Book Review: Rhythm and Clues by Sue Ann Jaffarian (Odelia Grey #11)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Fast moving mystery, strong characters, fun

Cons: Most supporting players aren’t active, but book so fun you don’t really miss them

The Bottom Line:

A missing rock star

Leads to deadly adventure

Always delightful

Intrigue in the Retirement Community

Normally, you think of a retirement community as being a peaceful place with little noise, making it nice and relaxing.  Of course, when Odelia Grey’s mother lives in one, it is anything but peaceful.  That’s what we learn in Rhythm and Clues, the eleventh in the long running series, and it’s another great read.

Odelia’s mother, Grace, lives in Seaside Retirement Community, a collection of condos in Long Beach for the 55 and older crowd.  She’s made only a few friends in the community thanks to her prickly personality, but one of those friends is Boaz Shankleman.  Odelia is very surprised to learn that Boaz is actually Bo Shank, the lead singer of Acid Rain, a band that Odelia loved when she was in college in the 80’s.

Of course, this comes out when Grace comes to Odelia for help because Boaz has disappeared.  He’s been gone for two weeks, and no one knows where he is.  Odelia agrees to nose around a little just to satisfy her mom.  She doesn’t think there is anything seriously wrong – until the dead body turns up.  Suddenly, Odelia and Grace find themselves in a puzzle where nothing makes sense.  What is going on?

Grace has easily become one of my favorite additions to the series.  She is always delightfully funny and boasts any book where she has major page time.  That’s definitely the case again here as she is Odelia’s main sidekick.  I laughed my way through the book at her antics and the responses they drew from Odelia.

Actually, many of the supporting characters are out of town for much of the book, so we don’t get to see them.  Don’t worry, all your favorites have cameos, but they aren’t around as much as you might expect.  And yet, as the book progressed, I realized I wasn’t missing them.  The characters we do have, including one of Odelia’s nieces and a series recurring character, more than make up for any missing regulars.  Add in the suspects we meet along the way, and you have a book filled with memorable characters.

The other reason I didn’t miss the regular gang is because the plot is so strong.  We jump right in to conflict, and things never slow down.  The entire book takes place in just a few days, with no real time or space for major sub-plots.  And with the twists and turns we get along the way, I never wanted to put the book down.

If you are new to Odelia or a longtime fan, you’ll find this book to be a wonderful read.  Sue Ann Jaffarian continues to be one of my favorite authors, and Rhythm and Clues is another fabulous example of why that is.

Once you meet Odelia, you’ll want to read the rest of the Odelia Grey Mysteries.