Maggie Dove's Detective Agency

Happy Black Friday!  I spent the day being lazy and reading The Whole Town's Talking by Fannie Flagg (loving it).  I was wondering if any of you have ever noticed the one thing that is in every Hallmark movie (I am not kidding).  If you enjoy the Hallmark movies, watch for a kitchen scene in which you will see a big, red canister of Folger's coffee.  I bet you will be looking!

Maggie Dove’s Detective Agency by Susan Breen is the second book in the Maggie Dove series.  Maggie Dove is a Sunday school teacher turned detective in Darby, New York.  Maggie is learning to be a detective by watching Detective Grudge videos with Helen Blake’s son, Edgar.  Helen is the third partner in the detective agency along with Agnes (the financial backer).  One day Racine Stern (from the wealthiest family in town) comes into the agency and asks Maggie to convince her sister, Domino (and her rock star husband, Lucifer) to not come home for a visit.  Racine will give Maggie $1,000 to complete the task.  Maggie turns down the offer much to Agnes’ dismay.  Domino arrives in town and Racine is not seen for two weeks.  Maggie goes to check on her, and Racine admits that Domino tried to killer her.  Racine fears for her life as well as that of her mother, Madame Simone.  Domino wants money (of course) and she refuses to leave until she gets it.  Racine wants Maggie to convince Domino to leave town (and is willing to pay a large sum of money).  Soon Racine starts acting strangely, and Maggie does not know what Domino has done to her.  Then Maggie hears that a big Halloween party is being thrown at the Stern mansion (the home no one else in town has ever been allowed in).  During the party Domino calls everyone’s attention to her at the top of the tower.  Then the guests see Domino plunging to her death.  Racine was near Domino before she fell (Domino pulled her up there).  Was it an accident or did Racine push her?  Maggie has her first real case.  She needs to find out what happened to Domino (because the town has decided that Racine is guilty).  Did a person push Domino to her death or was it something far more sinister?

Maggie Dove’s Detective Agency is a Christian cozy mystery.  The story is basically about good versus evil.  I found the book to have a slow pace, unoriginal mystery and uninteresting (and unlikeable) characters.  Racine and her mother are rude (I would not want to help either of them) and Agnes comes across as bipolar with her mood swings.   Maggie is not a warm main character.  The loss of her daughter has kept her from enjoying life for the last twenty years.  I had a hard time finishing this story.  Maggie Dove’s Detective Agency is a book of normal length, but it felt like it went on forever (and I just wanted it to end).  While Maggie Dove’s Detective Agency is the second book in the series, it can be read alone (we are given the needed information from the first novel and on the main characters).  I did find information repeated in the book especially about Maggie’s deceased daughter, Juliet (who died twenty years prior), Maggie’s profession as a Sunday school teacher and her age.   I give Maggie Dove’s Detective Agency 2.5 out of 5 stars (just not for me). I think Maggie became a detective just to play with all the spy toys she finds in catalogs and online (purchasing with Agnes’ money).  The first book in the series is Maggie Dove:  A Mystery.

Thank you so much for visiting.  I sincerely hope all of you have a great evening.  I will be back tomorrow to review another novel. Take care and Happy Reading!

Kris

The Avid Reader