What do you think?
Rate this book
Mysteries of Sparrow Island #22
A Puzzling Occurrence
When Abby agrees to stay at the Bird Nest to help Martin and Terza Choi investigate suspicious noises in the attic, she uncovers the source of the sounds—and a secret that could change everything for the couple. A forgotten Christmas card points them to several jade tiles, each inscribed with clues that lead toward a hidden treasure. Meanwhile, a surprise snowstorm turns a Hawaiian festival into a winter carnival and stirs up a little friendly competition in the form of a snowman contest, and a missing hiker has everyone searching for signs of life. This series of puzzling occurrences shows everyone how helping other can lead to blessings for all.
247 pages
Published January 1, 2008
3 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
About the author
Sunni Jeffers
26 books24 followersAward-winning author, Sunni Jeffers is setting course for a new life adventure. After ten years as a navy wife and mother, they moved to Denver, Colorado to manage the family security business. When her children left home, she began writing books. In 1992, Sunni and her husband moved to the Great Northwest to raise cattle, timber and hay and to give her the time to write stories of other women and their struggles and victories. Now Sunni’s fourth adventure has begun. She and her husband are exploring the US and Canada in their motorhome. As they travel, she continues writing heartwarming cozy mysteries and stories of delightful women living out their faith as they face challenges and adventures in everyday life.
Visit Sunni on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/sunni.jeffers); Pinterest (http://www.pinterest.com/sunnijeffers/); and Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Visit Sunni on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/sunni.jeffers); Pinterest (http://www.pinterest.com/sunnijeffers/); and Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 29, 2019
These books are usually enjoyable, sweet, and light-hearted, and this one is no exception.
June 25, 2019
A gentle read. This is a gentle, leisurely mystery. Not suspenseful, although it had some exciting parts. I would say as far as the fear-factor goes, it's about on par with a grownup version of Gertrude Warner's "Boxcar Children" series.
I have read others in the "Mysteries of Sparrow Island" before, and have enjoyed their leisurely plots. Much of cozy literature uses friendships and relationships for that feeling of comfort. This series also uses the beauty of nature, most prominently, in Abby's bird-watching and the care of wild, injured birds, although, in this book, it also appears in the winter storm, and how it brought the island community together. In that aspect, it reminded me of one of Jan Karon's Mitford books about how their community came together to help each other in the storm. The comparison goes beyond just the storm's effects on the fictional areas, though, because both series involve faith, and living out one's faith. Fans of Jan Karon's Mitford would probably also like this series.
It's the faith component of the stories that brings me back to these books. The authors have not been shy about the main characters seeking truth and guidance from scripture, and what passages are mentioned, are mentioned gently and well.
I enjoyed reading more about these characters, and remembered them from how the series started, but I suspect that it would be harder for someone to just jump into the series at this point. A glossary of who's who might have helped them.
When I read about the tangram mystery at my mom's house, she reminded me that my dad had some tangrams and pulled them out. I had forgotten, or hadn't known them by that name. Our family's tangrams were not antiques, were not made so elegantly, and did not have Chinese characters on them or any writings at all. I tried reworking our family's tangrams, and found that I could now do three of them, and even invented a strategy for working one that seemed to make progress. Another I'd solved by using a strategy that my Dad had given me in another, unrelated game with geometric shapes (Pan-kai.) The last I solved more by trial and error. There were about the same number of tangrams that I didn't solve at all, but I felt good about it, that I'd progressed some since my childhood, when they were only a frustration to me. My dad was known for having detailed, difficult things on hand, and I don't feel badly for not solving the rest. Perhaps I could've solved them if I'd been willing to put more time into it.
Playing with these tangrams made me appreciate the role that they had in this mystery more. I wonder, though, about people who aren't as familiar with them and how well they would relate to the story. Sunni Jeffers did describe them well, though.
I'm afraid I like this series much better than the parent organization, Guideposts. Guideposts has wandered further and further away from anything substantiated by scripture, although this series may have been written before that detachment from the Bible, and this author (Sunni Jeffers) is a different one than Norman Vincent Peale, founder of Guideposts and author of "Positive Thinking," who, in my thinking, set up people for disillusionment with faith by making it sound like God has promised things He has not, and that that all we have to do to get something is to think positively about it. But if you consider only this series, and not its parent establishment, it's a very good series indeed.
Favorite quotes:
"Did you know tea is supposed to awaken us to the truth of our existence?"
"If there was a problem, she felt compelled to solve it, whether God had that in mind or not. She'd learned from a few times when she had pushed ahead on her own that her way wasn't always best."
