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Reviewed by Donna Stevenson for Readers' Favorite
Carissa Carmichael owns an apothecary/aromatherapy business in a small town. Today, at the Oak Creek Valley Playwright Conference and Festival, she is manning her booth as well as helping at Jasper’s booth, because he is ill. Unfortunately, his staff member, Lacie, is also working Jasper’s booth, and Carissa clashes with her a few times during the event. Later, when Carissa arrives at Jasper’s shop to help Lacie with some baking, she discovers Lacie dead in the walk-in cooler, with ten small knives in her back. In Essentials of Death by Kim Davis, Carissa has already distinguished herself by solving a crime. Now it looks like she will be involved again. She'd had her Tarot cards read earlier by Madame Bonsail, and she wonders if the three cards she drew are a premonition of what is to come.
In Essentials of Death, author Kim Davis moves the story along quickly by casting her main character, Carissa, in a few tense situations. She deftly employs the Tarot Death card as clues, building the mystery by introducing other characters as suspects. The Death card keeps appearing as Carissa becomes the prime suspect in Lacie’s murder. Even though Detective Raaf was annoying in his obsession with Carissa as the murderer, I liked him because he remained a believable villain, especially when his backstory was revealed. With many suspects and the author weaving several plots together effectively, it is no wonder I was caught off guard when the real murderer made their appearance. That is a sign of a good murder mystery for sure!
