Denim Blues Mysteries by Karen Wiesner
Featuring Den and Sylvia, Orlando and Keeya, and Tyler and Erin.
Briar’s Point is a whimsical little town with its fair share of colorful characters, crime, and a Cupid suffering from the denim blues…
See if you can find denim blue in each story!
Book 1: On the Rocks
A missing engagement ring leads to murder…
It’s been a month since Denim McHart hung up his private investigating career after he ended up with a bullet in his leg. The injury has forced Den to re-evaluate future goals in his career, his love-life and his spiritual life. To keep himself busy in early retirement, he’s been attempting to restore an antique table and he’s officially bored. He can’t seem to keep his mind off his investigative partner, the lovely and complicated Sylvia Price whom he’s had an on-again, off-again romantic relationship with in the past. When Sylvia calls him out of the blue, he doesn’t waste time getting down to their office.
In this past month, Sylvia has been dealing with her own feelings for Den, her overwhelming guilt for the pivotal event that happened years ago and caused her mother to be mentally unstable, coinciding with her inability to forgive herself the way she knows the Lord has forgiven her.
Before the sparks can fly between Den and Sylvia in the direction he has his heart set, she says they’ve got company. Jilted bride Naomi Deva tells him that her groom–Mayor Thomas Julian–dumped her at the altar. Reluctantly, she admits he’d caught her in a compromising position with the best man only minutes before the ceremony. Naomi also reveals the reason why she’s sought them: The local police department hasn’t been able to turn up the 6.1 carat diamond engagement ring Thomas gave her…and the groom wants it back. Immediately.
GENRE: Inspirational Romantic Mystery (Private Investigators) Word Count: 62, 411
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(ebooks are available from all sites, and print is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and some on Angus & Robertson)
Book 2: Love is Blind
Working with local private investigators Den McHart and Sylvia Price, Briar’s Point Police Department Detective Orlando Bateman solves a missing person case. Keeya Nilsen, visually impaired from the plane crash that took her parents’ lives, comes to him and has a justifiably bad attitude about love, since all the men she’s ever loved have cheated on her and robbed her…including the last one, who absconded with her most prized possession–her grandfather’s unpublished Blues compositions–when he flew the coop. As together they search for her last boyfriend and her missing legacy, Orlando reminds Keeya of the faith she’d had before the plane crash that changed her life and makes her see love as God intends.
Inspirational Romantic Mystery (Police Procedural) Word Count: 85, 399
| Amazon | Apple Books | Google Play | Barnes and Noble | Kobo | Scribd | Smashwords | Angus & Robertson Print |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | | | | | | |
(ebooks are available from all sites, and print is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and some on Angus & Robertson)
Rating
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Combination: real characters, mystery with suspense and sweet romance
This is a lovely story of renewal of faith and virtue and the sorrow of bitterness. Detective Orlando Bateman is more than happy to stay busy investigating cases especially to help him forget the lose of the woman he has loved for so many years. Sylvia (see Retired and on the Rocks (Denim Blues Mysteries, Book 1) cherishes Orlando as a friend but she is soon to marry Den. We discover as the book proceeds that Orlando has not dated as he believes that intimacy should only take place in marriage. Orlando meets Keeya when Den brings her into the station to report the theft of money, credit cards and, more importantly, her grandfather’s unpublished music compositions. Orlando is a big Blues fans and recognizes Keeya’s grandfather’s name and music. He is immediately drawn to Keeya’s beauty even as he is mindful of her visual difficulties. Keeya lost her full sight when she was injured in the plane crash that killed her parents. She lived with her grandfather and another crash victim, Blair. Blair suffered severe damage to her face and in spite of reconstructive surgery her face is still disfigured. Blair has taken care of Keeya for years, being her eyes and helping to guide her. Keeya was betrayed by her first husband and a second boyfriend too. Now she has to report to the police that her latest boyfriend has stolen from her. She is embarrassed and ashamed that she has made very bad choices with men. Orlando and Keeya draw close as they search the clues and confront the thief. They share their pasts and Orlando helps Keeya to see that God did not abandon her but she has stepped away from Him and His loving guidance. The mystery includes some red herrings in suspects and some evil that Keeya didn’t recognize. I enjoyed the mystery and suspense as well as learning more about the visually impaired. I especially liked the message that the freedom that God gives comes with consequences for the choices we make. I enjoy this author who writes wonderfully real characters and life-like stories. I’ll be reading the third book in this series, Souls on (B)oring Street [Denim Blues Mysteries Book 3], soon.
MSEreads
October 17, 2014
Book 3: Fate of Souls
Erin Shanley, a hospice nurse, turns amateur sleuth when she realizes that some of her patients are being swindled out of their life savings by the new “psychic” fortunetellers in Briar’s Point. She confides in her neighbor, Detective Tyler Shaw, whom she grew up alongside and considers her best friend.
Tough guy Ty has been in love with Erin since their disastrous first attempt at a romantic relationship when they were teenagers. Erin has been skittish about love since she discovered her father was cheating on her mother–and Ty is so much like her father. How can she risk loving a reckless, restless adventurer when her mother’s loyalty to a man like that brought her so much pain? But when Erin’s bumbling sleuthing attempts arouse someone’s wrath, she realizes her heart isn’t the only thing in danger.
GENRE: Inspirational Romantic Mystery (Amateur Sleuth) Word Count: 89, 520
(ebooks are available from all sites, and print is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and some on Angus & Robertson)
Rating
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