Fireworks in Paradise

by Kathi Daley

TJ Jensen transported her sisters, good friend Kyle, grandfather, and his friend Doc, along with a menagerie, across the country to help a family friend for the summer. They are suddenly recalled to the resort the family owns in Paradise Island by a car accident that puts TJ’s father in the ICU.

Fireworks in Paradise is a good cozy mystery that ties in a cold case with vehicle tampering and local politics. Despite personal problems, TJ and her family’s resort host a number of the town’s Fourth of July celebrations. I enjoyed the tale but there are a lot of nuanced relationships that play into the story. The author does a good job of bringing the reader up to date, but there are also a number of new characters incorporated into the eighth novel in this series. Although I enjoyed Fireworks in Paradise, I don’t think this mystery would work as well as a standalone as some of the others in this series.

I do recommend the book and the series, but I have some residual hesitation about a 100% endorsement of this mystery. I found the amount of time TJ spent solving the crime to be unrealistic given other issues she should have been addressing. I know she felt like she could help her father most by finding the saboteur, but having rushed across the country you would think her focus would be spending time with her dad at the hospital or filling in at the resort’s Fourth of July activities for him. In spite of that, I did like the book’s underlying theme of the importance of family and friends.

I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Henery Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4/5

Category: Mystery

Notes: #8 in the TJ Jensen Mystery Series

Publication: October 10, 2017—Henery Press

Memorable Lines:

Love isn’t something you have to dissect and analyze. It’s something that just is.

…you never knew when someone or something in the background of an otherwise unspectacular photo would provide you with just the clue you needed to solve a case.