Lemon Drizzle and Loathing

The past can be rewritten...

Julia South-Brown thought her stepmother Katie's life was finally on track. With her successful nail salon, loving husband and son, and a new community square project, Katie seemed to have it all together. But when a family secret from forty years ago comes to light, everything Julia thought she knew is turned upside down.

As Katie becomes consumed with unraveling the mystery of her true parentage, skeletal remains are discovered in the woods behind her childhood home of Wellington Manor. Are these bones connected to Katie's shrouded origins? To find the truth, Julia, along with her PI husband, Barker Brown, must dig into the lives of the manor's former staff and residents, uncovering a tangled web of affairs, jealousy, and deception.

With her family and the very foundation of the village at stake, Julia and Barker race to piece together the fragments of the past before it's too late. But in a world where legacies can be changed and memories rewritten, will the truth heal or destroy? Pour yourself a strong cup of tea and settle in, because in Peridale, the past never stays buried for long...

I am thinking Merry Berry would approve....

This Peridale Cafe Cozy Mystery might be the most intense of Agatha Frost's series. It almost entirely concerns Katie Wellington-South's desperate search for her true parents. It's an old story including old murders, thefts, family tragedy, and incredible revelations, all while Peridale is in the throws of creating their Market Square, and Barker is trying to ready his new book. It's an amazing story, rich with family history and personal tragedy and triumph. It definitely can be read as a standalone, but is much richer if it's read in the series. I'm always pleased to return to Peridale and its dynamic and often eccentric community. Thank you, Agatha, for another delightful visit.