A Hint of Mischief (A Fairy Garden Mystery) by Daryl Wood Gerber
About A Hint of Mischief
A Hint of Mischief (A Fairy Garden Mystery)
The proprietor of a fairy garden and tea shop in Carmel-by-the-Sea, Courtney Kelly has an occasional side gig as a sleuth—with a sprinkling of magical assistance. . . .
Courtney has thrown a few fairy garden parties—for kids. But if a local socialite is willing to dip into her trust fund for an old sorority sister’s fortieth birthday bash, Courtney will be there with bells on. To make the job even more appealing, a famous actress, Farrah Lawson, is flying in for the occasion, and there’s nothing like a celebrity cameo to raise a business’s profile.
Now Courtney has less than two weeks to paint a mural, hang up tinkling windchimes, plan party games, and conjure up all the details. While she works her magic, the hostess and her girlfriends head off for an indulgent spa day—which leads to a fateful facial for Farrah, followed by her mysterious death. Could the kindhearted eyebrow waxer who Farrah berated in public really be the killer, as the police suspect? Courtney thinks otherwise, and with the help of her imaginative sleuth fairy, sets out to dig up the truth behind this puzzling murder . . .
What I Thought:
This is the third installment in the Fairy Garden Mystery Series and I have read all three in this whimsical series. I love reading about the fairies in this series and how Fiona helping solve mysteries helps her earn her adult fairy wings. An acquaintance asks Courtney to host a fairy party for a sorority sisters birthday that includes a dozen or so more sorority sisters. Courtney finds it odd that an adult is requesting a fairy party put agrees. When one of the sorority sisters is found dead from being poisoned, Courtney starts asking questions. There is also a thief in the town that has everyone worried as well. And not to mention, someone is putting fairy doors all over town, so there are three mysteries in this one. This installment was just as charming as the other two. Courtney is such a great character. I also enjoy the lite romance in this one between Courtney and Brady. I also enjoy Courtney's relationship with her fairy, Fiona. There are several suspects and many twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. I thought several times I had the killer, figured out but I did not. Actually, all three mystery reveals were a surprise that I did not see coming. This was another well developed read by Daryl Wood Gerber and one series that I hope continues for a long time, as I will definitely be reading more in this series.
I received a complimentary copy of this book.
About Daryl Wood Gerber
Agatha Award-winning author Daryl Wood Gerber is best known for her nationally bestselling Fairy Garden Mysteries, Cookbook Nook Mysteries, and French Bistro Mysteries. As Avery Aames, she penned the popular Cheese Shop Mysteries. In addition, Daryl writes the Aspen Adams Novels of Suspense as well as stand-alone suspense. Daryl loves to cook, fairy garden, and read. She has a frisky Goldendoodle who keeps her in line. And she has been known to jump out of a perfectly good airplane and hitch-hike around Ireland alone. You can learn more on her website: httsp://darylwoodgerber.com
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>“Thief!” a woman cried outside of Open
Your Imagination, my fairy garden and tea shop. I recognized the voice. Yvanna
Acebo.
I hurried from the covered patio through our
main showroom, grabbed an umbrella from the stand by the Dutch door, and headed
outside, quickly opening the umbrella so it protected me from the rain.
“Yvanna, what’s going on?”
Yvanna, a baker at Sweet Treats, a neighboring
shop in the courtyard, was dressed in her pink uniform and standing at the top
of the stairs that led through the courtyard, hands on hips—no umbrella. She
was getting drenched.
“Yvanna!” I shouted again. “Were you robbed?
Are you okay?”
She pivoted. Rain streamed down her pretty
face. She swiped a hair off her cheek that had come loose from her scrunchie.
“I’m fine,” she said with a sigh. “A customer set her bag down on one of the
tables so she could fish in her purse for loose change. Before we knew it,
someone in a brown hoodie slipped in, grabbed the bag, and darted out.”
“Man? Woman? Teen?”
“I’m not sure.” Her chest heaved. “That’s the
second theft in this area in the past twenty-four hours, Courtney.”
“Second?” I gasped. Carmel-by-the-Sea was not
known as a high-crime town. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. We had suffered
two murders in the past year. Flukes, the police had dubbed them. “Where did
the other theft occur?”
“There.” She pointed to the Village Shops, the
courtyard across the street from ours. Carmel-by-the-Sea was known for its
unique courtyards. “At Say Cheese.”
“The thief must be hungry,” I said. Say Cheese
had a vast array of cheeses, crackers, and condiments. “Were you scared?”
“No. I’m miffed.” A striking Latina, Yvanna was
one of the most resilient women I knew. She rarely took a day off because she
had a family of six to feed—two cousins, her grandparents, her sister, and
herself.
“Call the police,” I suggested.
“You can bet on it.”
We didn’t have CCTV in Cypress and Ivy’s
courtyard yet. Maybe I should mention it to our landlord. I returned to Open Your Imagination, stopped
outside to flick the water off the umbrella, and then moved inside, slotted the
umbrella into the stand, and weaved through the shop’s display tables while
saying hello to the handful of customers. Before heading to the patio, I
signaled my stalwart assistant Joss Timberlake that all was under control.
“Do not argue with me!” Misty Dawn exclaimed.
“Do you hear me? I want tea. Not coffee. Tea!” Misty, a customer, was
standing by the verdigris baker’s racks on the patio, wiggling two female fairy
figurines. When she spotted me, she uttered a full-throated laugh. “You’re
back, Courtney. Is everything okay outside? Did I hear the word thief?”
“You did.”
“Hopefully nothing too dear was stolen.”
In addition to my business, the courtyard
boasted a high-end jewelry store, a collectibles shop, an art gallery, and a
pet-grooming enterprise.
“Bakery goods,” I said.
“And no one got hurt?”
“No one.”
“Phew.” Misty gazed at the figurines she was
holding. “I swear, I can’t get over how young I feel whenever I visit your
shop. It takes me back to my childhood, when I used to play with dolls. I’d
make up stories and put on plays. At one point, maybe seventh grade, I thought
I was so clever and gifted with dialogue that I’d become a playwright, but that
didn’t come to pass.”
Misty, a trust fund baby who had
never worked a day in her life, even though she had graduated Phi Beta Kappa
and had whizzed through business school, had blazed into the shop twenty
minutes ago, hoping to hire me to throw a fairy garden birthday party for her
sorority sister. In the less than two years that the shop had been open, I’d
only thrown three such parties, each for children.
“Let’s get serious.” Misty returned the
figurines to the verdigris baker’s rack, strode across the covered slate patio
to the wrought-iron table closest to the gnome-adorned fountain, and patted the
tabletop. “Sit with me. Let’s chat. I have lists upon lists of ideas.” She
opened her Prada tote and removed a floral notepad and pen.
Fiona, a fairy-in-training who, when not
staying at my house, resided in the Ficus trees fitted with twinkling lights
that surrounded the patio, flew to my shoulder and whispered in my ear. “She
sure is bossy.”
I bit back a smile and said, “The customer’s
always right.”
“How true,” Misty said, oblivious to Fiona’s
presence.
I thought
perhaps I should mention it to our landlord.
Melina, thanks so much. I'm thrilled you enjoyed the story and the series. I'm having a blast writing the stories.
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