The Devil's Puzzle by Clare O'Donohue (R.I.P.)

The Devil's Puzzle is a Someday Quilts Mystery and an ARC from Penguin's Plume Division.

The small town of Archer's Rest is preparing to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the town's founding.  Named for the grave of John Archer, a man who may have established the town because he was seeking a quiet place to practice witchcraft, Archer's Rest is full of legends that are a result of many embellished retellings.

Nell and Oliver are planning to surprise Nell's grandmother by replanting a rose garden in Eleanor's neglected garden, but the discovery of a skeleton derails the surprise.  The skeleton threatens the security of someone in the small town, and even Eleanor is a suspect.  As the investigation proceeds, curious acts of vandalism and threats against prominent citizens threaten the big anniversary celebration.

This is a cozy mystery, but one with a little more complexity and more defined characters.  I really enjoyed the  mystery and the interesting characters in this novel.

other reviews:  dru's book musings,

I'm using this for Carl's R.I.P. challenge because of the witchcraft connection; even though it is a light read and not really scary, it is an entertaining novel.



Fiction.  Mystery.  20ll.  276 pages.