Review: Poison Ivy

POISON IVY by Misty Simon
Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Romance
5*****

Blurb: Ivy Morris may be an adult, but she still lives at home with her widowed father long after her sisters have all left — until she gets a letter with the words “your inheritance” offering her a home and a business of her own 3000 miles away. When she arrives to assume her new life as homeowner and proprietress of a popular costume shop, she is bombarded by a slew of people looking for the perfect outfit for the upcoming Harvest Ball. Between overpowering biddies and stolen lingerie from the worst-kept-secret side of the business, things get even more complicated when a woman is murdered at the ball–a woman wearing the same costume as Ivy. With the help of her new friends, including a cute guy trying to rev up his journalism career to private eye status with this mystery–and revving up her heart in the process–she must solve the murder before someone succeeds in the quest to poison Ivy.

THOUGHTS: I’ll admit, I read this book (in fact the entire series) quite a few years ago. I pull it out to read again when I need to smile, and solve a mystery. And it’s relatively short and quick read. I love the characters! Ivy is stuck living with her dad in California while her sisters get to have their own lives with spouses and kids. So when her great-aunt in Virginia passes away and leaves her not only her house, but an established business, Ivy jumps at the chance to live her own life too. But moving into a small town is not as easy as one would think. People – including the cops – get upset when she has the store open after 6 p.m. A store that sells/rents costumes in the front, and more risqué items in the back. Things get a little dicey when the back room is robbed of everything over size twelve. Rather than make waves in her new town, Ivy decides to look into things herself. In the meantime, she does make some new and good friends who like her quirky nature. When a woman dressed almost exactly like Ivy, she and her friends look into the murder, mostly because she might be next.

Recommended if you want something quick, fun, quirky, with a satisfying ending.