About the book:
"Darcy Sweet would like to think that she is just an ordinary woman, happy in her life running the Sweet Read bookstore. But she isn't ordinary. She has a connection to the other side that seems to draw her into mysterious situations more often than not. Add to the mix the antics of a rather naughty, slightly psychic cat and the eccentric ghost of her great-aunt Millie, and you have a recipe for anything but the ordinary.
When Darcy's neighbor is murdered she is drawn into the mystery against her will when she finds the body. She tries to leave the investigation to the police, one of which is her sister, but an overheard conversation and a small nudge from the other side has her investigating the murder. The stakes are raised when the murderer strikes again. Who was killing the people in her life?
Things are complicated even more by her building attraction to her sister's new cop partner, who makes it clear he does not appreciate Darcy's interference in the investigation. Sparks fly between the two of them as they get further into the mystery surrounding the deaths.
With a town full of suspects how will Darcy work out who the murderer is? None of the pieces to the puzzle fit. Things become more complicated and dangerous as Darcy's own life is threatened. Will she survive to see justice served?"
I read this book and below is my review:
The story was okay. It moved fast, but not in the way I like. Darcy (the main character) would get an idea about the mystery and then go follow it and change mid-course for seemingly no reason. We didn't get to follow along with her, we were more along for the ride without knowing where we were going or why. This left me feeling like an outsider as opposed to a participant.
There were questions I had that were never answered - not loose ends but things that didn't make sense. I can't really give an example without spoiling the book. At one point, a character is somewhere and will be there for a long time. Minutes later, that character is suddenly somewhere else, with no explanation or even a passing thought of our character wondering how it was possible. Also, Darcy would suspect somebody (for no reason) and then dismiss them as a suspect (for no reason). There was even one point where she suspected someone and questioned them, found out the person had no alibi and then thought to herself, she didn't' really think it was that person anyway. Huh?
The characters weren't fully fleshed out, either, but I liked them anyway. Even though we didn't get deep into anyone's life or deep into a mystery or follow accurate police procedures, it was still a fun read. I enjoyed the story. Darcy is a nice character and pretty upbeat, even in the midst of murder and deceit. Even though I didn't feel as connected to her as I would have liked, I still got to enjoy her story.
Oh, and I love the cat.
K.J. Emrick