Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Jeanie

I thoroughly enjoyed this cozy mystery. It is 3rd in the series, and can be read as a standalone. After reading this, I want to read the others. The characters are interesting. The setting, Rock Point Oregon, sounds beautiful; the mystery is detailed and finely executed. I had no idea how much goes into designing a kite that looks amazing and flies superbly, much less how much goes into the actual cutting and sewing.

Emmy is living her dream, in a beautiful old home that houses Strings Attached, her kite shop, on the first floor, and her apartment on the second floor. She may not have furniture, but she has a view of the ocean that is the envy of this reader. The shop is successful for the brief time it has been open. She has known Jack for about six months. Jack is living his dream as the owner of his family business, Sullivan’s Kites. He isn’t Emmy’s competitor; much of what he sells are basic kite kits, or standard kites.

Emmy is expecting a magazine reporter who will interview her about her shop. It is a rainy morning, and there is a leak that she hopes she can afford to repair. Then there is The Scream. Emmy races down the steps, where Stella, her part time assistant, full-time friend, and a retired school teacher is a wreck. Stella found the body of a woman around the corner from the cash register when she arrived to work. Neither of them recognize the woman, but they can tell she was strangled, and immediately called the police.And the weird thing? Both front and back doors are bolted. They later learn the front door lock was picked from the outside, but there is no evidence of anyone actually leaving the shop – and how many burglars would lock it up again?

There is no ID on the woman, only a note in her handbag with the location of Emmy’s shop and time of the meeting with Emmy has with the journalist. They assume it was the journalist pending the medical examiner’s report and their investigation.

Some of Jack’s family is in town to visit him and meet Emmy, then go to the funeral of his Uncle Gus the next day. Included is his twin sister Claire, his cousin Dustin, and Matt, a neighbor of Dustin’s family hazelnut orchard. Jack leaves the next day for the funeral, and afterwards to go on a hike with his dad.

When the real identity of the woman is discovered, the shock rippling through Emmy, Claire, and Dustin is palpable. It leaves Emmy wondering if she really knows very much about Jack after all. As he is now the person of interest for the woman’s murder.

Emmy and her sister, Sunny, are very stable, hard-working ladies. Their parents are hippies who thought Sunny would follow their lifestyle…until she finds she is a financial genius and is on her way to an MBA. Emmy and Summer become much closer through the course of this mystery. Jack and his family get along well, overall. His twin sister Claire has had a thing for Dustin, their cousin, for several years. He was adopted by their aunt and uncle, so they are not related by blood; he is an engineer who became an inventor, earning millions from his designs. The characters are defined very well, as needed for their roles, and are overall very likable.

I really enjoyed this mystery; it is written very well. I actually enjoyed the animosity between Stella and Ace, the local plumber, tow truck driver, and handyman. While I thought their disagreements would result as they did, it didn’t seem so for a while. I appreciated seeing how small-town politics and elections can work. The mystery is finally-executed, with clues and red herrings and surprising plot twists. The person I thought was the bad guy through much of the novel I finally let off the hook; next I was onto who the real killer was – even if I wasn’t sure why. In a way I pitied the person, except for the murders, of course, and framing others, of course. The full resolution brought surprises despite my figuring out who the real killer was. I highly recommend this novel. The author’s skill at bringing together characters, oceanside setting, and a fresh, unique mystery make it well-worth the read.

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*

Another fun mystery in this series, I ended with a solid moment of the light clicking on and I liked the climax in the final few scenes with the murderer. Emmy is as delightful as always and I was happy to share another story with her.

Wuthering Kites: A Kite Shop Mystery
By Clover Tate
Berkley
September 2018

Review by Cynthia Chow

Every cloud seems to have a silver lining for Strings Attached kite store owner Emmy Adler. Her boyfriend Jack Sullivan’s uncle has just died, but his funeral means that Emmy has the chance to meet some of Jack’s family for the first time. The new home Emmy just bought may have sprung an unidentifiable leak somewhere in the roof, but the Victorian house also allows her to live just above her store and kite workshop. Unfortunately, the silver lining of a reporter from Sunrise magazine coming to Rock Port to interview Emmy for a profile precedes the cloud of the discovery of the woman’s body, inexplicably murdered inside the locked kite store.

Without the magazine profile to look forward to, Emmy has the chance to focus on meeting Jack’s aunt, twin sister, and cousin. The death of Gus Butler has left the state of his farm in flux, especially with a much younger wife involved and a neighbor interested in buying land for a winery. An alarming discovery, not to mention Jack’s kite charm being found next to the dead woman’s body, places him so high on the suspect list that even Emmy has a few seconds of doubt. Although the moment quickly passes, it means that when contemplating Halloween-themed kites Emmy must initiate her own investigation if she hopes to prove Jack’s innocence.

The tourist-centric Oregon town vividly comes alive in this third novel of the series, which has Emmy taking a break from designing her artistic as she instead becomes enmeshed in Jack and his family member’s lives. Perhaps investigating the alibis of her boyfriend’s closest relatives isn’t the best step to take in a new relationship, but Emmy knows that with inheritances involved blood is not always thicker than water. Keeping Rock Point lively is the contentious relationship between Emmy’s handyman and her friend Stella, unfriendly neighbors whose support of rival local politicians escalates into pettiness fought by loud music and possible vandalism. Emmy’s own family adds their own share of delightful moments, especially since their hippie background has her parents performing Watergate reenactments while her sister makes murder spreadsheets. An exciting conclusion off of Oregon’s coast delivers a satisfying and unexpected ending, while building promising future relationships for these charming Rock Point residents.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Emmy Adler owns kite shop Strings Attached and she is so excited that she is going to be interviewed by a big city reporter. That story should put her shop on the map and help her business grow. That is until someone is killed in her shop. It appears to be the big city reporter and the evidence has the police looking a Jack Sullivan, Emmy’s boyfriend, and her main competitor. Before long Emmy realizes something that quickly involves Jack’s whole family. Before Jack’s life goes up, up and away Ellie decides to clear Jack from suspicion and find the killer herself.

A murder in a locked kite shop, no sign of forced entry, who had keys? This is a very clever mystery. A big twist tips the mystery on its ear and opens up the suspect pool. This story was perfectly paced for me and I loved the way everything came together.

I really enjoy these character so much. Emmy’s father reenactment group was just too funny. The way everyone just goes along with it was so genuine. We all meet Jack’s family. All the core characters continue to evolve in realistic ways. There is still plenty of room for growth and more mysteries.

The Oregon coast setting is again wonderfully described. I have been to Oregon, but never the coast. It is a place I would love to visit. This literary trip was a great little getaway.

A great mystery with fun characters. A Perfect Escape. Let’s go fly a kite!!

Emmy Adler has just moved into the apartment above her kite shop. That's why she hears the scream when Stella, her part time employee, goes to open the store that morning. Stella has found a dead body in the middle of the shop's floor. Neither of the women recognize the victim, and the police aren't certain who she was either. Who could the victim be? Why was she in Emmy's locked shop in the middle of the night? And who killed her?

There are some fun twists to this mystery early on, but the pacing does lag a time or two before Emmy figures everything out. Once she does, we are in for a wonderful climax. I missed one or two of the series characters, but others were there to step in and keep us entertained. Naturally, the book has plenty of new characters, and they were well developed, making them good suspects in the case. One of the returning characters in this book does spoil some events from the previous book. I loved seeing this character again, but you might want to read book two in the series before you pick this one up. Unlike the first two in the series, this one is coming out as an ebook only, but fans of the series will be thrilled to see these characters again.