Book 101, 2019

[chez_jae]

Blood Will Tell by Mary Bowers

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



About half an hour ago, I finished reading Blood Will Tell by Mary Bowers. It's book #10 in her "Tropical Breeze" mystery series, starring Taylor Verone and her unusual cat, Bastet.

The gated FL community of Santorini, where Taylor's friend Edson Darby-Deaver lives, is quiet and cozy...until the day that Willa Garden's overbearing cousin, Harriet Harvey Strawbridge, arrives. Harriet just steamrolls poor, unassuming Willa, barging her way into the mansion that Willa inherited from her estranged aunt and acting like she owns the place. Edson, who harbors a tendre for Willa, is so distraught that he considers marrying Willa, just to protect her from Harriet.

Not even Taylor is safe from Harriet's machinations. Harriet offers $2,000.00 for Taylor to host one of her Mystery Dinners...in the middle of the week. Taylor would like to refuse on principle, but that's a lot of money she can use for her animal shelter, Orphans of the Storm. When Harriet has an allergic reaction at the dinner, it is Willa who discovers she deliberately ingested something to make herself sick, at which point, Harriet is accused of trying to launch a lucrative lawsuit. Thwarted for the moment, Harriet leaves, stiffing Taylor for the bill.

That night, Harriet is murdered in her bed.

Taylor is once again reluctantly drawn into an investigation when Willa claims to now be seeing ghosts in her own home. Unfortunately, Bastet does not seem interested in lending a paw, and it's up to Taylor to find out who the killer is before someone innocent ends up getting arrested.

There were a lot of intriguing twists and turns in this story. One of the biggest was the solution. I wasn't satisfied with it, but that's my subjective opinion.

Favorite lines:
♦ It seems like whenever I say, "Do I have to do EVERYTHING myself?" the answer turns out to be, "Yes." Every time.
♦ Whoever the designer was, he didn't know she was out there flashing his goods around or he would have hunted her down and stripped her.
♦ "She has the look about her. Doomed. She looks doomed."
♦ Everybody into the clown car.
♦ "The dreams I love the most are the ones where my pets from long ago come back to me. I feel like I've really had a visit from them, and for all I know, I have."

Overall, it was enjoyable. Still meh about the ending, though. Giving this one four stars.