A Veiled Deception by Annette Blair

Genre:
Cozy Mystery, Paranormal

Publisher:
Berkley Prime Crime Mystery

Format:
Paperback

Release Date:
January 2009


A successful New York City fashion designer, Madeira Cutler, is asked to return to her small hometown of Mystick Falls in Connecticut to help her baby sister plan her upcoming wedding. When she arrives home, things aren’t going very well for her sister, Sherry. Her soon-to-be mother-in-law is taking over the wedding preparations and isn’t very concerned if the preparations are to Sherry’s liking or not. To make matters worse, her mother-in-law-to-be is seeking the advice and assistance of Sherry’s fiance’s former girlfriend, Jasmine. What a complete slap in the face! Madeira has not intentions of letting this slight against her sister go by without a fight.

When Jasmine continues to make nasty remarks and has a list of enemies a mile long, it’s no surprise when she’s found strangled to death. Unfortunately the murder weapon was the veil to Sherry’s wedding gown. All fingers point to Sherry as the prime suspect, but Madeira is not about to let her sister go to jail she didn’t commit. Along with her detective boyfriend, Nick, they conduct their own investigation.

Madeira has always had a love of fashion, but when an antique wedding gown gives her clues to the murder, she’s beyond shocked. Visions begin to take hold of Madeira as she uses them to learn the truth and clear her sister’s name.

This is the first book in Annette Blair’s “A Vintage Magic Mystery” series and I absolutely loved it. It was a quick, fast-paced, light, read that just left you smiling. It’s a sweet mystery and everything I want in my cozies – a little mystery, a little romance – all rolled up into one nice story.

I had it in my TBR collection for awhile but decided to pull it out and read it now for my cat mystery group monthly book discussion. There’s one small cat in the story, but she only makes a couple of cameo appearances. Maybe we’ll see the kitty more in future books. Either way, I thought this book was wonderful and has the makings for a great series of books.

I have to give this one my Socrates’ Great Book Alert Award – Yes, I liked it that much. Plus it gets 5 kitty cats!