This was a new-to-me series, so it was interesting to get to know new people and their community. Although the beginning seemed slow to me, that was probably simply because of my newness and the unfamiliarity of the various characters as they were introduced in rather quick order in the opening chapter. In the grand scheme of things, other than slowing me down briefly, it works as a standalone as the author does an excellent job filling us in on who is who and what their connections are.
As the book is opening, main character Emory Martinez is working on finalizing plans for the wedding of friend Brad to police detective Gabe. Unexplainably, Gabe is awol and Brad is worried. As it turns out, he had cause to be worried. Brad and Emory find a dead body the next day when the go to his grandparent's home to drop of some of the wedding gifts. Never mind that the wedding invitation said no gifts. People will do what they deem is right. One of the gifts, a muddler, which I admit to having to look up, was the murder weapon. Gabe's prints are on the muddler but, wait, he admits to being the one to put the muddler on the counter. Surveillance video shows him entering the estate but not exiting, albeit that may be due to a community power failure at the time.
So, where is Gabe? What's his story? Why has he been avoiding Brad? Does he have feeling for Colin? What's the story on the dead woman, who Brad had a restraining order out on due to past stalking encounters? Did unrequited love play a role? How did she find him? Could Brad have actually killed her? His alibi is non-existent for the estimated time of death. How did the woman get into a gated, security gated community anyway? What secrets are being kept? Will the past invade the present? Will family bonds hold? Will Emory every learn to delegate? Will she find herself in danger due to her "snooping"? Oh, come on. You at least know the answer to that one.
Who....nope, enough teasers. Bottom line, although I was doubtful about this book initially due to my own slowness in grasping the many characters and relationships, I warmed to it quickly. I liked Emory and, btw, wish she were real so I could taste test some of her baking, The supporting cast was equally easy to like and, hey, she has two rescue dogs, Piper and Missy. Now that I've been introduced to them all, I'm looking forward to a return visit. Thanks to #BookSirens and #Cinnamon&SugarPress for the introduction and will definitely be back. Heck, I'm probably going to be doing catch-up reading of the entire series, now that I think about it.
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