Book Review: Immaculate Reception by Jerrilyn Farmer (Madeline Bean #2)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Great characters, creative plot, fun to read.

Cons: None

The Bottom Line:

Pope comes to LA

Causing all kinds of problems

Book you can't put down

Feeding the Pope is the Least of Her Worries

Immaculate Reception is the second in a mystery series starring Madeline Bean. She caters and plans events for the rich and famous in Hollywood, California.

Madeline Bean has just been given the event of the year to cater - the official Los Angeles welcome breakfast for the Pope's visit. Still, this is the least of her worries. First, she's struggling with her feelings for ex-fiance Xavier Jones who left her to become a Jesuit Brother. Then there's the old letter she finds that seems to be a confession to murder. But who's confessing, when, and why? Then a priest, a friend of Xavier's, is murdered in a TV star's trailer, and things really start to heat up. Madeline is going to have to dig up some old secrets to figure this out before the Pope must cancel his visit to LA.

This is my favorite entry in a favorite series. Still being early on, the characters are continuing to grow. We get to see more of Madeline's boyfriend Arlo this go around. I think I'm in the minority, but I actually liked him in this book. The mystery moves fast with several nice twists before a surprising yet logical ending. All of this is handled in an easy to read first person narration liberally sprinkled with humor.

I can't recommend this series highly enough. Immaculate Reception is an enjoy mystery novel that will keep you turning pages.

And I do recommend you read the Madeline Bean Mysteries in order.