all the more worthwhile.
When the killer is discovered, it comes almost at a strange moment, and with an 'aha' right beside it. It makes the conclusion satisfying and you never really know what is inside the mind of a murderer. There is also something to look forward to in the next book, and I will read it soon. Highly recommended.
More on Barbara Cool Lee's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/l/barbara-cool-lee/
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