A Body To Spare
Odelia Gray Mystery, Book #10
By Sue Ann Jaffarian
ISBN 9780738718866
Author Website: http://www.sueannjaffarian.com/
Brought to you by OBS Reviewer jerjen
Synopsis:
Odelia Grey’s relaxing day of errands is ruined when she finds a body folded like an origami crane in the trunk of her car. And it’s not just any dead body—it’s the corpse of Zak Finch, a young man who had been kidnapped eight years earlier. But why was he put in Odelia’s car? Where has Zak been all these years?
With her name at the top of the suspect list, Odelia and her husband, Greg, are determined to find the answers. They’ll do whatever it takes, even if they have to give the slip to an arrogant FBI agent and team up with Mother, a contract killer, to uncover the truth. (Goodreads)
Review:
Odelia and her mother are at a car wash, waiting for her car to be finished, when suddenly people start screaming around her car. When she goes to see what the commotion is about, she sees that there is a dead naked man in her trunk. She has no idea who he is or how he got in there. With the help of her husband, Greg, and her brother, Clark, they figure out who the victim is. Turns out that the body is that of a young man who had been kidnapped many years ago. Odelia has no connection to the dead man, and does not know why her car was the one the body was in. When the media finds out about the identity of the mam, Odelia will find herself thrown in the the media frenzy, something she does not want to happen. It will take all of her sleuthing skills and the skills of her friends to get to the bottom of the mystery.
The characters are well developed, well rounded and three dimensional. I really enjoyed meeting all of them and spending time with them. I loved the fact that Odelia is a plus size older woman. So many of the heroines in the cozies I read are young, fit and gorgeous. It was so refreshing to read about someone that did not fit into that stereotypical mold. I thought it was so funny when she described how she felt after she jogged for a bit, I could relate to that completely. I could just picture her, hands on knees, bent over, gasping for air because that is exactly what I would look like. I also liked the fact that Odelia does not do things spur of the moment and put herself into unnecessary danger. That is not to say she does not find herself in a perilous situation, because she does, but it really is not her fault. I also like her husband Greg. Although he is wheelchair bound, he is still a strong person and is fully prepared to take care of Odelia and her mom. And he is not constantly telling her to stay out of things and mind her own business. Instead they work together to come up with a plan to figure the mystery out.
The mystery is well plotted and carried on throughout the entire book. I enjoyed the way a mystery from long ago was intertwined with the current mystery, I thought it was very clever. I thought I had the mystery figured out but I was only half right.
The writing style flows smoothly and the book is an easy read. The author is very talented in her descriptive writing and through much of the book, I felt like I was right there watching all the action going on around me. She is also very talented in writing humor into her work. There are many funny parts in the book that had me laughing out loud. Odelia’s mother is quite quirky and her antics were fun to read about. To be truthful, I would not have even cared if there was no mystery in this book because I enjoyed reading about Odelia and Greg so much.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well crafted mystery with characters that you will love. I have not read any of the other Odelia Gray Mysteries but I plan on reading all of them. If I could give this book more than five stars I would, that is how much I enjoyed it. Do yourself a favor and check out this series, you will definitely be glad that you did.
