A Glimmer of a Clue

May 3, 2021
In Agatha Award winner Gerber’s delightful sequel to 2020’s A Sprinkling of Murder, Courtney Kelly, the owner of Open Your Imagination, a fairy gardening shop in Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif., breaks up a brawl between her best friend Meaghan Brownie’s mother, Wanda, a prominent art representative, and Lana Lamar, a hypercritical art critic, outside the art gallery Meaghan part owns. According to Wanda, the fight started because Lana denigrated one of Wanda’s artists whose work was on display in the gallery. After Lana winds up stabbed to death at the Beauty of Art Spectacular benefit, Wanda is arrested because she’s found holding the murder weapon, a letter opener that served as a sword in one of Courtney’s fairy garden displays at the benefit. Courtney and her righteous friend, Fiona, a fairy-in-training on probation from fairy school, are determined to find the real culprit and free Wanda. Courtney’s cat, Pixie, lends a helping paw. Lively characters and plenty of action keep the pages turning. Paranormal cozy fans will have a ball. Agent: John Talbot, Talbot Fortune Agency.

May 1, 2021
A tale of perseverance, murder, and a sprinkling of magic in California. Courtney Kelly is the owner of Open Your Imagination, where she uses her background in landscaping to help customers create inventive fairy gardens. Carmel-by-the-Sea is a delightfully artsy town, but Courtney saw its dark side when she solved a murder with help from Fiona, a fairy-in-training who lives in her shop. Among the roses of her friends and clients is one thorn: Lana Lamar, art critic and fanatic pickleball player. Lana uses her wealth to bulldoze anyone who gets in her way, so it's no surprise when she ends up dead at a high-end fundraiser. Unfortunately, the woman found clutching the murder weapon is Wanda Brownie, mother of Meaghan, Courtney's bestie. Wanda's apparently sleepwalking, but that doesn't keep her from being arrested by Detective Summers, who's not a fan of Courtney's sleuthing. Ignoring him, she slowly works her way through the alibis and motives of a diverse group of people who cordially hated Lana, including her husband, a trainer at the gym where she was pickleball champ, and a woman whose husband was killed in an accident she caused. Courtney's secret weapon is Fiona, who can eavesdrop and enlist other fairies to help track down a killer. Even readers who aren't tempted to create a fairy garden may be enticed by the recipes appended to this appealing cozy.

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