The second book in Mimi Granger’s charming series of cozy romantic mysteries, Murder of a Mail Order Bride, continues the adventures of romance shop bookstore owner and amateur detective Lizzie Hale.
Lizzie is still recovering from her first case when she’s approached by Al Little, a mild-mannered local hardware store owner, at her bookstore. He’s got a request – could she try to help make his newly-arrived mail-order bride, Svetlana Anatov, feel welcome and show her around the small-town sights? And could she advise him on how to woo his bride, just like in the romantic books she sells? Though Lizzie is shocked that Al has imported a wife instead of finding a local, she nonetheless agrees to help. She and her lively Aunt Charmaine busy themselves with task, but the sophisticated femme fatale who arrives doesn’t care to fit into the small town; she’s carrying some secrets in her soul – and is less than honest about her disappearances leading up to the ceremony. But Lizzie is too busy dealing with being suddenly named maid of honor to worry too much about Svetlana. At least until Svetlana disappears again, this time during the reception.
Unfortunately, Svetlana is soon found floating face-down in a canal in one of Tinker’s Creek’s majestic state parks, still wearing her wedding dress, and the whole town is on hand for the gristly discovery. It’s clear Svetlana was strangled before she was found in her watery grave, making her death a murder – and everyone present at the wedding a suspect. But Al can feel the heat closing in on him, and begs Lizzie to prove his innocence. Can Lizzie and her crush, park ranger Max Alvarez, figure out who killed Svetlana before the murderer strikes again?
Death of a Mail Order Bride continues along the tradition established in the first Lizzie Hale mystery of being fun, readable, and a sweet poke in the ribs of romance tropes. Lizzie is a smart though not credulously overly-bright detective, and the way Granger layers in clues (about a plant Svetlana has in the back of her car, about the ins-and-outs of getting a mail-order bride into the country) are well-used. The characters are likable, and we care about Lizzie and Max and Charmaine a lot. The killer turns out to be someone unexpected, and the motive equally so, but everything sews itself together admirably. But though some major violence is threatened and Lizzie and Max deal with a kidnapping and murder threats, the coziness of the mystery prevents the threat of the violence from really penetrating the book’s atmosphere. Whether this is a boon or a curse will likely depend upon the reader.
The book’s portrait of Tinker’s Creek continues to expand and remains unique, but if you’re here for the Max/Lizzie romance, I have to report that we only just start to get past the mutual yearning phase, but there’s a lot of yearning and a lot desire going on here. They get to rescue each other, always a delight, and there’s some lovely stuff with Lizzie, her aunt Charmaine and her dog Violet to round out the picture.
The good news is that you don’t need to have read the previous book in the series to pick up this one, since it brings you up to speed and, when it does refer to incidents from the first book, explains itself. If you like your mysteries cozy and small-town flavored, it doesn’t get better than this.
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Sensuality: Kisses
Publication Date: 08/2022
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