Kim Davis

Carissa Carmichael moves back to her small hometown to start her own business, the Aromatherapy Apothecary. As she's setting up the store in preparation for opening, she is accosted by Russ Lewellyn. Russ's mother Victoria owns the candle shop that adjoins Carissa's store. The two properties share a connecting door, but otherwise are separate entities. Russ is furious with Carissa, believing her shop will draw customers away from the candle store. Carissa is shaken by the encounter, but show more decides to keep her distance from Russ. Before long, he's found dead in her shop, and since the murder weapon came from inside the store, everyone is quick to jump to the conclusion that Carissa must have killed him after the confrontation. While she attempts to clear her name, she soon discovers that nearly everyone in town had a reason to want Russ dead. Maybe she can recruit the hunky baker down the street to help out with the investigation.

I really enjoyed the story. The mystery about how Russ ended up dead in the aromatherapy shop took a while to unravel, but the journey to find the killer was interesting. Carissa had a mystery in her past to discover as well. It was also quite informative to read about the aromatherapy business and how the oils are distilled, combined, and deployed in order to treat various conditions, as well as help with general things such as mood and atmosphere. A very fun and enjoyable read!

I received a copy of this book from a Library Thing Early Reviewers giveaway. show less

What a fun start to a new cozy mystery series, focusing on the fine art of aromatherapy and reflexology.

Young and rather naïve Carissa Carmichael, has returned to her small hometown, a place she never thought she'd move back to after making her home in San Francisco. It turns out that San Fran wasn't as warm and friendly as she had hoped. And oh, that arrest in the big city, (about which the hometown folks continue to gossip), was a real career ender. So home it was into the loving arms of show more her widower dad, who just happens to be the town's sheriff. Carissa is eagerly starting over and hoping that her new Aromatherapy Apothecary shop is the ticket to a new lease on life. All is well until the antagonistic son of the adjacent shop's owner, is found dead on the floor of Carissa's shop and she is in the everyone's crosshairs and suspected of being the perpetrator of the crime. For propriety's sake, an investigator is brought in to lead the investigation with Sherriff Carmichael as his second. Unfortunately, the two lawmen have less than amicable history. If Carissa is ever going to hold her grand opening and turn this nightmare back into her dream future, she needs to be cleared of all wrong doing. Is that even possible?

Kim Davis has done a terrific job of digging into the details of aromatherapy and reflexology and educating her readers while delivering an engaging and at times, amusing story. Her writing is solid. The characters are well developed and the readers can easily empathize with them in their challenges faced. The scene settings are rich and descriptive. The story itself is a "closed-door" mystery with a number of red-herrings and misdirection. To all of this, Ms. Davis has added a lot of heart. I eagerly await the next book in series.

I am grateful to Harbor Lane Books for having provided a complimentary copy of this book through LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Their generosity, however, has not influenced this review - the words of which are mind alone.

Publisher:‎ Harbor Lane Books, LLC
Publication Date:‎ September 24, 2024
Number of Pages:‎ 300
ISBN-13:‎ 978-1963705898 show less

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Carissa Carmichael is trying to restart her life in Oak Creek Valley by opening her Aromatherapy Apothecary shop. To gain attention for a new business, she has set up a booth at the annual Playwright Conference and Festival. She is beyond disappointed that Lacie Simmons is manning the booth next door for Jean-Luc Patisserie because its owner is ill. Carissa is very good friends with the owner, Jasper, but there is no love lost between her and Lacie. Lacie is rude, mean, show more and ill-tempered, and has more than one angry confrontation at the conference, including one with Carissa and another with a prominent playwright.

That evening, Carissa finds Lacie’s dead body cooling off the patisserie walk-in refrigerator. Her father, the chief of police, knows Carissa had nothing to do with the murder, but he is forced off the case and replaced by Detective Martin and Detective Raaf. They have Carissa at the top of their suspect list. She should have known there would be trouble after her quick, incomplete tarot card reading at the festival.

Knowing her dad will help her as much as he legally can, she knows it is essentially up to her to clear her name, and as quickly as possible, because the killer is leaving tarot death cards everywhere to let her know they are always close by, ready to take her as the next victim.

