**** Delightful humor supports this cozy mystery Review by Rox Burkey
Author Tonya Penrose immediately grabs her reader with a hidden, undiscovered mystery. She creates the exchange between Page and Betsy as two women who have tripped across strange behaviors in their past. The economized descriptions paint a picture of the location and characters.
Page owns a bookstore and is on a sojourn. Betsy is joining as a long-time friend. You get a sense of their previous exploits early on.
Betsy caught up with Page, bringing plenty more words with her. Short of breath, she managed to release a few of them. “Need I remind you of the promise?”
“Nope.” Page stepped behind a palm tree, pulling Betsy alongside.
Ignoring the nope, Betsy pressed on whispering, “You promised your buddy, Detective Larsen, that if he ran your bookstore for the summer, you’d stay out of mischief, and not even say hello to a cop at Shell Isle. That was your solemn promise, kiddo. And, this I know because he told me when I called to confirm you were at Hibiscus. And right now, this feels like mischief to me.”
“Shh. I know. I know, but you forget Larsen just retired and was bored out of his gourd.
The exchanges between the sleuth cousins is fast paced with a language all their own. Readers can sit on either character’s shoulder to hunt for the answers to the murderer. The clues and twists and turns keep you guessing until the unexpected but satisfying conclusion.
If you like cozy mysteries this one is a keeper. Even though this is my first foray into the work of this author, I am a fan. I recommend you pick up her story and get hooked on this series. I looked forward to Tonya’s next installment.
About the Author
As an author, Tonya’s moved by the effect humor and inspiration-driven narratives can have on readers. She is enthusiastic about crafting stories with beguiling characters, adding dashes of snappy humor, and engaging dialogue that leaves her fingerprint on each page.
When Tonya relocated to the mountains, she found fresh writing ideas waiting. From her favorite porch chair gazing at a tranquil lake, the nudge to scribe her first novel, “Old Mountain Cassie: The Three Lessons” came calling.
And from her beach chair, the idea for the new cozy series, Shell Isle Mysteries presented. “Baubles to Die For” and “Red, White, and Boom” is the second novel in the series.
“A Secret Gift” is a romantic romp that promises smiles, sighs, and secrets.
Tonya confesses new respect for a chair’s ability to motivate writers.
Her fiction and non-fiction stories are published in numerous anthologies, e-magazines, local press, and literary magazines. She’s listed in the Poets and Writers Directory. She chooses to write multi-genre fiction under the pen name Tonya Penrose.
Tonya invites readers to visit: https://tonyawrites.com
Follower her on Twitter and Facebook
2 replies to "Baubles to Die For (A Shell Isle Mystery Book 1)"
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this book, Rox! This is a new author to me!
Hi Jan, thank you for stopping by and reading my post.