Key Lime Killer

[cornerofmadness]

Key Lime Killer by Sharon Dunn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This wasn't a bad mystery but I will say the pacing felt off. It definitely feels like book 2 or 3 though looking through her backlist I don't see any others in this series. Regardless, this is a cozy set in Moss Hollow Georgia. Jillian has moved back from California to work in her grandmother Bertie's sweet shop. Bertie seems to be doing well and her and her sister (and Jillian) have a large home as well that will be the center of the antebellum ball as Moss Hollow is in the middle of a Civil War reenactment festival hoping to drive tourism to the town.

Too bad one reenactor falls over dead though it looks like natural causes. Sheriff "Gooder" does make a comment about oh look it's Jillian next to a dead body again making me think there are more books somewhere. Jillian doesn't think too much of it being busy with the festival and Candace a teenaged girl who comes and goes that she and Bertie are trying to give a job and help.

But then another reenactor is shot dead in front of Jillian drawing her into the mystery. And while Jillian and Bertie are just fine as characters here's where the pacing issues among others. Hunter (another reason to think there are others in this series) is the funeral director and the guy everyone is pushing Jillian toward. However he has to do something criminally stupid in order for the plot to work so that left me less than impressed.

The other issue is almost everything happens within the ball so there really isn't any sprinkling of clues or red herrings. It all happens at once and you most likely would never come up with the guilty party/motive on your own because there really wasn't a hint of it until the end and you have like 10 pages to go.

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