Ms. Davis’ charming characters shine in this story. Carissa is a smart, determined woman with a huge heart. She is surrounded by a wonderful set of supporting characters. Carissa’s relationship with her father is heartwarming. Their love for each other actually glows from the pages. Her friendship with Jasper is strong and growing into a romance so organically. Working side by side with her best friend, Ashley, is delightful; they always have each other’s backs. Dillon works for Carissa part-time but is a true friend as well. Her mentor, Mari, will always jump in to help at the shop and is ready with a tight hug and advice when needed. The core cast of this series is genuine, relatable, and all people who pull you into the story and move it along effortlessly as they continue to evolve.

The author has written a layered mystery with a tight plot and many twists and turns. Lacie ruffled a lot of feathers, and someone is truly trying to railroad Carissa, but are they the same person? Many motives, secrets, surprises, threats, and more kept the pages flying. I enjoyed following along with Carissa as she attempted to uncover the truth and identify the killer. Like Carissa, my spidey sense was flawed. She ended up in a dicey situation, but not all the clues fell into place when the killer was revealed. Some incidents still need to be explained, and by the final pages, they were.

I am enjoying the Aromatherapy theme of this series and learning more about essential oils. Like a character in this story, I am sure I would benefit and appreciate everything about a relaxing foot massage like the ones Carissa gives at the convention.

I am so happy that this series found a new home. We had to wait a bit for this second book to be published, but it was well worth the wait. Essentials of Death is an entertaining read filled with small-town charm, interesting and relatable characters, bits of romance and humor, and mysteries that aptly test both the protagonist and the reader. I hope Ms. Davis is busy writing her next Aromatherapy Apothecary Mystery because I am very excited to see what she has planned for Carissa next.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you to the author for providing me with an ARC. show less

Emory Martinez bakes cupcakes for her sister Carrie's catering company. While catering a strange dinner for a nasty hostess, Carrie's employee Sal is harassed by the host. Then the man accosts Emory and pulls her down on his lap. Determined to finish the job for her sister, she doesn't want anything to do with Mr. Jorgenson again. But later, while the fireworks are exploding, the drunken host accosts Sal and threatens him; throws cupcakes at him, then dies after eating one. Naturally the show more police suspect Sal of being the murder, but both sisters refuse to believe it.

In her second job as accountant to her octogenarian employer Tillie's son David, she discovers some strange goings-on at David's home. She reports these to Tillie, and it opens another can of worms for Tillie's family. Meanwhile Tillie is still trying to set up her grandson Brian with Emory, and for Emory's part, she has unfinished business with her boyfriend Randall. With three things on her mind, she knows solving the murder is first and foremost. But neither the police nor the killer see it that way, and Emory is being stalked and targeted...and if she doesn't figure out who's behind it, she might just be the next victim who's permanently baked...

I have read all of the books in this series, and I have to say that this is my favorite so far. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and Emory is an interesting person. However, I do have issues with how she constantly describes herself -- as having red 'clown' hair, for one; (there are products out there that handle frizz, and using them would tackle this perfectly) and being chubby. Nothing wrong with that; but she has low self-esteem, and perhaps more than one walk a day with her dog would take care of some of this. I really hate it when protagonists describe themselves as lesser to their siblings. I have four and we are all shapes and sizes, but I never compare myself to them and hope they do the same. People can be beautiful in all shapes and sizes. Emory needs to stop denigrating herself.

When Emory starts investigating, a man named Will Trenton, an attorney, offers to help her free Sal. Touched by his kindness, she agrees. But Will has secrets of his own, and though he is a good man, she can't help but notice his pallor and wonder why. Still, they come to help each other in different ways, along with Tillie, and they discover clues to the murder.

When the murder is closing in, Emory's clues are leading her to one person. But more than that, her life is shaping up to be different from what she expected, and all the clues tie more than one mystery together, leaving Emory with decisions to make that will change her life.

All in all, the murderer wasn't so much a surprise as it could be, nor the motive for the killing, but I did like this tale because of twists that brought everything together. The ending left us something to look forward to in the next book, and I will be reading it soon. There are also quite a few recipes in the back of the book also. Recommended. show less