Young Adult Cozy Mystery
Date Published: 6/23/25
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
With no good options, Sara enters the contest and finds herself at a fabulous mansion up against eight formidable opponents, each with a dark secret and all racing to solve seven levels of riddles and puzzles.
After a contestant’s body is discovered, Sara contemplates dropping out when another package arrives, its chilling contents making clear she’s at the center of a dangerous game with deadly consequences if she quits. But what it doesn’t say is—what happens if she wins?
Excerpt:
The white-haired man, holding a blue folder, addressed everybody
from the same open end of the seating arrangement as Percy had ten minutes
earlier. “Thank you for coming. I am Creighton Winston, attorney for the
contest’s founder, whose name shall remain confidential. However, rest assured,
this person is a generous philanthropist, scholar, and respected citizen.” The
attorney’s gaze traveled along the occupied sofas and chairs. “Has everybody
brought their envelopes per the instructions?”
Some nodded their assent, others held up letter and manila
envelopes, all looking daggers at the man. I pulled my envelopes out and held
them up.
“Very good,” Winston said. “Full disclosure, my firm only prepared
the invitation. The founder provided me with the sealed envelopes to go with
each specific invite. Only you and the founder know the contents of your second
envelope.”
That statement
confirmed the so-called founder was the blackmailer. And assuming he owned El
Sueño, he was also extremely wealthy. It made sense. With wealth comes power. I
studied the attorney. The man oozed money. Could he be the person behind all
this? Was he just pretending to be the founder’s attorney and in fact, I was
staring at my blackmailer?
A smallish middle-aged woman with toned arms and perfect makeup
raised a manila envelope like the one I received. Small dark-brown eyes that
appeared even smaller behind oversized black-framed glasses glared at the
attorney. “Are you telling me you had nothing to do with this sordid envelope
and the despicable allegations it contains?”
“That is correct, Ms. Fantucci. All I know is, the founder
believed some of you might have needed a little—push—to attend this meeting.
And hence, your second envelopes.”
“More like a swift kick in the britches,” Scooter complained.
Mumbles and grumbles rolled through the room.
Winston forced a
smile. “The founder imparted to me that every contestant was personally
selected because each of you has a secret that absolutely must remain—a secret.
Especially from law enforcement.” He glanced at me and raised an eyebrow.
“Since the winner of the contest will become fabulously wealthy, it would seem,
everyone is here because of a potentially—lucky
secret.”
Zoe’s head whipped toward me. With eyes wide, she mouthed law enforcement. I threw her a little
headshake, even as my body exploded in tingles. I have no such secrets—anymore.
I think. A picture popped in my head of the open safe-deposit box with the gold
artifact, gold bar, and emeralds. With my name on the signature card. Somebody
obviously manufactured a secret for me. But why? And is it the same for all the
contestants? Were they also blackmailed into coming for something they didn’t
do? Or were they…
Review: It all started with a strange package with a $50,000 diamond and a chance to participate in a life-changing contest. What to do?
Story is told in the unique and witty voice of Sara, a college student. Although Sara tells the story in a refreshing way, there was still some considerable lag. It was the long narrative and the long chapters that were the culprit for me. It took a while to realize that Sara was, in fact, meeting a blackmailer in this “contest.” So, like the movie, Clue, everyone in a select group of people had a secret except that there would be one winner with what would be deemed a “lucky secret.” O-kay. Rather odd and confusing.
Here is where we get too many characters thrown into the mix, which made it a little too confusing. This sounded like a promising read. I liked the voice and the premise, but the details just seemed a little too scattered and confusing. I would’ve much preferred a simpler and quicker mystery. Typically, cozy mysteries have the dead body in the first few chapters, but this one takes a long while to get to it.
The read itself was pretty good. I might’ve been able to get into it more had I read the first book in the series, but, quite honestly, it wouldn’t have been a huge help.
A fairly nice read and a decent effort.
Rating:
3 stars
About the Author
B.T. Polcari is a graduate of Rutgers College of Rutgers University, an award-winning mystery author, and a proud father of two wonderful children. He’s a champion of rescue pups (Mauzzy is a rescue), craves watching football and basketball, and, of course, loves reading mysteries. Among his favorite authors are Richard Osman, D.P. Lyle, Frederick Forsyth, and Michael Connelly. He is also an unapologetic fantasy football addict. He lives with his wife in scenic Chattanooga, Tennessee.
This was a pretty nice read
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