Carolyn L. Dean

local-gossip, local-law-enforcement, local-politics, audiobook, romantic, cold-case, small-town, small-business, investigations, contentious, hospitality-industry, renovation, lies, secrets, first-in-series*****

Interesting start to a new cozy mystery series. Amanda has left California to find a more rewarding life in a coastal town where she has inherited a long disused family inn. There she meets a lot of the locals, including the rather nasty confrontational mayor, some friendly neighbors show more and shopkeepers, and the local detective (courtesy of the skeleton in the garden!). Fun sleuthing and a good escape.
I got the audio on sale and the narrator did an OK job, but the prolonged silences between chapters made me nutz. show less

Amanda inherited a old, abandoned inn from her aunt and uncle, and is planning to move to that small town, restore the inn as a B&B, and make a new life for herself.

Unfortunately, complications ensue. Like the dead guy buried in her vegetable garden. And various machinations behind the scenes about the fate of the town...

This is the first book in the series, and a solid start. The plot was interesting and twisty with great pacing, and the characters (including the cat) individual and show more well-drawn.

I will be reading more in this series. show less

Jennifer accepted a job from Gable Landon, a mysterious man who wants her to travel to Provence in the guise of an insurance adjustor, in order to assess the price he should offer for a run-down estate that has a vineyard. When she arrives, the estate is indeed rundown, but she notices its charm and what it could become. She also meets the staff, who share their dinners together, and then begins her assessment of the grounds.

What she discovers in the house is what startles her; but before show more she can decide to do anything about it, she hears a woman's scream in the night, and finds her dead outside. Now, with the death, she is told not to leave, but she does a little investigating on her own, and finally figures out who the killer must be. Can she leave before she's the next victim, or will she have to fight off a murderer?..

This is the first book in a new series, and I really wish the author would have given us some background on Jennifer. All we ever read about is Ravenwood and how much she loves it, but we know nothing about her past (at least I don't, since I've not read the earlier series). Yet she refers to Ravenwood quite a bit, and I don't know why. I'm also guessing she was a spy in a former life, due to some things that she mentions, but again, never explained there...so...

The murder occurs halfway through the book, and this is a very short book, so we don't have a lot of insight on who wanted that person killed, and there is only one or two clues as to the murderer, which we barely pick up on. Also, the past of the dead person is referenced, but we're never given any insight into that, either...which leaves us not really caring about the dead person at all; it's almost as if they didn't exist in the first place.

I wish this book could have been a bit longer so we could have had those details explained, but they weren't, and therefore I can't give this book more than three stars. The writing was very good, but the lack of details (including the surrounding countryside) left me wanting. show less

It was okay for me. I think maybe I need to read the books before it as I really didn’t feel like I knew anyone. I also didn’t really get a feel for the victim. I was hoping it was a bit more Christmassy, too. I think I may check out the first two books and then revisit this one. It might help me. I’ll update the review if I do.