One of my favorite new series discoveries of this year has
been Amy Patricia Meade’s Marjorie
McClelland Mysteries. The series
itself is not new, but since I just found it recently I consider it to be
new! I devoured the first two books, and
was so excited to start the third, Shadow
Waltz. First, let me tell you a few
things that make this series so enjoyable for me. I love that there is a strong, female lead,
who is smart, funny, independent and confident.
But I also love that Marjorie is a woman, and that she isn’t shy about
it. She’s not above using her feminine
wiles to get the information she needs to solve a case. And solve the cases she does. While her fiancé, Creighton, and her ex-fiancé,
Robert, are intelligent and do find clues and do a lot of legwork, Marjorie ultimately
solves the mystery. I love the humor in
these books! I never fail to get a good
laugh form the messes Marjorie gets herself into. This time it just happens to be getting her
foot stuck in a toilet and flooding a house.
As usual, Creighton is there to rescue her. In this book Creighton and Marjorie are planning
their wedding, with help (both wanted and unwanted) from Mrs. Patterson and
the townspeople. It was so hilarious as
the ideas became more and more ridiculous and Creighton and Marjorie struggled
to be kind, even when the ideas weren’t necessarily what they had in mind. I also love the new dynamic between Marjorie
and Creighton now that they are engaged.
While their disagreements have always been a highlight, their new
lovey-dovey attitude is funny in its way, too.
Shadow Waltz is different from the first two books in the
series. All of the books contain murders,
but this one was darker and more sinister than the others. It all begins when a young wife, Elizabeth
Barnwell, comes to ask Marjorie to find
her missing husband, Michael. He
disappeared several days before, leaving her alone with her young son. Marjorie and Creighton agree to take the
case. While searching for the missing
husband, they come across the dead, mutilated body of a young woman. All the clues seem to indicate that the young
woman was Michael Barnwell’s mistress.
As Creighton, Marjorie and Detective Jameson dig deeper into the case,
some things just don’t add up. When
another young woman is murdered, and Marjorie is shot, the mystery only gets
deeper. Did Michael Barnwell kill his
pregnant mistress? Or was she murdered
by another ex-lover because she accused him of killing his wife? Was Marjorie the intended target, or did she
just get hit by a stray bullet? The
answers totally blew me away! There is a
twist at the end of this book that I never saw coming. This may be my favorite Marjorie McClelland
yet!
Marjorie and Creighton just keep
getting better and better, but I did find the methods used in this book to be
the most unbelievable so far. I don’t
think that a situation where a policeman makes a bet with two civilians about
who can solve a case first is very realistic.
And I find it highly doubtful that three trained policemen would stand
by and allow a civilian to enter a house to question a suspect. However, with these things aside, I think the
author does a great job of allowing Marjorie to be the one who ultimately
solves the case. I am so excited to read
the fourth book in this series, Black
Moonlight. All four books in this
series are currently available from Amazon, and trust me, you want them all!
Happy Reading!
Lyndsie
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own and a favorable review was not required.
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