I have read others in the "Mysteries of Sparrow Island" before, and have enjoyed their leisurely plots. Much of cozy literature uses friendships and relationships for that feeling of comfort. This series also uses the beauty of nature, most prominently, in Abby's bird-watching and the care of wild, injured birds, although, in this book, it also appears in the winter storm, and how it brought the island community together. In that aspect, it reminded me of one of Jan Karon's Mitford books about how their community came together to help each other in the storm. The comparison goes beyond just the storm's effects on the fictional areas, though, because both series involve faith, and living out one's faith. Fans of Jan Karon's Mitford would probably also like this series.
It's the faith component of the stories that brings me back to these books. The authors have not been shy about the main characters seeking truth and guidance from scripture, and what passages are mentioned, are mentioned gently and well.
I enjoyed reading more about these characters, and remembered them from how the series started, but I suspect that it would be harder for someone to just jump into the series at this point. A glossary of who's who might have helped them.
When I read about the tangram mystery at my mom's house, she reminded me that my dad had some tangrams and pulled them out. I had forgotten, or hadn't known them by that name. Our family's tangrams were not antiques, were not made so elegantly, and did not have Chinese characters on them or any writings at all. I tried reworking our family's tangrams, and found that I could now do three of them, and even invented a strategy for working one that seemed to make progress. Another I'd solved by using a strategy that my Dad had given me in another, unrelated game with geometric shapes (Pan-kai.) The last I solved more by trial and error. There were about the same number of tangrams that I didn't solve at all, but I felt good about it, that I'd progressed some since my childhood, when they were only a frustration to me. My dad was known for having detailed, difficult things on hand, and I don't feel badly for not solving the rest. Perhaps I could've solved them if I'd been willing to put more time into it.
Playing with these tangrams made me appreciate the role that they had in this mystery more. I wonder, though, about people who aren't as familiar with them and how well they would relate to the story. Sunni Jeffers did describe them well, though.
I'm afraid I like this series much better than the parent organization, Guideposts. Guideposts has wandered further and further away from anything substantiated by scripture, although this series may have been written before that detachment from the Bible, and this author (Sunni Jeffers) is a different one than Norman Vincent Peale, founder of Guideposts and author of "Positive Thinking," who, in my thinking, set up people for disillusionment with faith by making it sound like God has promised things He has not, and that that all we have to do to get something is to think positively about it. But if you consider only this series, and not its parent establishment, it's a very good series indeed.
Favorite quotes:
"Did you know tea is supposed to awaken us to the truth of our existence?"
"If there was a problem, she felt compelled to solve it, whether God had that in mind or not. She'd learned from a few times when she had pushed ahead on her own that her way wasn't always best."
September 11, 2020
A friend sent me this book after she'd read it. I've read others in the series. I'm not sure I've read the series in order since the books don't seem to be numbered as they are for most series. (This series also has a number of different authors.)
I enjoyed the book overall. It was a gentle suspense with the suspense mostly stemming from "puzzles" that needed to be solved.
WARNING: SPOILERS MAY FOLLOW. READ REMAINDER OF REVIEW AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION:
****
When I got to the section where the town was creating snowmen and planning a Snow Fest with a snowman contest, I began to wonder if I'd read this book before. Goodreads says that is not the case (but another site says I did read it in 2016), so there must have been another book I read that had a similar idea of a town creating unique snow creations to "highlight" businesses or interests and having a town-wide contest as well.
That wondering "have I read this before" spoiled my enjoyment of the rest of the book just a little bit.
I enjoyed the book overall. It was a gentle suspense with the suspense mostly stemming from "puzzles" that needed to be solved.
WARNING: SPOILERS MAY FOLLOW. READ REMAINDER OF REVIEW AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION:
****
When I got to the section where the town was creating snowmen and planning a Snow Fest with a snowman contest, I began to wonder if I'd read this book before. Goodreads says that is not the case (but another site says I did read it in 2016), so there must have been another book I read that had a similar idea of a town creating unique snow creations to "highlight" businesses or interests and having a town-wide contest as well.
That wondering "have I read this before" spoiled my enjoyment of the rest of the book just a little bit.
January 28, 2021
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I am a little disappointed that the sounds in the inn were what they were and not something more suspensful. However, this book had quite a few puzzles to uncover and I really enjoyed that. These books are always a good read for making you feel good and taking you to a place that has a great community.
April 1, 2019
I really enjoyed this book in the series, much more than some of the others. Multiple mysteries and nothing too obvious to figure out.
August 14, 2022
All the books in this series are good but I really liked this one.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews