Home Fires Burn
A wonderfully diverse mystery, peopled with characters you will wish for more time with, this is the third (and final) book in a trilogy featuring PI Merry Bell, a transgender woman based in Saskatchewan, Canada. The first in the series for this reader, this book is easily enjoyed as a stand-alone story.
Merry is a tough cookie, and a woman who has seen a lot of pain. Still healing from a whole host of family issues, beginning with her youth as young Joey Dzvonyk, and continuing through her lengthy transition. With her now-trademark four-inch heeled Louboutin boots (wildly impractical for a Saskatchewan winter, and a symbol of her burgeoning femininity), and Marco, a rescued Lagotto Romagnolo pup, Merry’s PI practice in Saskatchewan has hit a bit of a dry spell when she runs into an old friend, Evan Whatley, who has a mystery (and a potential murder) for Merry to solve. The victim, both handsome and loaded, found frozen to death beside his abandoned automobile in the vast remoteness of the Saskatchewan plains, is none other than his father, forty-nine year old John Whatley.
Without giving too much of the plot away, as Merry’s investigation meanders and dips, following leads through an absorbing and engaging story, she supported by a whole host of friendly, and (some not so friendly) local contacts, including her cross-dressing sidekick — the tech-savvy Roger (aka Stella); and her nemesis, Carol Durabont, the town’s duplicitous mayor. Not to mention a couple of simmering love interests – including the “nerd-adjacent” Gerard Drover, Merry’s landlord, a red-haired charmer, who admires Merry mostly from afar, and who may or may not be just up her alley.
With an ending to both the book and the series that satisfies, this uniquely unconventional story will both entertain and intrigue any reader of relatively light-hearted mysteries, bundled with a whole lot of heart.
A great big thank you to the author for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.
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