Candyce ("Dyce") Dare is the sole owner and employee of a
furniture refinishing business calling Daring Finds. She's
throwing herself into her business (or anything else she can
find to occupy her time) to avoid sitting down with her best
friend Ben and her mom to plan her wedding to detective Cas
Wolfe. It isn't that she minds getting married, she doesn't
want to be part of the ludicrous wedding plans they keep
coming up with - pet rats as boutonnieres, for instance!
Dyce finds a table at a garage sale to refurbish, and as she
begins to sand it down, she discovers an unsettling stain
that looks disturbingly like blood. She's wondering if
she's just prone to jumping to the worst possible conclusion
since the she's engaged to a detective, her parents own a
mystery bookstore, and she has a history for getting
involved (accidentally, of course!) in murder cases. But
then she finds out that the table's previous owner has gone
mysteriously missing. Dyce decides she must do some digging
to find out who or what is behind the stain.
While she's investigating, Ben and his partner have some
drama of their own going on that Dyce tries to mediate, and
while the wedding to Cas is quickly approaching, she's still
unsure that she's making the right decision. All this while
she and her ex-husband engage in a minor custody skirmish
over their son. Will Dyce solve the mystery with her sanity
intact? And when Cas finds out that Dyce is running around
trying to solve what could be a murder, will the wedding go
forward as planned?
The mystery itself was well-written and the plot moved along
nicely. The suspects and motives were enough to keep me
guessing but not muddy the waters so much that the plot was
muddled or confusing. There are some witty moments amongst
the characters (particularly when Ben is involved in a
scene), Dyce's son Enoch brings a particular sense of fun
and delight to the book.
Scenes with Dyce's father, however, are difficult to read.
He is supposed to written as eccentric, but he comes off as
nearly senile. He both calls her the wrong name, as well
as being confused about who she's engaged to. A scene at
the beginning of the book that kicks off the custody issues
between Dyce and her ex make Dyce instantly unlikeable and
unsympathetic as a character, as does the fact that she
never fails to refer to her ex as "All-Ex."
If some of these quirks were toned down, A FATAL STAIN could
have been immensely enjoyable rather than merely mildly
entertaining.
Out damned spot! As her wedding to detective
Cas Wolfe approaches, Candyce "Dyce" Dare, sole owner (and
employee) of the furniture refinishing business Daring
Finds desperately needs to find something to do to
avoid sitting down and planning the event with her
mother and her best friend. (particularly since
she suspects their plans involve having her cat dress in a
tuxedo) Working on a table she recently bought at a
yard sale fits the bill.
Until her sanding
efforts uncover a disturbing stain—one that looks like it
might be blood. Dyce knows that, with a fiancé who’s a
policeman, parents who own a mystery bookstore, and a recent
history of inadvertent involvement in murder cases, she can
be prone to see things that aren’t there. But then she
discovers that the table’s previous owner has gone
missing—and once more, she is drawn into a solve-it-yourself
mystery project. And when Dyce starts a project, she just
has to see it through…
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