Thoughts: This is a slightly different cozy in that the main character, Ellison, is rich. Very rich. She’s also firmly under her societal mother’s thumb, making sure that everything at her mother’s galas goes smoothly. But this time, things go very wrong. Not only does her aunt, Sis, show up unexpectedly and is shunted off to stay with Ellison, but so does Ellison’s sister. Then someone tries to kill Ellison. Multiple times. Which leads to cute cop Anarchy to move into Ellison’s carriage house to watch over her. Add to that, a dark family secret that could cause even more problems.

The characters are very-well written. I loved Ellison and how she handles everything. And the settings are nicely done. Plus the ending is satisfying – and a bit of a surprise. Never a bad thing with a mystery.

Recommendation: Though this is the third in a series, you don’t need to have read the first two to know what’s going on. And this is a stand-alone so it does actually come to a satisfactory conclusion. Recommended.

Disclaimer: I received a final and/or advanced reader copy of this book with the hope that I will leave my unbiased opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… My Opinions. I am posting this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

This one was so good! I'm glad I caved and continued on with the series.


The Walfords are one chaotic family. It's a good thing chaos makes for great story.

My only problem with this book was that it didn't have enough Hunter Tafft. I hope to see more of him in the next book.

All in all, it's a great read and I'm enjoying this series a lot.

This one had good family drama and a few semi-predictable but fun twists. I truly didn’t guess the murderer until the end, which was a first for this series.
The love triangle is becoming tedious but all in all another enjoyable cozy mystery.

This one was so good! I'm glad I caved and continued on with the series.


The Walfords are one chaotic family. It's a good thing chaos makes for great story.

My only problem with this book was that it didn't have enough Hunter Tafft. I hope to see more of him in the next book.

All in all, it's a great read and I'm enjoying this series a lot.

Quick, fluffy read

This is the first book I’ve read in the series, and will definitely be my last. The story itself was interesting, but I did not like most of the characters. Ellison is very judgmental of, well, everyone, and is very privileged (one line is “taking on a houseguest without a housekeeper sounded like a recipe for disaster.” Like doing things herself is a horrid idea. She also throws expensive brand names around a lot). Her sister is extremely entitled and very self-centered. But the mother, oh man, definitely a controlling see you next Tuesday. Everyone has to tip toe around her to avoid her wrath, and calling her out on her abhorrent behavior gets you in trouble. While it appears there might be some changes to some people’s behaviors by the end, there’s absolutely no way I could sit through the first two books to catch up (because there’s lots of references to things that happened in the first books with very little of them being explained. Most book series I’ve read would give you a quick wrap-up for those who start partway through, but that barely happened in this book).

I might consider reading some other series by this author because there were jokes and sarcasm that I enjoyed, and I liked the story itself, but I found too many of the characters insufferable in this to read more of this series. I’m very glad I don’t have people like this in my life.