Something Buried, Something Blue

August 15, 2016
Bestseller Staub’s charming second Lily Dale Mystery (after 2015’s Nine Lives) finds widowed Isabella Jordan and her five-year-old son, Max, settled in Lily Dale, N.Y., a spiritualist center. Her neighbors are eccentric but warmhearted, and Bella loves managing the Valley View Guesthouse. If the guesthouse can turn a profit in the off season, Bella hopes that she and Max will be able to live there permanently, so she agrees to host a destination wedding at the inn. But it will be hard to pull off the perfect outdoor wedding when her loathed mother-in-law unexpectedly shows up, a blizzard is brewing, and a spirit guide is warning Bella that something is sorely amiss—not that Bella believes in that sort of thing, or so she tells herself, until the bride turns blue and collapses. Perhaps it was heart failure, or perhaps there’s a murderer in the house. A touch of the paranormal, a hint of romance, and a sweet and sympathetic protagonist will lure readers to enchanting Lily Dale again and again. Agent: Laura Blake Peterson, Curtis Brown.

Turning an upstate New York bed-and-breakfast into a destination-wedding spot is made even harder by a troublesome bride whose life may be in danger.Young widow Bella Jordan is just getting the hang of running the Valley View Guesthouse in the little town of Lily Dale when her friend and neighbor Odelia suggests the two get into the wedding business. Odelia's granddaughter has a friend who's looking for an out-of-the-way place for her upcoming nuptials, and Lily Dale fits the bill. Never mind that Lily Dale is also a spiritualist hub, with many residents claiming to have a connection to the psychic world. The bride, Johneen Maynard, is more focused on the flowers than the town's history. Her fiance, Parker Langley, is marginally more personable, though when the two descend on Lily Dale, they threaten to overwhelm the normally calm Bella and her young son, Max. Having supplied the idea, Odelia leaves Bella on her own when it comes to the execution. Well, perhaps not completely on her own: she has the help of local veterinarian Drew Bailey. Although Drew, with whom Bella is only recently on a first-name basis, is helpful when it comes to Bella's cat, Chance, and her many kittens, Bella isn't sure that he can do much to alleviate wedding stress. And although Odelia means to help, the only concrete step she takes is to antagonize the bride when she delivers a message from the spirit world that Johneen may be in danger. Matters are only made worse with a surprise visit from Bella's mother-in- law, who's determined to drag Bella and Max off to Chicago. By playing down Lily Dale's residents, Staub misses an opportunity to flesh out more of Bella's everyday life (Nine Lives, 2015). But the introduction of more ongoing characters is a rousing success. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 1, 2016

Isabella Jordan and her son, Max, have agreed to stay in Lily Dale, NY, and care for the Valley View Guesthouse at the behest of the owner. It's the end of tourist season, and Lily Dale, home of the spiritualist movement, is dead in the fall and winter. Then Bella's next-door neighbor Odelia Lauder persuades Bella to host a destination wedding for a friend. Johneen Maynard is a bridezilla of the first degree and as the wedding looms, the spirits begin to tell Odelia that fate is about to intervene. As a blizzard ramps up and a murder attempt is made on Johneen, Bella is caught in the house with a killer. VERDICT In this charming sequel to Nine Lives, Bella is doing her best to recover from her husband's death and make a new life for her son. Some days she feels stronger than others. Anyone who enjoys Nancy Atherton's "Aunt Dimity" mysteries will be drawn to this cozy.

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