A Fool and His Monet by Sandra Orchard

 

Serena Jones has a passion for recovering lost and stolen art - one that's surpassed only by her zeal to uncover the truth about who murdered her grandfather. She's joined the FBI Art Crime Team with the secret hope that one of her cases will lead to his killer. Now, despite her mother's please to do something safer - like get married - Serena's determine to catch thieves and black market traders.

When a local museum discovers an irreplaceable Monet missing, Serena leaps into action - and a whole heap of trouble.

Review:
 A wonderful read! I went into this book with low expectations and a bit of procrastination because I wasn't overly fond of the cover. I know... I know... never judge a book by its cover - but who doesn't?

Anyways, I started the book last night and finished it at some wee hour of the morning. I think I stayed up later than the crickets as I eagerly flipped through the pages of this fast-paced, humorous, and thoroughly entertaining mystery.

For starts, I just loved Serena. She is hysterical. She's a self proclaimed cat-lady and spinster (at what...25?) and yet has a whole cast of hilarious and delightful bachelors falling all over themselves trying to "help" her throughout the story. I loved the angst between her male admirers and how oblivious Serena is to her charm... or so she says. For a spinster, she's delightfully good at manipulating the men around her to get their help by flashing that big smile of hers.

I also loved Serena's family. Her "Murder-She-Wrote" grandmother made my sides hurt from laughing so hard. Old, opinionated, and completely (like...COMPLETELY) crazy, her grandmother cracked me up. I was so glad she a main character throughout the story. I also thought Serena's mom was awesome. You can just feel her mom's total mortification over her beautiful daughter's career choice to chase criminals instead of give her grandbabies. And it just made me laugh at how her mom baked her a cake every time Serena survived a mission....like she was celebrating Serena's daily success on not dying.

I really can't wait for the next book. A great read!

Thank-you so much to Graf Martin Communications for a copy of this book!

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc." in exchange for my honest opinion.