Happy Friday! Hard to believe it is December already! The Pattern Artist by Nancy Moser is now out and available on Amazon. It is about the life of Annie Wood and her determination to improve her lot in life. It is a historical novel and a lovely way to spend a winter afternoon.
Shades of Wrath by Karen Rose Smith is the sixth book in A Caprice De Luca Home Staging Mystery. Caprice is a home stager and interior
designer in Kismet, Pennsylvania.
Sunrise Tomorrow, a women’s shelter started by Wendy Newcomb, has just
inherited the Wyatt estate. Sunrise
Tomorrow will now be able to provide long-term housing in this new
facility. Wendy has asked Caprice to
submit design ideas for the space.
Caprice goes to meet Wendy at the Wyatt mansion and finds her dead in the
entry with the balustrade broken above.
Wendy had called Caprice the previous evening asking for Detective Brett
Carstead’s phone number and mentioned blackmail (and now she is dead). Caprice, of course, starts investigating to
find out who would have wanted to hurt Wendy.
Caprice gets a call from Roland Vaughn of Vaughn Contracting. Roland builds homes in Maryland and is having
a televised contest. He has three new
model homes that need decorating. Caprice
and two other designers will each get a home to design. The viewers will vote for their favorite
design and designer. The winner will get
a contract for design three model homes (and could lead to more work after
that). Caprice cannot pass up this
wonderful opportunity and finds a way to fit in among her other work and her sleuthing. The romance between Caprice and Grant is
heating up now that Grant has resolved issues with his ex-wife (over the loss
of their little girl). There are also
some adorable little kittens that need a forever home, and Caprice knows the
person who can use two little balls of fluff in their life. Caprice has a full life and just the right
vintage fashion for each occasion.
Shades of Wrath is a chance to catch
up on the life of Caprice De Luca as well as her family and friends (and do not
forget the animals). While this is the
sixth book in the series, it can be read alone.
The author does provide the information the reader needs to enjoy the
book. We get updates on Vincent, Bella,
Nikki (Caprice’s brother and sisters) as well as her Uncle Dom. Nana dishes out advice to Caprice and Seth
(Caprice’s old love interest) stops by for a visit. Shades of Wrath is easy to read (the author
has a nice conversational style of writing) and has engaging characters (most
of them are in Caprice’s family). Karen
Rose Smith adroitly handles the sensitive subject of spousal abuse. I give Shades of Wrath 3.5 out of 5
stars. As with many of the cozy
mysteries I have read lately, the mystery was not the primary focus of the
book. The whodunit is like a supporting
actor in a television show (they are present, but they never get to be the
star). I believe most readers will be able to solve the crime (narrow list of suspects). The ending will make fans of the
series very pleased.
The other novels in A Caprice De Luca Home Staging Mystery series are Staged to Death, Deadly Decor, Gilt by Association, Drape Expectations, and Silence of the Lamps. You can follow Karen Rose Smith on Amazon and Facebook.
I want to thank you very much for visiting and reading my latest book evaluation. I sincerely hope each of you have a lovely evening. Make sure to find time to relax! I am off to eat dinner and then rest (I am still trying to get rid of this cold). Take care and Happy Reading!
Kris
The Avid Reader
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