I had no idea this was a novella when it arrived courtesy of Netgalley, but it was a pleasant respite from my recent biblio fixation on suspense novels. Lynn Cahool returns us to South Cove as the community prepares for it's annual July 4th festival. Given the brevity of this story I don't want to give away any of the plot except to say that there's a death and Jill from Book's and More can't resist getting right in the middle of the investigation...again, much to the chagrin of patient boyfriend Greg. This story moves along at a good clip and while the ending isn't shocking, it's a little twist on they typical cozy mystery. The novella is an ideal length for a plane ride or short trip, particularly if you are e-reading. It's entirely self-contained, so if you skip this book you won't be left behind when you venture into the next full length novel. All in all this is a satisfying little morsel of mystery.

South Cove is getting ready for the fourth of July celebrations and Barry Gleason is going around checking out businesses to see they are up to code. Instead of this going smoothly he has stirred some fireworks of his own with threatening to close shops before the holiday. When a fire breaks out and Barry winds up dead Jill finds the whole thing suspicious and is determined to investigate to find out what's up. Will she figure it out in time? Or will the fireworks explode in her face?

This book was cute and fun to read as a novella it showed Jill investigating a murder and learning more about resident's of South Cove. Really was a fun 4th of July novella for anyone looking for a cute adventure for the holiday season!