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.