It’s my stop today on the blog tour for A Flicker of a Doubt by Daryl Wood Gerber. Many thanks to Lori from Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours for the invite.
Title: A Flicker of a Doubt (A Fairy Garden Mystery #4)
Author: Daryl Wood Gerber
Published on: 28 March 2023
Genre: Cozy Mystery
A Flicker of a Doubt is the fourth book in Daryl Wood Gerber’s Fairy Garden Mystery series.
Making fairy gardens, and teaching crafters how to do the same, keeps Carmel-by-the-Sea shop owner Courtney Kelly busy—but sometimes she has to make time for a wee bit of detective work . . .
Courtney is hired to create charming fairy gardens for an art show planned by Violet Vickers. It’s not so charming, however, when Courtney’s best friend’s ex-boyfriend is one of Violet’s latest artistic protégé. What’s worse is, soon after Nicolas and Meaghan’s fight, Nicolas is found dead in Meaghan’s yard.
Suspects are plenty, after all, Nicolas was a ladies man. Did one of his jealous exes kill him in a fit of rage? But when cops focus on Meaghan’s business partner, Ziggy, Courtney knows it’s time to step in and conduct an investigation of her own.
What a fantastic addition to my favorite series. I have been following Courtney and her fairy Fiona’s adventures from start and I was eagerly waiting to knowing what’s in store for them this time. We have disgruntled exes, murder, financial angle as one of the motives and, whole lotta magic.
One thing I like the most about this series is the concept of fairy garden. Every time I read an installment, I want to make a fairy garden. Also, the concept of fairies living in gardens/nature isn’t new to me.
The story begins with Courtney witnessing a tiff between Meaghan and Nicolas. Then, she receives a phone call from Ziggy saying he’s found Nicolas’ body in Meaghan’s garden. Ziggy becomes one of the prime suspects as the cops find more evidence linking Ziggy to Nicolas. Once again, Courtney is drawn to poke her nose in a murder investigation.
A couple of side stories add extra charm to the already charming story. A dash of romance seals the deal. As Courtney starts to investigate, she learns a lot about the victim – and it’s not good. Nicolas was quite famous with the ladies and few followed him back to Carmel-by-the-sea. Did one of them kill him because he left them high and dry?
Daryl’s storytelling is magical. I am a huge fan of her writing and if you haven’t come across Fairy Garden Mysteries before, you are missing out a lot. Plenty of red herrings kept me guessing till the end. The side stories kept me hooked. Speaking of which, we have a surprise at the end. I wonder what’s next for Fiona and Courtney. As the story ends, it is pretty clear that a lot of things have changed, especially for Fiona.
If you love all things magic and are looking for a super engrossing and entertaining cozy mystery, you might want to give Daryl Wood Gerber’s A Flicker of a Doubt a try. If you are new to the series, start from the beginning for an extra dose of magic. 🙂
There’s a giveaway for this tour. Giveaway details are here.
The Book Decoder 
This is such a fun series and I can’t wait to read the newest installment.
This one’s really good. Lots of surprises and plot twists. 😊