I’m not sure why I requested this book. Some vague memory that the characters had been kind of sweet in the previous book.

And the cover of this book is adorable, of course.

It’s a few weeks after the events of the previous book and the town of Larkspur is coming to grips with that and with their next event: a Fall Festival to put the town on the map. That is until some acts of vandalism and a dead body ruin the day.

The description sounded interesting, but I had a hard time getting into this book. Greta I remember, and that she had two coworkers, but I forgot who’s who. The narrative is not helpful in figuring it out. At some point someone wants to talk about men and Iris pales. The other women commiserate, but Iris’ backstory is not explained. I sometimes get annoyed when there is too much exposition, but here there is too little.

Rather than do a quick recap of Iris’ misfortune at the end of the previous book, the story takes the opportunity to let Greta explain why she ran away from her previous job. Sure, the other women know what happened to Iris, but the reader doesn’t (when reading as a stand-alone) or may have only vague memories (when having read the previous book about a year ago).

It’s not just this instance: the only character that gets a bit of a backstory is Greta. It’s almost like the author doesn’t even like the other characters and they are only there for the greater glory of Greta.

I like to decide for myself who’s going to be my favourite character in a book. And Greta is not likely to be it. Despite being the author’s favourite, the show and tell don’t line up.

At one point it is mentioned that Greta isn’t reckless by nature. What is shown is that when the lights go out at a banquet, Greta takes it upon herself to search for a circuit breaker, in the dark, in a building she doesn’t know, without a flashlight and while there are people around who do know the building and/or have flashlights.

There might have been a point if Greta was one of the organisers and she felt somehow responsible, but she was a volunteer to help set up and a guest speaker. There are a few more examples where Greta acts without thinking of the consequences (which is the very definition of reckless behaviour).



Despite that Greta told detective McHenry - who she is not comfortable calling Mark, though she insists he must call her Greta - that she would not investigate, she and her two co-workers have compiled a list of three suspects:

Stewart Diddle, who was rather vocal about not liking tourists in his town;
Abby Daniels, deputy mayor, who took over the tasks of the mayor rather eagerly;
Rex Rossman, a journalist, who was invited to write about the town for a tourist magazine.

There’s also Oliver Jacobson, but despite his assertion he will ruin Ed Kennedy, owner of holiday cottages by Larkspur Lake, he’s not considered a suspect. Nor is the stranger that Greta heard arguing with the mayor.

Greta does mention that argument to detective McHenry, but rather than grill her about all the details of what she overheard and saw, they discuss why the mayor chose to ignore the fact Greta might have overheard her arguing with a person. I guess he didn’t feel comfortable slapping his notebook on the table during lunch.

By the way, using a lunch date for a witness statement? If McHenry was half the professional the narrative suggests he is the conversation following Greta’s “Do you want to grab lunch?” would have gone something like this:
“Sure.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, but if you have something important to tell me about the murder I am currently investigating, let’s step into my office first. You can tell me all about it without being interrupted by waiters or other patrons. We can grab lunch when I’m done asking questions.”

The book picks up a little in excitement in the latter quarter.

I read an ARC through NetGalley.