The Curse of the Holy Pail

By Sue Ann Jaffarian
Published by Midnight Ink
2007
Kindle Edition

In the second Odelia Grey mystery the plot revolves around a vintage lunchbox. The lunchbox is the only one in existence and was made for The Chappy Wheeler Show, a popular 1940s cowboy TV show. Chappy Wheeler was murdered and every owner of the lunchbox since has died. The lunchbox is now worth a hundred thousand dollars and collectors are on its trail (thus earning it the title The Holy Pail).

Odelia, a paralegal for a successful law firm, becomes involved in the hunt for the pail when a client requires her services. Sterling Price has a vast collection of lunchboxes - Odelia is particularly drawn to the Zorro pail - and shows Odelia his prized possession: The Holy Pail. Sterling turns up dead, the pail goes missing, and Odelia finds herself trying to track it down.

Jaffarian has written quite a vibrant character; Odelia Grey is an overweight, forty-something woman who, like a lot of overweight, forty-something women, has food issues, work issues, love issues, and the various other stressors that come with being middle-aged. Odelia is smart, funny, and sexy, with a love for her off-the-wall cat, Seamus, and her boyfriend, Greg. Jaffarian makes sure to include Odelia's family, friends, and co-workers to round out her main character.

There are six books in the Odelia Grey series - time for me to catch up!

Shoots to Kill

By Kate Collins
First published by Obsidian, an imprint of New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
First printing, August 2008

Let me just say upfront that this is by far my favourite Flower Shop Mystery (#7 in the series).

Abby Knight, owner of Bloomers Flower Shop, has her identity stolen and is a suspect in a murder investigation. This was a brilliant plot by Collins and it had me intrigued from the first page because it was actually more than Abby's identity that was stolen, it was her life, her looks, and possibly her boyfriend, Marco Salvare.

Besides the regular cast of characters - Lottie, Grace, Marco, Nikki, and Abby's parents - this book has two of the most interesting characters Collins has ever written: siblings Elizabeth and Oliver Blume. These characters are so well written they bring out a parade of emotions in the reader; you enjoy them, are irritated by them, feel sorry for them, wish something more for them.

While I wanted the mystery solved, I was sorry to come to the end of this book. I was so caught up in the characters and what makes them tick that I could have read more. If you only read one book in this series, read this one. But, really, just read them all.