Darned If You Do by Monica Ferris

Darned If You Do by Monica Ferris ISBN-13: 9780425270103 Hardback: 304 pages Publisher: Berkley Hardcover Released: February 3, 2015

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Book Description, Modified from Back Cover:
Betsy Devonshire, owner of the Crewel World needlework shop, will need all her wits to dig a new friend out of a heap of trouble. After a tree falls on Tom Riordan’s house, landing him in the hospital, the police discover a mountain of junk piled high in his home. Locals offer to help with the cleanup while Tom recuperates.

But when Tom is found murdered in his hospital bed, the sole heir to his property—his cousin Valentina—becomes the number one suspect. Betsy believes there’s more to the case than meets the eye, but finding clues to the killer’s identity in the clutter Tom left behind will be like looking for a needle in a haystack.


My Review:
Darned If You Do is a cozy mystery. It's the eighteenth novel in the series. You don't need to read the previous books to understand this one, and this story didn't spoil the previous mysteries.

The murder didn't actually happen until halfway through the book, but the storyline of the aftermath of a bad storm along with cleaning out a kleptomaniac's house was intriguing. This was a clue-based mystery. There weren't a lot of clues, yet I could still correctly guess whodunit and why. I liked that the heroine reasoned things through logically when considering the clues. She was a nice person and accepted basic safety measures when friends suggested them. The characters were engaging and generally behaved realistically.

There was no sex. There was some bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this interesting mystery.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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