Essence of Foul Play

February 15, 2025
A new spa opens in beautiful Carmel-by-the-Sea to excellent reviews and nasty threats. Opening Aroma Wellness Spa is the fulfillment of a California dream for Emma Brennan. She's supported by her grandmother, a librarian she calls Nana Lissa, and cousin Sierra Reade, who runs the spa's restaurant, but not by her mother, who wanted Emma to follow in her footsteps as a teacher; similarly, among the local residents, there are both well-wishers and critics. Foremost among the latter is Willow Shafer, a rival of Emma's since college, whose own local spa emphasizes a different approach to treatment. Even before Aroma Wellness opens, Emma witnesses tension between various town residents, as when Willow oddly accuses tennis-playing socialite Palmer Pilsner of leaving a death threat under her door. Hoping to smooth things over with Willow, Emma gives her a gift basket, but when Willow is fatally bludgeoned by a candlestick from that basket, Emma becomes the prime suspect in her murder. Things may be going well with the spa, which is booked up, but Emma can't get over being both a suspect in Willow's death and, soon, the recipient of a death threat of her own--so she decides to do a little investigating. It turns out that a lot of people had reasons for disliking Willow. As the police question the most likely candidates, Emma uses her network of friends to dig up information while trying to maintain her inner peace and her hopes of seeing one of the fairies Nana Lissa assures her are nearby. A promising spinoff of Gerber's Fairy Garden Mystery series with many of the same charming characters.

COPYRIGHT(2025) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 7, 2025
Emma Brennan is both excited and apprehensive about the upcoming opening of her business, Aroma Wellness Spa, in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, which will offer New Age treatments along with traditional spa services, a caf�, and a gift shop. The night before the grand opening, Emma has words with Willow Shafer, a fellow spa owner in town, in full view of multiple witnesses, including police detective Dylan Summers. When Willow is found murdered at work, Emma quickly becomes a suspect, since she visited Willow at her spa the evening she was killed. Emma, intent on clearing her name, investigates, interviewing suspects while trying to determine a motive. She knows she is getting close when her home is vandalized. Details of running a spa are woven throughout the story with its charming setting and well-drawn main character, who has a difficult relationship with her mother. Includes recipes. Characters and setting overlap with Gerber's Fairy Garden Mystery series (A Sprinkling of Murder, 2020), although the fairies in this story are not integral to the plot.

COPYRIGHT(2025) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.