Sadly, this one is a let-down after the last book. The mystery is fine, and Amy is still keeping law enforcement in the loop and not taking stupid chances. Trauma and disagreements are handled well. One thing I appreciate about this series is how the older generation continues to be at the forefront of the mysteries. This book showed me that most of the murders in this series are tied to the past of these characters. In fact, I really noticed that the entire cast of this series is mid-30s and older, something really refreshing.

So why rated lowish? I'm really sad to see that Sunny is being pushed by the author into marriage, based on all the hints being dropped in this book. I had hoped to finally find a series that accepted that when a woman said she doesn't want to get married, she means it. And that ruined a lot of it for me. Richard and Amy are married, Brad and Alison have their engagement party, and another long-time couple gets engaged at the end of the book. Leave Sunny alone! (Sadly, that won't happen. Sigh.) ( )

This is one of my favorite Cozy Mystery series that I have had the pleasure of reading. Victoria makes you fall in love with the characters, flaws and all. I loved diving into Zelda's past and seeing how she was when she was in high school. One of the things that Gilbert does so well is writing a duel timeline or diving into the past to help figure out the mystery in the present. I highly recommend this book. ( )

Amy and Richard are settling into married life. Richard and his dance partner Karla are working on choreographing some folk music, and Amy is helping with research. But when a dead body is found in the gazebo of her aunt’s friend, Amy is back is sleuthing mode. The more she digs, the more it looks like this murder is somehow connected to some secret that has been buried for decades. What it is and why it finally came to light makes for an intriguing and complex mystery. This is installment number six in the series, and has all the characters readers have come to enjoy. ( )

Amy Webber Muir, the library director, is looking forward to the local Arts Festival. Her husband, Richard, a dancer, has choregraphed a dance set to folk music. In the meantime Amy has been asked by her Aunt Lydia to help her friend Zelda who seems to be a bit rattled about something. Before Amy can even talk to Zelda she is called to Zelda's house where she, Aunt Lydia, and Zelda find a body in the gazebo.

The mystery is a bit complicated but the clues are all there to figure out who is the murderer and why the victim was left in Zelda's yard.

I think this would have been a bit more enjoyable if there hadn't been so many possibilities. But the main characters were well-written and the story itself was fun to read. ( )

Amy Muir (nee Webber) is settling into new married life with her husband, dancer Richard Muir. Things seem to finally be going smoothly, and she's happy and content. But then she finds out from her aunt Lydia, who lives next door, that Lydia's friend Zelda is in trouble, and insists that Amy and her husband take her to Zelda's instead of calling the police. When they arrive, there is a dead body in Zelda's gazebo, and Zelda is nowhere to be found. But when the woman is identified, it appears she may have been blackmailing Zelda. But the only connection the two women have is a long-ago choir they were both in; one that Zelda dropped out of soon after winning the finals against a neighboring group. To complicate things, it appears that a teenaged girl was killed in a car accident not long after, and Amy wants to know if this had anything to do with the competition.

Once found, Zelda won't talk about it and Lydia wants Amy to research who the woman was and why she was there. But Amy soon finds herself in trouble, but refuses to quit. Will she find a killer who seems to be targeting both Zelda and her? Or will this be her final trip to the library?

Let me first say that I love Victoria Gilbert's books. I have read all of them so far. But this one sorely disappointed me, and I found it to be the weakest in the series. Also, the formatting left out characters, so it was more difficult to read. There were 'if', 'ff', and 'th' missing from many of the words in the Kindle edition. I do not know if this has been fixed or not, but hopefully it has.

Saying that, the author needs to do her homework. Peanut allergies didn't begin until the 90's. In the time period mentioned, nearly everyone brought peanut butter/peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to school. They ate peanuts at ball games. I know people that grew up in that era, and not one of them had ever heard of peanut allergies. A little research would have verified this. So I really didn't find the rest of the book too believable after this.

Also, while others might not have mentioned it, no one really cares about Richard's dance troupe or his choreography. Dance is something that is visual, and it is no different than a film. Yes, you can read a screenplay, but it won't have the same effect as seeing the film on screen. Dance really needs to be viewed in the same manner. I found it tedious and it took away from the mystery and there was far too much of it. It was almost as if we were reading about Richard's career instead of a murder.

As to the mystery itself, it suffered because of all the talk about Richard's dancing. Where was Zelda in the beginning of the book? We read about her, but didn't learn anything until the latter half of the book. By then, it didn't matter. I had already lost interest because of what I mentioned above. I also didn't care for the author subtly throwing in her personal views, as this is supposed to be a novel, not a book on political science. I read to relax and unwind from the world, not have it follow me in my leisure time.

What I would like to have seen is Richard actually helping Amy in her investigations. Yes, I realize he thinks his dancing is so important, but it would be nice to see him be the one to rescue her once in a while. My favorite character is still Kurt; he's mysterious and has a dark past, but is there when you need him.

In the end, there was quite a bit going on in the climax, and yes, it was filled with action, so it had that redeeming quality going for it. But it was not tension-filled nor too exciting, although it did make sense of everything coming before it. Ms. Gilbert is a very talented author and I have always enjoyed her books, and the fact that she can bring words to life. Unfortunately, that didn't occur in this latest mystery.

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review. ( )