Poisoned Primrose Motts Cold Case Mystery, Book 1
Amature Sleuths, Cozy Animal Mystery
Tangled Tree Publishing
July 25, 2020
290
Autistic, asexual, and almost forty, Pineapple “Motts” Mottley flees London with her cat and turtle to a quaint cottage in Cornwall. She craves the peace of life in a small village. The dead body buried in her garden isn’t quite what she had in mind, though.
Unable to resist her curiosity, she falls directly into a mess of trouble and runs head-first into the attractive detective inspector, Teo Herceg. She tries to balance her business with the investigation, but as the killer focuses on her, staying alive becomes trickier than advanced origami.
Will Motts survive the onslaught of murderously bad luck?
Can she solve the mystery before it all spins out of control and off a cliff?
Available at Amazon.
Reviewed by Linda Tonis
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
Pineapple (yes, her actual name) “Motts” Mottley is an amazing woman, asexual, biromantic, and autistic. Finally, at the age of 39, she has moved out of her parents’ home to live on her own. Motts inherited her aunt’s cottage in Cornwall, a distance from where she grew up in London. Although she is afraid of this new turn in her life, she is also very excited. She has her cat and her turtle, and friends and relatives surround her.
The first job Motts tries to conquer is cleaning out the garden and when she is offered help she readily accepts it. Unfortunately, clearing out weeds and rocks is not the only thing that had to be removed: a dead body was buried in her aunt’s garden. Motts has an origami business she does from home, floral arrangements for those allergic to real flowers. Visiting businesses to get orders is more than enough to set her into a panic mode but finding a dead body outside her window was more than she ever expected.
Motts has a fascination with cold cases ever since a friend of hers was killed and the killer was never found. How could she not want to stick her nose into this murder? Her investigation only succeeded in having someone try to run her over, had a rock thrown through her window, and she found someone spying on her. Detective Inspector Teo Herceg begs her to leave the investigation to the professionals, but his pleas are ignored.
Someone murdered Rhona Walters, one of the owners of a fish and chip shop and Motts wants answers. Her curiosity and stubbornness could be the death of her. However, even with her autism and her fear of being around a lot of people she marches on. Teo is well aware of Motts’ problems and is very in tune to her feelings when people are around. In spite of her being asexual, Motts likes being around him. Although Motts’ secrets are known to all, the opposite is true of Teo.
I loved this book because Motts was such an amazing character. Watching how she always tried to talk herself into accepting things and worked at keeping her panic controlled was wonderful. She is also surrounded by the most loving and caring friends and family who are always available any time of the day or night if she needs them. I also can relate to her when it comes to eating, because, like Motts, food always makes things better. LOL.
I highly recommend this book. It is a mystery and a character study of a woman with problems who refuses to give in to them.
