This is the second in this series of cozy mysteries featuring Athena, grown-up daughter of a huge Greek family who has moved back to her small lakeside hometown after a disastrous marriage. Mother to 10-year-old Niko, she is slowly rebuilding her life, working at her father’s garden centre and avoiding going out on dates with ‘nice Greek men’ her well-meaning mother tries to set her up with, while writing her popular blog, Goddess Anon.
Though I hadn’t read the first in the series, I don’t think it was too much of an issue; I had no problem following who was who. There’s a blossoming relationship between Athena and Case Donnelly, who apparently played a large part in the first book, and we didn’t get to know him all that well here, which might have been the one thing I regretted a little.
When her sister is obviously framed for the murder of her friend’s fiancé, there’s no way Athena is going to let the disinterest of the local police in looking elsewhere for a suspect go unchallenged. With Case’s help, she starts probing into the dead man’s background, determined to uncover the truth and clear her sister’s name.
As a mystery, this is pretty good; it holds together logically and there are plenty of both real clues and red herrings to keep you guessing. I really enjoyed Athena’s family and the dashes of Greek life; it felt very authentic. Honestly, I could have done without the blog part; it felt like a distraction, but a pretty minor one. Overall, I’m happy to give this five stars.
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this title via NetGalley.