Publisher: Gemma
Halliday Publishing
Published: March
20, 2015
ISBN: 978-1508651734
Genre: Cozy
Mystery
Format: Ebook
Obtained via: Publisher
Reviewed by
name and email address: Gina Gina@loveromancesandmorereviews.com
FOUR HEARTS
Alex Jordan is living her own personal dream
as the owner of Finials and Facades Renovation and Restoration Services. Not the most common endeavour for a young woman,
but Alex is loving her career as a contractor flipping houses. But not just any houses. Her penchant is for Victorians, otherwise
known as Painted Ladies. All is going
pretty well until she purchases the stately Marlton House. Just as she wins the
auction on the property, local snob and real estate mogul Jack Condor rushes in
claiming he has rights to the property.
Alex stands firm and keeps her winning bid but before she can start on
her renovations there is a bit of a disruption.
Well not really a disruption as much as a really bad find—a dead body in
the bathtub. If it had been natural
causes it wouldn’t have been such a mess – in more ways than one. Oh no, he was shot. With no evidence, rhyme of reason for his
death the house is put off limits while the police investigate. Not such great news for Alex’s timetable.
Just when she thinks things cannot get any
worse, out for a walk the next day, she stumbles on yet another body. Fortunately this time it isn’t a dead body
but a rather hot looking blond haired, blue eyed male with no memory of how he
ended up in Danger Cove. Out of the
goodness of her heart—and never ending desire to match make Alex with a viable
young man, Alex’s grandmother Janiece invites the man they’re calling John (as in
Doe) to stay with them. But all with
John is not quite what it seems…is he a victim or a killer himself?
Meanwhile Alex’s friend, George, has let
her know he’s like to be a little more than just friends. While he has faithfully provided flowers from
his shop on a weekly basis to Janiece, he is much more than he seems. The question is, much more of what? What is he hiding behind his immaculate style
of dress and penchant for being there whenever Alex turns around?
THE SECRET
OF THE PAINTED LADY is the first book in
the new Danger Cove series. What is so
fun about this series is that each of the books is being written by a different
pairing of authors. THE SECRET OF THE PAINTED LADY is co-authored by Christina A Burke
and Elizabeth Ashby. These ladies do a
wonderful job of giving readers a seamless transition from one author to the
other. You really cannot tell where one
started and the other ended.
The town of Danger Cove is depicted as one
of those wonderful Pacific Northwest treasures where there are quaint shops and
a bit reserved yet still friendly people.
Readers are introduced to a few of the local businesses in book 1 and I
have to say the eateries had me wanting to take a trip there myself.
Victorians, or painted ladies, often have
their own little secrets and SECRET OF
THE PAINTED LADY certainly unveils a few. Setting a book in a Victorian not
only puts the story in a nice venue, it opens up the door for some great mystery
possibilities.
The characters are a fun lot – I have to
admit Smitty the parrot, was one of my favorites. At first George came across as an older
gentleman and a few times I wondered if he was gay – I had a bit of a time picturing
him while at the same time John was very easy to imagine.
In looking at the website it looks like
future heroes and heroines take center stage, but hope to see more of Alex as the series
continues. She’s just a great character
to read that I’d like to see where she does from here.
This is definitely a fun series you do not
want to miss.
If you are looking for an action packed
thrill ride with a great mystery, WOMAN
WITH A MYSTERY is definitely one to put on the top of your TBR.
This is an objective review and an endorsement of this
book.
