"Message in the Mantle" By Kathi Daley: Review/Giveaway

by Kathleen Costa

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win an ebook copy of this book, and a link to purchase it from Amazon.

Her Own Silver Lining

Abby Sullivan has turned extremely tragic events into a fresh start. She moved from California to Maine, taken ownership of an old mansion overlooking the sea, and is renovating it into a B&B worthy as a premier destination. Her fresh start as a resident of Holiday Bay has her turning friends into a new family: Georgia as the Inn’s manager, Velma at the local café, Lonny as the lead in the renovations and his wife Lucy, Chief of Police Colt Wilder, and Rufus the cat. Although the house seems to be providing many mysteries to solve as she stumbles on boxes, letters, and messages, she is also discovering murder and mayhem.

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Message in the Mantle earns 5/5 Secrets Galore...Engaging Fun!

With such an old house, it is necessary to have real experts completing the renovations. Lonny hires just such an expert to refurbish the living room's mantle. They discover the mantle may have been carved by Samuel Garrison, a famous eighteenth-century craftsman. Researching a similar mantle, Georgia finds he always added a secret compartment to his work. They fantasize about secret messages between patriots, revolutionaries, and star-crossed lovers. While searching for providence on the mantle and solving its mystery, life continues...Colt may have found the perfect house to buy; the catch is the house is the scene of a suspicious death, and Abby continues to receive emails from her husband's former colleague who seems oddly determined to find a specific police file, something her late husband may have in his possession; the catch is Internal Affairs is involved. Mystery. Mayhem. Murder.

This third book in Kathi Daley's The Inn at Holiday Bay series is loaded with mysteries to uncover keeping readers turning the page. The primary mystery of the "message" in the mantle reveals a very intriguing centuries-old puzzle that ends with a delightful surprise. The other two mysteries, a suspicious death and issues in Abby's late husband's police investigations, have somewhat of a conclusion, but no "gotcha" excitement. Using a first-person narrative from Abby's perspective sharing her inner thoughts, the scenarios and theories are discussed and tweaked to match the facts discovered, but often some of the information is found "off camera" or indirectly. Relationships continue to grow and Abby is finding her place in the community and close friendships the perfect remedy for a shattered heart. Newbies can join us fans with book three, but I suggest starting at the beginning since so much has been built on through the series. Enjoyable series!

ALERT! The next book in this series is set to release on June 18. Answers in the Attic brings in a great, great, great relative of the original owner of the estate she's remodeling along with more mystery offered up by the house.

Be a Big Kathi Daley Fan!
Kathi Daley has eleven different series offering something for every cozy taste including “fur” friends, close relationship between family and friends, and in some series, easy-to-follow recipes. She has a great social media community of fans and can be followed on Goodreads and BookBub. Sign up for her newsletter.

Facebook - Kathi Daley Books
Join the Club Kathi Daley Book Club
On the Web Kathi Daley Website
Blog - Random Thoughts and Meaningless Musings

To enter to win an ebook copy of Message in the Mantle, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line "mantle,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen May 25, 2019. If entering via comment please include your email address. You can read our privacy statement here if you like.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section in Kings River Life and in our mystery category here on KRL News & Reviews. And join our mystery Facebook group to keep up with everything mystery we post, and have a chance at some extra giveaways. And check out our new mystery podcast which features mystery short stories and first chapters read by local actors! One of our episodes features an earlier book in this series by Kathi Daley.

You can use this link to purchase the book. If you have adblocker on you may not be able to see the Amazon link:

Kathleen Costa is a long-time resident of the Central Valley, and although born in Idaho, she considers herself a “California Girl.” Graduating from CSU-Sacramento, she is a 35+ year veteran teacher having taught in grades 1-8 in schools from Sacramento to Los Angeles to Stockton to Lodi. Currently Kathleen is enjoying her retirement revitalizing hobbies along with exploring writing, reading for pleasure, and spending 24/7 with her husband.

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Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.