I enjoyed the unusual setting (at least to me), It kept me intrigued. I really enjoyed it!

My review can be seen at RT Book Reviews

Live and Let Fly by Clover Tate is the second book in A Kite Shop Mystery series. Emmy Adler owns Strings Attached in Rock Point, Oregon. She is busy preparing her kite for the upcoming kite festival. Emmy needs to win for the publicity to help keep her fledgling shop open over the winter. Emmy is working on her kite when her sister, Sunny arrives unexpectedly and states she is moving in with Emmy. Sunny has quit college and wants to think over her options for her future. While drinking tea, Sunny manages to spill her cup and stain Emmy’s kite. Emmy heads to Brew House and sees Jack Sullivan talking with guest judge, Jasmine Normand. Emmy ends up causing a scene. The next morning, Jasmine Normand is found dead, and Emmy is a person of interest. Business at Strings Attached takes a nosedive, so Emmy sets out to find Jasmine’s killer. When not busy with her investigation, Emmy starts working on a new kite for the competition. Unfortunately, Sunny ends up burning a hole in it. Maybe the third one will be a winner. Can Emmy find the culprit before the competition begins? Does she stand a chance of getting a kite finished in time with Sunny around?

Live and Let Fly is the second installment in A Kite Shop Mystery series, but it can be read alone. I like that Emmy makes unique one-of-a kind kites. Emmy, though, is bland and I did not like her interactions with Jack Sullivan (jealousy and overreacting when Jack wanted to discuss their relationship). Her sister, Sunny, outshines her throughout the story with her clumsiness, financial advice, and gregarious personality. I found the novel to be slow paced and lacking in action. There was a lot of time devoted to walking, eating, and talking. There is a little action towards the very end of the book. I am giving Live and Let Fly 3 out of 5 stars. The mystery has more than one component and is slightly complex. Most armchair sleuths will have no problem figuring out the solution. I was never drawn into Live and Let Fly. It is one of those stories that I read, but my mind was never fully engaged. I felt that the author did not fully develop her world or characters. Cozy mystery readers who enjoy light, humorous stories will enjoy reading Live and Let Fly. There is humor, romance, a mystery and beautiful kites in Live and Let Fly.

Live and Let Fly: A Kite Shop Mystery
By Clover Tate
Berkley
December 2017

Review by Cynthia Chow

After opening her dream shop in Rock Point, Oregon just the previous summer, Emmy Adler is pinning all of her hopes on the upcoming annual kite festival to boost her through the slow winter. It means competing against Sullivan’s Kites, but Emmy believes that her handcrafted designs are far more artistic than Jack Sullivan’s aerodynamically engineered ones. Emmy and Jack dating one another adds an element of friendly rivalry, but even he doesn’t know just how much Emmy’s business depends on the promotional value of winning. It explains Emmy’s irrational explosion upon seeing Jack’s flirtation with the reality show guest judge, but it’s a jealous reaction Emmy soon regrets. For even though Jack is willing to forgive and forget, it certainly doesn’t look good when the female target of Emmy’s ire turns up dead.

Jasmine Normand had grown up in Rock Point, but it was on the reality dating show “Bag That Babe” where she gained dubious fame. Her return had attracted both social media and tourists, further dividing the town between residents and the visitors who were forcing change. Jasmine’s death is quickly blamed on the one who most aggressively opposed the influx of newcomers, but Emmy has her doubts. As Emmy becomes desperate to ensure the success of both the festival and her participation in it, she must dodge a tabloid reporter who isn’t above a little extortion (which, he clarifies, is different than straight out blackmail).

This second in the series showcases an enviable setting readers would love to visit, no matter how much long-timers might resent their presence. The contention between residents and tourists is vividly depicted, with business owners wanting the money but not their continual presence. Proving to be an unexpected delight is Emmy’s black sheep sister Sunny, who has dropped out of her liberal college to pursue her dream of accounting. With two parents who are the definition of Reiki-practicing hippies, Sunny’s decision to drop Feminist theater and Fermentation and digestive health will not go down well. In any other instance a clutz-prone, college drop-out sister couch surfing would be irritating, but in this case Sunny proves instrumental both in solving the mystery and saving Emmy’s shop. Readers will want to join Emmy’s family as much as they will want to move to Rock Point, which makes waiting for the next in this series that much more unbearable. Clover Tate’s kite-themed mystery can’t sail into books soon enough.