I So Don't Do Mysteries

got really boring in some parts but the part with her and her wanna-be boyfriend speed-ed things up and atlest made me finish it

I have been waiting a very long time for Barrie Summy's I So Don't Do Mysteries, ever since I found Barrie in the blogosphere and started hearing about the book. Then, finally, finally, I got my copy for Christmas. Yesterday, I cracked the cover.

(By the way, I LOVED finding out what was behind the beautiful blue cover: no spoiler here, though!)

You know, we all know, that there's pressure when you meet someone online, blog back & forth, share memes and THEN read their book. So, yes, it was with a bit of trepidation that I started reading Page 1.

By Page 2, I was laughing. And I pretty much didn't stop until I reached the end. Barrie has given her MC, Sherry (Sherlock Holmes) Baldwin, a light fun voice and she (the author or the character, you decide) is the mistress of the LOL one-liner. Even when I wasn't laughing, I was smiling. Sherry's energy is contagious, and rooting for her was a delight.

Sherry's police-officer mother has been dead just over a year, so imagine Sherry's surprise when she smells coffee (her mother's favorite drink) and hears her mom's voice. Already destined for a vacation in San Diego, Sherry finds out that her mother, now a ghost and an investigator, needs help saving some rhinos at the Wild Animal Park from being poisoned.

What I really like about the story is that Sherry and her mother don't have it easy working together. In so many books, Sherry would have been angry at the start, but her mother would have--by virtue of dying--be seeing things more clearly and have turned into a wonderful parent. Barrie doesn't let Mom off the hook this easily. Sherry and she are stuck at the same place they were on the day of her death, with Sherry feeling inferior and ineffectual and Mom being the same perfectionist, totally immersed in her job. Yes, the two have to save the rhinos, but they also have to start building a better relationship than they ever had while Mom was alive. This is the layer that turns a fun, fast read into something extra, a book that definitely has us asking for a sequel.

Thanks, Barrie!