'For Natalie Barnes, the flurry of trendy artists setting up shop on Cranberry Island promises to be the perfect recipe for relaxing and enjoying the holiday season. But Natalie's good luck is turning out to be a stroke of misfortune for her niece, Gwen.
The local gallery's new owner hates Gwen's paintings, and her mentor Fernand is too distracted by a competing artist to help Gwen improve her style. When Natalie finds Fernand dead, seemingly the victim of suicide, she can't believe someone who had so much joy and success in his life would kill himself.
Finding clues at Fernand's home that support her suspicion of murder, Natalie's hunt for answers places her next on the killer's list. Will she be able to solve this murder masterpiece before it's too late?'
My thoughts:
I have been seeing the Gray Whale Inn mysteries for years and they always seemed to be so intriguing. Simply, I just haven't had the time to get around to them. When I was offered the chance to read and review this one, I jumped at the chance to delve into a series that has been catching my eye for quite some time. I am glad to say that I am glad that I had the opportunity to read this one. Normally, I don't read series out of order, but I had to review this one and didn't have the option of reading the others before it. And to be honest, when reading this book, I really didn't feel like I missed anything by not reading the others. I do want to read them anyways because I just want to see how the series starts and how it gets to this point.
This book is set in my dream setting of a small island in Maine. How I envy these characters. I want to live in Maine so bad and the author really doesn't help by rubbing in the beauty of Maine in this book. I am so jealous. The author has created a setting that absolutely sounds divine. Can I move there tomorrow? I knew I would love the setting in this book and I was spot on. It's hard not to love a quaint and cozy little island of the coast of Maine where all the townsfolk know each other.
I enjoyed reading this one as it seemed to be realistic and engaging from the first page. I liked the characters and the plot was enough to keep me intrigued. I do think that I want to read the others in this series, although not necessary to get the gist of the series if you start at the end like I did. This setting is too nice for me to miss out on reading the others in this series. I enjoyed this book to a certain extent, but would have liked to see some more action involving clues and investigation. Nevertheless, I will be exploring more with this series in the near future.
Overall Rating: 3.5
Title: Brush With Death
Author: Karen MacInerney
Series: Gray Whale Inn Mystery #5
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Publication Date: May 8, 2013
Pages: 336
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Get It: Amazon; Barnes & Noble
Disclaimer: This book was given to me by the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for my honest review. I reviewed this book without compensation of any kind. All thoughts and opinions are solely mine.