Green Living Can be Deadly

Blossom Valley, Book# 3

By Staci MacLaughlin

ISBN# 9780758275028

Author’s Website: http://www.stacimclaughlin.com

Brought to You by OBS reviewer Mary

Synopsis:

Thinking green comes with the territory at the O’Connell Organic Farm and Spa in Blossom Valley, CA. But could a festival be taking things too far, especially when it leads to a fresh case of murder?

When Dana Lewis organizes her Green Living Festival, complete with free range fauna and tempting delicacies of tofu and tempeh, she hopes to inspire BlossomValley into reducing their carbon footprint. But for some participants, saving the planet should have come second to saving their skin, like green energy guru Wendy Stevens, just found dead in her invisible Prints booth. Now Dana needs to work fast to stop a killer from turning her big event into the next great environmental disaster…   (Amazon)

Review:

Dana meets her long-ago high school best friend, Wendy Stevens, who now runs a  successful green energy company, Invisible Prints, at the opening of the environmental festival she helped organize to promote the Blossom Valley organic farm and spa. Shortly after their reunion, Dana’s friend Kimmie runs screaming from Wendy’s tent after finding Wendy’s dead body. Kimmie, as usual, manages to make it all about her. It was rather laughable how she talked Dana into investigating while doing very little herself except to demand daily status reports. Dana convinces herself she needs to investigate because Wendy was her best friend and uses this as her entre to pester all and sundry.

I found myself looking forward to Detective Palmer’s appearances.  He managed to insert sarcastic wit, while often pretending not to pay any attention to Dana’s Nancy Drew antics. Unlike some cozy law enforcement officials, he wasn’t totally arrogant and obnoxious. She, differing from some amateur sleuths, did inform Palmer of the information she uncovered, mostly reported her whereabouts, and continually ignored Det. Palmer’s, her mother’s, and her boyfriend Joe’s admonitions to stay out of the investigation.  And, true to cozy formula, she left herself open to the murderer finding her alone and vulnerable. They never learn.

Several suspicious characters were thrown in the mix with very creditable motives for murdering Wendy, including a brother, a husband, and several unhappy investors. Dana plodding manages to find alibis for most of them but, as usual, overlooks some crucial clues.  Although I guessed the perpetrator early on, one of the other characters had me wondering for awhile if I could be wrong.

Back at the farm/spa, the manager, Gordon, appears to have had a personality makeover making Dana highly anxious. Zinnia, the spa cook, is still concocting outlandish dishes that no one wants to eat. Who would put up with  things like cod liver oil dressing and weed salad in the real world? I do like her occasional New Age spoutings as she brings calm to the otherwise hectic goings on.

In her personal life, Dana’s boyfriend throws her for a loop by asking her to meet his parents. Their relationship seems to be moving along. Meanwhile, her mother continues to recover from the death of her husband and spends more time with her boyfriend and her sister is as ditzy and boy crazy as ever.

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this book as I felt it was a little meatier than the first in the series. This is a good indication that the characters and mysteries are developing. Those who want a little bit of escapism, likeable characters, and a light mystery will certainly not go astray by taking time to read this one.