Book Review: Murder’s No Votive Confidence by Christin Brecher

Stella Wright is the owner of Wick and Flame candle store. Her first assignment includes making candles for a candlelight-themed wedding.

Jessica Sterling, the bride, is excited, after all, it’s her wedding! She and Joe have known each other for quite some time and are eager to spend the rest of their lives with each other. But Mrs Sterling, Jessica’s mother, is a grumpy rich woman! She thinks Joe is after the money and doesn’t love her daughter.

Stella reaches the venue to find the unity candle missing. So off she and Jessica go in search of it. A cat seems to be meowing its paws out in Simon Sterling’s (Jessica’s uncle) room. They open the door to let the kitty out and find Simon dead on the floor. His head bashed in with Stella’s unity candle! 

The local bartender is arrested for the murder but Stella believes him to be innocent. When one of the superstitious brides-to-be cancels her contract with Stella, Stella wants to clear her name and prove that her candles are not bad omens. With a handsome hunk of a reporter, Peter, and childhood friend/cop Andy, Stella dons her amateur detective hat.

What a hoot! Seriously! I absolutely adored the main character, Stella. As Mrs Sterling says, Stella is Stellar! Also, Stella reminded me of… me! Clumsy, weird and funny, uh-huh!

Murder’s No Votive Confidence is the first book in the Christin Brecher’s Nantucket Candle Maker Mystery series. As a series debut, this story has done its job of keeping the readers hooked on and looking for more.

There are certain scenes which makes you laugh! This has mostly got to do with Stella’s “antics”. Soon after discovering the dead body, Stella realizes that if she doesn’t leave immediately, she would be late in opening her store. She stealthily walks away from the crime scene, without anyone noticing her. Andy’s very strict about “nobody leaves the crime scene!” Phew! Stella’s now driving to her store when a car zooms past her. Already shocked by finding a dead body, Stella parks the car to take some deep breaths. Someone taps on her shoulder. There wasn’t anybody in the car when she got in, so who is it? The murderer, perhaps!! Stella runs for her life, traffic or not, she has to run and hide before the murderer (the one still sitting in the backseat!) kills her. She’s almost ready to fight, fists held tight and all, and then she sees the person who tapped her shoulder. It’s none other than… wait for it… Simon’s cat, Tinker!

There are a couple of such “incidents” like the one I mentioned above and it made me giggle! Stella is clumsy too. She wants to prove that she’s a world class detective. So off she goes poking her nose and accusing people (mostly innocents) of killing Simon.

Stella’s single and 29. Emily, her best buddy thinks Stella is a spinster (at the age of 29!!!) Andy and Stella have been best buddies since school. Peter is a handsome reporter who has come to Nantucket to report on the Sterling wedding. He’s handsome and single, unlike Andy who’s dating an environmentalist or someone like that. I wouldn’t call it a love triangle, not yet at least, but Stella feels weird when she’s with Andy and Peter. There’s also a celebrity in the story – Gina. Stella and Gina form quite a bond!

I liked the mystery behind Simon’s death. The identity of the killer was an interesting choice! Unexpected and surprising, too! The story is well paced. The characters are interesting and likeable. Even the killer is portrayed in an interesting way!

Overall, this was an entertaining and enjoyable read. Also, this was something different from the cozy mysteries I have read so far. As a series debut, there was equal importance given to mystery and character introduction. I am looking forward to reading more of Stella’s stellar performances!

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There’s a giveaway for this tour. If you like to win a print copy of the book, click here. (US only)

Thank you, Lori, from Escape with Dollycas, for giving me an opportunity to be a part of this blog tour.