Prose and Cons
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Young widow Bella Jordan investigates a mystery with a literary twist in this charming, magical small-town cozy mystery from New York Times bestseller Wendy Corsi Staub.
It’s been nine months since widowed mom Bella Jordan and her young son Max moved to Lily Dale, the quirky, close-knit New York community populated by people who can speak to the dead . . . if one believes in that kind of thing. Now she counts Valley View, the guesthouse she runs, as home and her psychic medium neighbours as friends. Even haughty, British Pandora, who used to own Valley View before her difficult divorce.
So when Pandora sweeps in, requesting an urgent tete-a-tete, Bella expects it to be another complaint about book club. It isn’t. Pandora airily reveals her elderly Auntie Eudora is taking a last-minute cruise from London to New York with her gentleman friend Nigel – and minutes later Bella is bemused to find she’s agreed to host them at Valley View free of charge.
Bella has enough on her plate: her son Max, their two kitties, a budding relationship with local vet Drew . . . not to mention this month’s book club pick to read. But when she begins to have suspicions about one of her new guests, she’s determined to uncover the truth for Pandora’s sake – even if it kills her first.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Staub's good-natured fourth Lily Dale mystery (after 2017's Dead of Winter), widow Bella Jordan, the manager of Valley View Manor, a guesthouse in Lily Dale, N.Y., "the world's largest center for the religion of Spiritualism," has to deal with some unusual guests. One morning, Bella's neighbor, haughty Pandora Feeney, charges into the Victorian manor demanding free accommodations for her Auntie Eudora and Eudora's traveling companion, Nigel, who will be arriving by ship from England the next day. As the former mistress of Valley View, Pandora maintains a proprietary interest in the place, though she lost it years ago in a messy divorce. Soon the ever-obliging Bella is pretending to be Pandora's servant in order to allow the woman to save face in front of demanding Eudora and smarmy Nigel. Meanwhile, there's been a murder at sea. The investigation takes a back seat to musings about Pandora's bad marriage, the love stories of other Lily Dale inhabitants, and Bella's quiet interest in the local vet. Cozy fans will enjoy the company of Bella and crew.
