Scent of a Mystery

Citrus Beach Mysteries #2

by Victoria L.K. Williams, Karen Kalbacher (Illustrator)

The Adventure Continues...
Megan & Barney survive Hurricane Arlene, and in the aftermath Barney unearths an unusual mystery. A man declared dead years ago is living outside of Citrus Beach, with a price still on his head. Megan tries to unravel his story, but there is a catch, and they have to act quickly before his killers try again. And this time they might succeed, killing anyone who might get in the way: be it a inquisitive redheaded Gardener or a playful Beagle!

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Cozy, Fiction, Mystery Thriller

347 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 5, 2014

About the author

Fun Cozy Mysteries, Paranormal Mysteries (with a fantasy twist) all set on the Florida Coast. A Romantic Christian Series, with a strong sense of family set in upstate New York. These are the stories Victoria writes.

A hopeless animal lover, Victoria adds plenty of cats and dogs in each book, and her love of gardening shows through the characters. As a storyteller, it is important for Victoria to draw the reader into the story; to make you feel the sultry tropical heat or the numbing cold of the north.

Victoria and her husband live in South Florida and own a landscape garden service. Two feisty cats make themselves at home, usually on her desk as she writes.

A lover of a good mystery, she is an avid reader and likes to be outdoors. When she is not reading, you may find her working on a needlepoint project.

Visit her website to learn about new and upcoming books.
http://www.VictoriaLKWilliams.com

Reviews

[Deb Threadgill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another great book by V.K. Williams. After Hurricane Arlene had landed with the eye of the storm and stronger back winds made landing at Lady Fish Bay. Megan and Barney went to check on Mrs. Potter’s cottage there. To Megan it wasn’t a cottage it was huge. Then as they walked the beach and Lucy came, they started ringing mementos that they felt the people who rented the cottages or lived there full time would want back. They found a wedding picture, lot of trinkets and Barney dug up a little wood box. Mrs. Porter came by one day to look at the beginnings of their collection and she recognized the wedding picture of an old friend of her’s that used to live in Lady Fish Bay. Then one day the dranddaughter of Mrs. Jamison showed up with her car packed full of all her belongings. She wanted to see how Lady Fish Bay had made it through the storm. Before she met Megan, the box that Barney found and kept trying to steal back, Megan decided to open it. It had keepsakes from a young girl and also a newspaper article with a picture of her father who was presumed dead and another article where after 7 years he was declared dead. Megan, Lucy and Paul all thought the man looked familiar and they had seen him around Citris Beach, so they showed the picture without the article to Mrs. Potter who told them that was Bob Stump, a man she rented another of her cottages to in Lady Fish Bay. Megan immediately thought it looked like Tom Jamison. So she started research on-line about him and pretty soon Aiden showed up asking her why she was involved in an old unsolved FBI case. She explained her theory to him. Meanwhile Taylor had taken a big role in the cataloging of the things they found and a group of volunteers had agreed to come help collect items that had washed up on the beach. Then Taylor’s grandmother arrived and she and Mrs Potter caught up and acted like the friends they had been years before. Megan and Mrs Potter invited Bob to dinner at her cabin in Lady Fish Bay, knowing Mrs. Jamison and Taylor would be there but not telling them. By this time they found out that Bob had been beaten and left for dead many years before in the Everglades and had amnesia. He had named himself Bob Stump and had driven from Miami once he was well enough and something about Lady Fish Bay made him want to stay there, so when Megan, Aiden Mrs. Jamison and Taylor were getting ready for dinner that they had invited Bob to, as soon as Taylor saw him she yelled Daddy. Some memories started to come back and Aiden explained to him that he had been helping the FBI with a smuggling ring that was coming out of his bonded warehouse run by his partner Malcolm. The rest of the story explains what all happens and how they manage to catch the bad guys. There is a lot of action, some tear filled moments and some intrigue, with about a thimble full of romance thrown in. I LOVED this book and think everyone else would too, but I recommend reading book one first. Next I will read book three and see what Megan gets herself involved with this time.

[Sharon M. Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a way to turn a disaster into something good and useful.

"Batten down the hatches, there's a hurricane a commin.' " While the winds blow and the family huddles, there's a mystery afoot. When it's time to clean up, leave it to Megan and her dog Barney to stumble onto a ten year old murder that left a live corpse, an FBI unsolved crime and a family to reunite. This is one you've got to help solve.

[Angel Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was in and of itself worth while. The problem is voice.

Every character had the same identical voice. Every woman sounded like every other woman, the men, the same. There was no differentiating any of them. The young girl voiced everything identical to the old women. It was all the same stilted way of speaking.

Grammatical errors, wrong words used, such as too rather than to.

It could have been good. It wasn't.

[Gloria J McCoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best story I've ever read!

I have never enjoyed a story as much as this one. A clean story written in such a way that anyone that has ever been through a hurricane knows what is happening and the mess it leaves. As soon as I started reading I knew it would be finished before it could be put down. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did!

[Eirlys]

A good read

A hurricane threatens Citrus beach and Megan prepares her home to keep it safe from the winds.
In the aftermath there are piles of debris along the shoreline. An item that Barney finds is the catalyst for murder and mayhem, and a decade's old mystery. The characters were interesting and well fleshed out.

[Lin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mayhem and puppy

Megan and her faithful pup Barney (although he might just as well go by the surname of Fred Flintstone’s pal, given his penchant for getting into trouble) weather hurricanes, cleanup, amnesia recovery, and kidnapping, in this rollicking yarn. Settle in for a bit of a bumpy ride to adventure

[Nancy Haddock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting plot

Post - hurricane clean up leads to a first mystery and then a larger one. Good characters with determination to get jobs done, whatever they might be.

[Lee Brothers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. I like the author’s imagination and the concept of finding things that are meaningful to people after they’ve lost so much. Also the backstory of the import /export business. Very well done!!

[Cheryl A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hurricanes, helping, and trinkets.

A delightful but suspenseful story of mystery and mayhem involving a hurricane and how some found treasures connect to an FBI cold case. I can hardly wait to read the next book in this exciting series!

[Marlene Gorman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Read

Many twists and turns. Keeps you guessing who’s alive and who did the deed! I thought I had it figured out, but alas, I surely did not!

[Lizabeth Tarr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

Another enjoyable mystery with a lot of unexpected happenings. I'm looking forward to seeing how the relationships continue to develop. 😀

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fine. I couldn’t always tell which character was which because they were all the same

[Danise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good story but too many grammatical errors.

[Kay (Brigidsmomma) Compton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this one as well! Second in the series, it starts up right where book one left off... in the middle of a hurricane! The main character, Megan, has a house full of stranded folks during the hurricane, and one of her clients, Mrs. Potter, calls the next day to have her travel to the hurricane's epicenter to check on property there. In the process of cleaning up, she comes across all sorts of personal memorabilia of other local residents that have been scattered by the storm and sets about rescuing those memories for people. This brings together the various people involved in a long buried case of a missing and supposed dead man and the people who made him that way. A really good read, and I don't want to give away too much of the story so that others will be intrigued enough to read it. It's worth it. Love the unique way this is handled...

[Vykki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a excellent mystery with great character and a good storyline. It had every thing a good mystery should have I recommend this book to everyone.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story, but found it to be rather slow moving. The characters were interesting but not memorable. It is an easy to read story.