Mystery Movie Leads to Real Life Murder
When I find an author I enjoy, I follow them to a new series even if the hook isn’t one I would normally go for. That’s the case with the Aromatherapy Apothecary Mysteries. I’m not into aromatherapy, but since I’ve enjoyed Kim Davis’s Cupcake Caterer Mysteries, I dove head first into this second series and never looked back. I’m glad I did since Essentials of Homicide, book three in the series, was another fun entry.
The books are set in Oak Creek Valley, a fictionalized Ojai, California, and feature Carissa Carmichael, the owner of Aromatherapy Apothecary, an essential oils store in the middle of the town’s downtown/tourist area. She’s found herself involved in a couple of previous murders since returning to town and opening her shop, much to the dismay of her father, the town’s chief of police.
As this book opens, Hollywood has come to town, not too surprising for a community an hour and a half from Los Angeles. Hidden Crimes is going to be shot there, a murder mystery movie. They are even paying Ashley, Carissa’s best friend and employee, for the use of her house as a location in the movie.
However, trouble has also arrived in the form of Nigel Hollister, the star of the film. He’s handsome, and he knows it, and assumes that all women will want to spend time with him. Ashley turns him down several times but the man refuses to take no for an answer. Until Carissa finds him floating in the pool at Ashley’s house, dead. With her best friend in the hot seat as a murder suspect, Carissa once again jumps into an investigation. Can she sort through the myriad of suspects to find the killer?
The plot started out strongly. Nigel was a jerk, and we got to see that before he splashed down. That only intensifies as Carissa starts her investigating, and we learn even more. The pacing was a little off in the second half, but not too bad, and the climax is weaker than I like, but those are minor issues overall. Everything did make sense when I put the book down.
And the reason those are minor issues is the characters. I hadn’t realized just how much I’d gotten to like the characters in the series until I picked up this book and started reading about them again. I was smiling as I watched them interact here. They are delightful, and their relationships are wonderful.
Of course, that wasn’t true of all of the suspects, although I did like a few of the new characters we met along the way. Others fell into the love to hate category. But they were developed enough to keep me guessing until the end.
At the end of the book, we get a recipe for an aromatherapy muscle rub and another one for a baked good.
It’s always nice to visit friends, and that’s just what Essentials of Homicide was. If you are looking for a fun cozy, you’ll be glad you picked this one up.
NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for stopping by. In order to combat spam, I moderate most comments. I'll get to your comment as soon as I can.