"The couple argue next door, the boy next door seems to know more than he is saying, and the murder victim's mother is missing. This first in a series of mysteries is set in a church, and features Ellie Quicke, a recently widowed woman who finds herself to be something of a sleuth."
My Thoughts:
This was such an enjoyable beginning to this new to me mystery series. I picked up this book after seeing a further book in this series on NetGalley and being intrigued. I decided to request it from the library and am now so glad that I did. Isn't it funny how we come across books sometimes? This was a delightful read and reminded me of the Faith Fairchild series by Katherine Hall Page that I adore. There is just a certain element to both of these series that I like. It is almost like they are a cozy mystery but without the usual things that you see in cozy series (like cats on the covers and puns for titles). I'm not even sure that I'm really explaining myself all that well but they just have that cozy vibe that I love.
In this book, Ellie Quicke is trying to deal with the very recent death of her husband. She has always let him make the decisions and she basically worked on being a good wife to him. Now she is finding and trying to figure out how to stand on her own two feet for the very first time in her life. I loved it! There was just something about reading about her working on coming into her own that I couldn't get enough of. I found that I was really rooting for her. She had a horrible daughter that I didn't care for that was trying to control her like her husband almost had. I spent the majority of this book really more focused on Ellie than the mystery itself. Don't get me wrong, I was also intrigued by the mystery but what became important to me very early on was Ellie herself. I just wanted to see her find happiness as well as learn how to stand up for herself. The mystery story line was just secondary for me to everything else. I liked the way that this book wrapped up and I find myself very eager to continue on with this series.
Overall, I really enjoyed my time with this book and these characters. It wasn't this mind-blowingly great mystery but the characters completely made this book stand out for me. Ellie is the main reason why I want to read more of this series. The way the author wrote her just brought her to life in a way that felt so real. I also enjoyed that there was a bit of humor thrown in throughout the book which just made it that much more fun to read. I'm super excited to continue on with this series and have already requested the second book from the library. Fans of Katherine Hall page should definitely give this book a try but I would also recommend this book to mystery fans in general. Recommended!
Bottom Line: A great and enjoyable beginning to this mystery series!
Disclosure: I checked out this book from my local library.
I haven't heard of this series before but it sounds promising. I like that cover too!
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