Former NYPD forensics expert Celia Strong and her daughter, Katie, moved to Blue Lake for a slower, more peaceful life. Although this was my first read of this series, it doesn't sound like those aspects have quite worked out yet. She is, however, fitting in after about a year and has made new friends and even managed to be accepted by the local police. That's a nice change from the usual adversarial tone of many cozies where the police/detectives shove aside amateur sleuths, no matter how talented they are at ferreting out clues. In this case, after being recommended for what is basically a private investigative job by the local deputy (the sheriff is out of town), she finds herself also involved in deciphering a murder.
The book opens with a newsletter type chapter, detailing not only the events upcoming but some of the news about local residents, including Celia and Katie. We also get a peek into Katie's diary, detailing her being cast as Maria in the school's upcoming play, "Sound of Music". This diary entry is a wonderful bit of insight into Katie. As the actual story opens, Celia is approached by Lottie Porter who wants her to find out what happened to the body of, let's see if I remember correctly, her great-grandmother's sister. I think. Celia will have the help of the local historical group for this task, whose characters we get to know. New read for me or not, I pretty quickly sorted out who was who and the connections, so it worked as a stand-alone.
As for the actual murder, that was a tricky one. It takes awhile for the method to even be sorted out for sure. As noted, I didn't find myself quite as caught up in this case as the one of the missing body, but it was interesting to see how Celia, with the help of friends (and her daughter), works through the evidence using her own knowledge and what they find. I'm not going to detail either case further, including how they are connected....or are they?.... but after a bit of adjustment to the time travel, so to speak, regarding the empty casket case, as well as the varying advantage points, it was an interesting read. A somewhat slow start, true, but other than that and my own wish that I'd read the previous books simply because I was curious, not because something was lacking, it was a fun read. I liked Celia and the cast and will definitely be catching up with their past while looking forward to her next venture into investigation. Thanks #NetGalley and #StolenKeyPress for introducing me to Blue Lake and Celia. And, oh, readers, did I mention that there's actually a third, seemingly ongoing mystery: What's the story behind the murder of Celia's undercover cop husband? Yep, definitely lots to look forward to.
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