Connie Shelton’s book eight of the Samatha Sweet Mysteries was the best one yet for me. I’ve yet to enjoy a book in this series where I’m holding on to every single piece of information; for that reason, there will be spoilers.
The newlyweds have returned from their so-called honeymoon in Irland. Yet Sam feels she’s plenty of unanswered questions. How did her Great Uncle own the same old wooden box as her? Meanwhile, Beau discovers two inmates convicted of kidnap and murder of a young woman twenty years ago have had their convictions overturned and are now back in the community. The evidence that convicted the men was deemed inefficient – a confession from one implicating the other. Shortly after the two are released, the men have separately been murdered. While Sam juggles running her bakery, researching the origins of the old wooden box and breaking into her latest house. A mansion of a local business owner and the father of the victim’s best friend from twenty years back. Where does this leave the cold case? How does it affect this divided community?
You think, as the reader, you’ve worked out where each murder case will go, then Shelton adds a plot twist, and you need to come up with other suspects. While not everyone likes to play detective, I slip into the role, especially because I listened to this one via audio on shift at work. I don’t only do it with books; I do the same with movies and telly too.
I finished the whole book, by the way, on a single shift, more or less. That is a testament to Connie Shelton’s writing, and I can’t wait to start book number nine.