Title: Something Buried, Something Blue by Wendy Corsi Staub
Lily Dale Mystery Series Book Two
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Supernatural Elements
Length: 304 pages
Book Rating: B+
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley
Summary:
New York Times bestselling author Wendy Corsi Staub is back with the second in her critically-acclaimed cozy mystery series.
After agreeing to stay in Lily Dale through the winter as caretakers of the Valley View Guesthouse and its feline residents, widowed mom Bella Jordan and her son Max are looking forward to the peaceful off-season after a hectic summer. That is until the medium next door, Odelia Lauder, recruits Bella to host a destination wedding for the world’s most petulant bride, Johneen Maynard, a friend of Odelia’s granddaughter.
Things take an even more stressful turn as the wedding day looms amidst an October blizzard, when suddenly the Spirits start giving Odelia a major heads up that the bride might be fated for death. And if there’s any truth to her premonitions, the wedding is off—and that’s the least of their problems.
It’s a race to figure out who would want to kill Johneen before her attacker has a chance to strike in Something Buried, Something Blue.
Review:
Something Buried, Something Blue is the second installment in Wendy Corsi Staub’s Lily Dale Mystery series featuring innkeeper Isabella “Bella” Jordan. This cozy mystery has slight supernatural elements and features a cast of eclectic yet charming characters and while it is the second book in the series, it can be read as a standalone.
Having fully committed to remaining in the Spiritualist community with her young son Max, Bella reluctantly agrees to put together a destination wedding for a friend of her neighbor and friend, Odelia Lauder. Johneen Maynard and her fiancé Parker Langley have been searching for an out of the way place for their upcoming nuptials and Lily Dale turns out to be the perfect place for their big day. Unfortunately, Johneen is a bit of a Bridezilla but Bella and Odelia organize a lovely ceremony for the couple. However, Odelia soon begins receiving rather ominous messages from her Spirit guide that seem to indicate that Johneen could be in danger and Bella is concerned about an impending storm that threatens their plans for an outdoor ceremony. She becomes even more frazzled when her overbearing mother-in-law unexpectedly arrives and Odelia is a no show for last minute wedding preparations. Bella breathes a sigh of relief once the couple exchange their vows but is Johneen truly out of danger? Who (or what) is responsible for the strange occurrences that have been plaguing the Valley View Guesthouse since the wedding party’s arrival? Bella is determined to find out the truth but will she inadvertently put herself in harm’s way as she searches for answers?
Once again, Bella is out of her element but she rises to the challenge of planning the upcoming wedding. She is hoping a successful wedding will provide a way for the guesthouse to make some much needed revenue during Lily Dale’s off season so she works hard to satisfy her unpleasant bride to be. Bella is still rather skeptical of the townspeople’s psychic abilities, so she tries to come up with rational explanations for Odelia’s foreboding messages about the upcoming ceremony. After the guests arrive, she is so focused on the last minute details that she is convinced she is imagining some of the odd things she has been experiencing. Bella is also trying to figure out what is behind Millicent’s sudden visit and surprisingly, her mother-in-law’s misgivings about her new friends raises a few suspicions of her own in the aftermath of the wedding.
Something Buried, Something Blue is a perplexing addition to The Lily Dale Mystery series. Aided by a little psychic intuition and some good old fashioned detective work, Bella uncovers the truth about the mysterious events and Wendy Corsi Staub brings the novel to an exciting, pulse-pounding conclusion.
