A Fatal Glow
Recently widowed Odessa Jones is sure the exclusive brunch catering job she’s scored from wealthy businessman Casey Osborne will propel her catering career into the big leagues. So when Dessa’s pesky second sight warns her that Osborne is bad news, she ignores it. Of course, she wishes she hadn’t when he drops dead at his brunch after sampling her homemade preserves. Osborne’s death is declared a homicide. Dessa and the friends who helped her cook are considered suspects.
To clear her name and find the truth, Dessa delves into Casey Osborne’s life. Everyone from his sinister business partner to his tormented ex-wife has reason to kill him and the opportunity to do it at the brunch. With the help of her spirited aunt, loyal co-workers, and mischievous cat Juniper, she desperately searches for answers. Until a second murder leads Dessa down a frightening path filled with insidious hidden agendas and someone poised to change her life forever.
The Details
Series: An Odessa Jones Mystery – Book #2
Author: Valerie Wilson Wesley
Genre/Category: Cozy – Culinary/Paranormal
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
ISBN: 1496727819
Page Count: 224
Rating: 
The Review
There are just some characters that, no matter what, you will always remember and want to know more about. Odessa Jones is one of those characters. In the second book from the “An Odessa Jones Mystery” series, A Fatal Glow, Dessa finds herself on the brink of change, but not all change is good. When the opportunity to cater a wealthy businessman’s brunch is thrust at her, Dessa can’t say no. But her second sight is telling her to run in the opposite direction, fast. Unfortunately, she doesn’t listen and finds herself at the center of a murder investigation.
Odessa is a widow trying her best to get her catering business back up and running while holding down a realtor job. She has second sight, a form of psychic ability, but sometimes it’s a curse, not a blessing. When her catering job, a brunch, ends in murder and she becomes a suspect, she has no choice but to jump in to clear her name. There are plenty of other suspects, and they all have an excellent motive to commit murder, but finding out which one is the guilty party puts Dessa’s life in danger. Red herrings are thrown into the mix to make Dessa’s job even harder, and her second sight doesn’t help unravel this murder.
It’s hard not to like Odessa, harder still not to cheer for her as she delves into the murder and the future. The brunch seems like a changing point for her and her friends, and her second sight might become more useful as changes become inevitable. This story is written well, suspects are easy to find and understandable, and returning characters add a touch of family to the entire story. The killer once revealed, will have readers smiling and nodding in appreciation. This is a series readers will return to with each new book and will want to see Dessa succeed in her catering business and her life. The characters in this book aren’t easily understandable if you haven’t read the first book, so I highly advise that readers do that before reading this one. I wouldn’t mind having a bit of Dessa’s second sight, and I definitely would love to attend a brunch she caters. A Fatal Glow is a wonderful read, with wonderful characters, and a plot that will keep you guessing.
The Author
Valerie Wilson Wesley writes mysteries, novels, children’s books. Most of her mysteries and several of her novels have been published in Germany, France, and Great Britain. Valerie is a former executive editor of Essence Magazine. She served as an artist-in-residence at Columbia College in Chicago in spring 2005. She is a former adjunct professor at Ramapo College in Mahwah, New Jersey, and a former artist-in-residence at the Tyson School of the Arts in East
Orange, New Jersey.
Valerie is a graduate of Howard University and holds master’s degrees from the Bank Street College of Education and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. She is married to noted screenwriter and playwright Richard Wesley and has two adult daughters.
Other books of a similar nature that readers may enjoy from the “A Marygene Brown Mystery” series by Kate young, Southern Sass and a Battered Bride, or from Darci Hannah’s “A Beacon Bakeshop Mystery” series, Murder At The Beacon Bakeshop.
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