"Scumble River cozy"

Scumble River school psychologist Skye Denison is now a paid consultant in the SRPD. Margot Avanti, owner of a beauty spa and resort on the old Brufeld Estate, asks the "Nancy Drew of Scumble River" to investigate vandalism with holes in the ground and walls that keep appearing. Margot assumes it is treasure hunters seeking the rumored buried jewels hidden by the former owner allegedly somewhere on the property or inside the converted building.

Skye first says no but her best friend persuades her and asks to come along as her guest so she won't have to host Thanksgiving for a horde of relatives. From the very beginning she knows she isn't the stereotype type of the guest with the emphasis on beauty and being thin. When one of the women, a former high profile model is murdered, the chief of police wants Skye to help on the investigation. While she is delving into her inquiries, treasure hunters keep appearing on the property and valuable items go missing. The staff have secrets that they are hiding but which one has a secret so deadly he or she is willing to kill to keep it from being revealed.

The Scumble River mysteries are one of the most satisfy cozy series on the market today. The heroine is a perfect role model for anyone. She sticks to her beliefs but isn't inflexible, is strong enough to accept her full figure size and is bold enough to solve a whodunit that has the police stymied. The romantic triangle between her, Simon the undertaker, and Wally the chief of police jazzes up an already satisfying storyline.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted May 27, 2007

Summary

A health spa complete with tofu turkey and "Dress for Sexcess" lectures is the last place school psychologist Skye Denison wants to spend Thanksgiving. But when her best friend Trixie Frayne convinces her to take a complimentary weekend at the new Scumble River Spa, Skye accepts her fate and prepares to be slathered, wrapped, and roasted...

Then an annoying quartet that includes both Skye's mom and her ex-boyfriend's mother impulsively joins her for a girls-only holiday and Skye wonders just how bad things can get. She soon finds out—when she's confronted with treatments only a masochist would enjoy, a diet plan fit for a Barbie doll, and a troublesome trespasser searching for a cache of jewels supposedly hidden on the spa grounds seventy years ago. Worst of all, a famous former model turns up dead in the miracle mud bath. It looks like no one will be leaving the spa until Skye can identify which of the eccentric guests, pesky local protesters, or sneaky treasure hunters is also a killer deserving of special treatment...in the county jail.