Rory Anderson wakes up one morning to the neighbor's dog barking in her backyard. After returning the dog, she goes to see what is the problem...and finds a finger sticking up out of her garden. After calling the police, she sees more of the body and discovers who the dead woman is. Hester Bouquet, her tole painting teacher. But it looks as if all the evidence points to Rory as the killer, and the chief of police is going to charge her even if she's not guilty, so she needs to find a killer fast.

But when a second body is discovered, the rush is on, because they're getting close to charging her, and it doesn't look pretty...

This is the first book in the series, and I do realize that it is an older book, but I do like to read them because they're not filled with author political views. That drives me crazy, unfortunately. But also unfortunately, this book just couldn't keep me interested. The only likeable character in the book is Rory. She's also the only one we know anything about. She's a computer programmer but never spends time doing anything, so I imagine she must have a healthy bank account.

There were so many questions -- what kind of a town does she live in that her neighbors would shy away from her when she had nothing to do with the past? Pretty overly-righteous and overly judgmental people, if you ask me. I also had to wonder at the chief, who was blaming a small toddler for something she had nothing to do with so many years ago. Just sayin'

Detective Green seemed off, too. He started out okay, but then just seemed to be a shell of a man going about his day and not even caring -- very unemotional. I realize cops have to be impartial, but this guy was almost robotic. Her mother didn't seem to care about anything that was happening to her daughter, either.

I knew the murderer the minute that person stepped on the page. It wasn't hard to decipher, but I did look toward the end to see the reason why and how the climax was going to come about (I just couldn't finish this book; sorry; so I did move forward). At any rate, the ending was fine, and there was some resolution to a couple of things, but I will read the next in the series to see if it improves.

This was an enjoyable book. I enjoyed the characters. The dialogue set the pacing. The plot was tightly woven to keep me interested in all aspects in the telling of this drama.

This was a cute cozy mystery and I will definitely check out more of the series. I enjoyed that there wasn't a romance with the detective, especially while Rory was being investigated for the murders, though it seems Rory would definitely been interested in one. The reason I didn't give it more stars was, I was thoroughly confused by the mention of a previous mystery that Rory was involved with, I thought I had picked up the wrong book for the start of the series. After finishing and verifying that this was indeed the first I started looking for a novella or something, but couldn't find anything. Hopefully this all gets cleared up in the next books or a novella, but that was definitely confusing.

This first In series is a winning cozy mystery. I loved the protagonist Rory . The author portrays her very realistically with faults and family history. It is this past that makes her a suspect when a body turns up in her garden. A tense relationship with the police chief makes her suspect and she is determinedly set on clearing her name. The sleuth was very well crafted. The location and characters are delightful. A great start to a fun series.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Rory Anderson is a computer programmer that works from her home in sunny California. As a hobby she enjoys tole painting. Sounds like a quiet idyllic life to me. But when a body is found buried in her garden things become chaotic as Rory is a suspect trying to clear her name.

This was an interesting debut. Rory has a past that the author explains over the course of the story that makes her a very vulnerable main character. She spends a lot of time with her mother but their relationship felt a bit off until more of Rory’s past is revealed and things start to fall into place. At first I thought maybe I missed a novella or a previous story in this series but after double checking found that was not the case I soldiered on. I feel if her past would have been addressed in full at the beginning the flow of the book would have been better and not so choppy.

Disregarding the flow, the theme and substance of the mystery was enjoyable. Painting instructor, Hester Bouquet, killed, but by who? The author gives a several viable suspects, and I had both of my prime suspects cast aside when additional facts were revealed. The police seemed determined Rory was the killer, what they lacked in evidence was trumped by the location of the body and they seemed satisfied. We do learn why the police chief is so determined to prove Rory guilty rather than really investigating the crime, but I really didn’t like him as a character from the start. Thankfully Rory kept digging and digging to prove him wrong. She does hold things back from him and was not always forthcoming but that is just a normal part of cozy mysteries.

I always say first books in a series are difficult because the author has a heavy lift, introducing the characters and giving us a mystery that grabs us and holds us to the last page. While the character introduction was a bit murky at first, the mystery was skillfully composed. The description of the setting, Vista Beach, was pleasing as well.

Now that I have gotten to know Rory’s backstory I am really looking forward to the next book in this series, Paint the Town Dead, which I plan to read very soon as the 3rd book in the series, A Palette for Murder is being released at the end of the month.