Publication Sept. 9. 2025
Oh, goodie. A new series from a long time favorite author. Keri Sullivan is a personal concierge. What is a personal concierge, you ask? What's the difference between a personal assistant and concierge? To be simplistic, while a personal assistant usually works for one person, a personal concierge may have many clients. I didn't think to keep track of how many clients Keri and her A Friend in Need Agency have but, well, let's just say a lot, ranging from corporate type groups to senior citizens. Fiona Sullivan is one of her favorite clients, however, one whose contacts have often helped Keri expand her customer list. Keri considers her a friend and mentor. Sadly, while delivering some items to Fiona, whose 80 th birthday party Keri had been hired to plan, she finds her dead. As if that wasn't bad enough, it's soon confirmed that she was murdered.
That's where the story really takes off. Keri is rather shocked to discover that Fiona wasn't universally liked by all, which includes her family. I won't detail the plot but will say it was fun to see a new sleuth learning as she went along trying to figure out whodunit. Needless to say, she's pushy and not real subtle in her questioning/investigation, and finds herself frequently being told that perhaps she should leave it to the police to solve. I noted that while Detective Jeff Saunders was one of ones most frequently telling her this that he continues to treat her with respect...even when some of her methods were, uh, not exactly on the right side of the legal line. She also involves a couple of her friends, which I found normal in the cozy mystery world although she never once seemed to think about their safety while snooping. True, she was quite protective of Lora, her unexpected house guest with the scary boyfriend, but her meddling there wasn't necessarily helpful, either. I did like Lora who, given her tendency to clean and organize, I rather wished could show up on my own doorstep, and Pam the reporter was rather gutsy, too. And, yes, there are some potential romances drifting about although not with the one most readers might guess. While I'm sure we'll learn more about the regulars as the series continues, the author did a nice job of fleshing them out for us in this initial introduction.
Bottom line, I enjoyed the story despite rolling my eyes at Keri's rookie sleuth behavior. As her office staff and friends often told her, she really, really needed to take her own advice and carve out some care time for herself. She's so busy running all over investigating as it is that she even manages to irritate at least one client. True, there were some solid possibilities as suspects but Keri does frequently barge in first and think later. The side story about the naturalist remedies didn't hold my attention and I'm not too sure Keri focused on it much, either. She did discover something most of us will or have discovered, the fact that people aren't always who we think they are. Thanks #NetGalley and #OrangeGrovePress for this early intro to Keri and her team, one I hope to learn more about in future books. Sunny Grove, Florida, sure has its share of secrets, that's for sure. As a former Floridian, this was a bit of a virtual trip home to turf I'm quite familiar with.
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