Cinnamon Roll Of A Cozy Mystery

If you’re a fan of teen detectives, you should absolutely get to know Goldie Vance. This is a delightful new series based on the Goldie Vance graphic novels–if you’ve read them, all the characters you love are here with all new mysteries, and if you’ve never read them, you are in for a real treat! This is the second original novel, and I will say that if you like character development and don’t mind the mystery starting at the halfway mark, start with the first book, Goldie Vance: The Hotel Whodunit (Review), but if you need the mystery from the beginning, and a fast pace, start with this one–you won’t be lost, I promise.

This is a fun book set at the Florida beach resort where Goldie Vance works as a valet, but really she shadows the in-house detective and is always solving a mystery. Her parents are divorced–her dad manages the hotel, and her mom is a performing mermaid (!!)–her best friend also works at the hotel, and she’s finally asked out the girl she has a crush on and has a date set. But when a magician’s convention comes to the hotel, Goldie is forced to move her date to the convention and solve the mystery of who is stealing the magicians’ items–plus, deal with a pesky newcomer determined to solve it himself. Or annoy Goldie to death.

A first date, magic tricks, friendship, mystery, chaos, and a determined teen detective who lets nothing stand in her way of solving a crime adds up to a fun book to curl up with. I’m very much looking forward to there being more in this series.

This is a cinnamon roll of a cozy mystery and absolutely what I needed to read while ending 2020. It’s about a lovely couple, Valor and Bishan, in an English village who find a dead body in their garden. Naturally, one of them is the suspect (Bish)–especially, since the body ends up being a former schoolmate of the couple.

Now Valor needs to figure out who would put a dead body in their garden to frame Bish, while Bish sits in jail. Complicating matters–like it’s not already complicated–is that jail is even more difficult for Bish who is autistic, and Valor comes with all the family drama, being the son of a Countess and Earl. Valor even suspects that one of the family members he no longer speaks with is involved. Oh, and add in a zany neighbor with a billion frogs and Bish’s sweet family for this entertaining and gentle mystery. If you’ve been watching a lot of gentle reality shows lately, this will give you that same feeling.

It’s only 130-ish pages, a novella, that ends on a cliffhanger so have the sequel handy or do a mad muttering in the middle of the night as you quickly purchase the second, like me.