Book #Review: Someone's Mad at the Hatter (Missy DuBois Mystery, Book 3) by Sandra Bretting #CozyMystery

Someone's Mad at the Hatter by Sandra Bretting
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2MBLX0l

3.5 Stars

The holidays are here and everyone is celebrating throughout the south. Holidays are generally happy times until Missy discovers the body of Charlotte, a local wedding planner stuffed inside barrel Missy uses as a rain barrel. Certain she’s dead, Missy calls the police. The murder weapon? Well, of course it’s something Missy owns.

Due to proximity and the suspicion that Missy is to blame, customers are calling to cancel appointments which means lost revenue. Whomever is setting her up apparently plans to not only take Missy down but her business, as well. It is now time for extreme damage control and an even more extreme venture into solving the murder. The accusations are ruining her livelihood and threatening to undue all of her hard work building up Crowning Glory.

There is a distance between Missy and Ambrose not seen in other books. The relationship doesn’t seem as strong as it should be after books 1 and 2. The strain gives the relationship and investigation in Someone’s Mad at the Hatter a completely different atmosphere. The discord helps add realism to the story. Fortunately, this doesn’t overshadow the mystery and the slow burn of Missy’s business. Instead of being consumed by love or the problems, the book just continues on at the same pace as the others in the series.

I found the book to have a pretty weak ending, surprising me, since the endings of the previous books were great. The reveal of who committed the crime wasn’t the most creative. I’m not letting the disappointment turn me off from the series though. Plus, there is a bonus - I didn’t really know who did it so the ending worked out. The author does a great job in character development and world building. The vivid descriptions allow me to formulate the story in my mind as I read along. She also gives the reader plenty of viable suspects that I enjoyed investigating right along with Missy.

I look forward to the next book.

I was provided a copy of this book to read.

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