Author: Lynn Cahoon
Genre: Mystery
Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781516111121
Lyrical Underground
192 Pages
$16.95; $7.49 Amazon
June 6, 2023
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With the Moonstone Beach Festival coming up, Jill is touching base with her fellow small business owners to make it as successful as possible. It's frustrating when Darla, the owner of South Cove Winery, is late to a big meeting, but they manage to get the discussion rolling about the kite flying event and Battle of the Bands -- which Darla's musician boyfriend is hoping will be his big break. And Jill, of course, will be there with her food truck, hoping for a financial boost after a slow spring.
But amid the fun in the California sun, someone will soon be planning a funeral instead of a festival -- and Jill and her detective fiancé will have to find out who ruined the Moonstone Beach mood with murder...
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Jill Gardner owns Coffee, Books, and More, and is happy with both her professional life and her personal life with her fiancé Greg King, the chief of police in their little town of South Cove, California. Being a tourist town, the business-to-business group meets each month in her shop to discuss how to bring more tourists and just general things which happen in all towns. Darla, who owns the winery, has a boyfriend named Matt who is a member of a band. Darla is a whiz with events, and she has organized a kite festival and a music festival on the same day, with a battle of the bands; the winner being given a record contract.
Everyone is excited for this, since it means more business, and even Jill is preparing her food truck to set up on the beach. But before the contest, a band member is found dead, and Greg soon discovers it's homicide. Now with everyone pointing fingers at everyone else, Greg doesn't know what it will take to find a killer. Of course, he has Jill, whom he's told to stay out of the investigation (but does she ever?) and not feeding her what he knows, she still manages to find clues. But will everything go south for Matt, who might be a suspect? Or will Greg and Jill find the killer before he's dragged off to jail...
This is the fifteenth book in the series, and I have read them all. Ms. Cahoon knows just how to put her readers into South Cove, and keep them there throughout the book. I'd love to visit the beach, so near to Jill's home, and even eat at the local diner (the only one in town). I might even visit sour Josh's antique shop, if there was time. But saying that, it is not enough. There is more in store for our intrepid protagonist Jill.
She has plenty of help at the shop, with amazing Deek (whom I've come to adore); ladies' man Troy, who shares his job with his police duties; and the other employees, including a new one named Tilly who brings questions along with her new job. The secondary plots in this series are just as important as the main one, bringing depth and even caring about the people behind them,
But the real question is, who killed the dead man? And why? Jill, who does her best to realize she needs to stay out the investigation (oh, sure), finds a clue that might be important; but she calls Greg immediately, so as not to have him think she's withholding information from him. Could it be the one that breaks open the case? And did I mention that before their wedding, Greg and Jill need to take a financial planning class? Will they finally figure out who-owns-what? (Just a side note on that one!)
Jill has her suspicions, and so does Greg. But which one of them will be right? Or will both of them be? When the ending comes, everything is put together nicely, like an easy puzzle that was just waiting for the right piece. And finally, the right piece is all it takes to give us something to look forward to in the next book. Highly recommended.
I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley, but this in no way influenced my review.
More on Lynn Cahoon's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/lynn-cahoon/
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