Marigold Doyle’s life was perfect, with a successful career and a wonderful marriage. But when her husband, Julian, passes away, her life is thrown into turmoil as she discovers a trail of secrets Julian was hiding in the months prior to his death. Struggling with her grief, she knows she needs to find out Julian’s actions to help her move on.

Finn Schröder, a former police officer and now a private security consultant, is focused on an uncomplicated, unattached life and growing his business. He agrees to help Marigold find out the truth about Julian, but as they become closer, he realizes his feelings for her may be developing beyond simply professional.

As Marigold and Finn work through the web of Julian’s deception, will they learn to face the reality that things aren’t always exactly as they seem?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

She’d end up running D-Line one day after her father retired, or she’d become the Prime Minister. They seemed like the only two jobs worthy of her.

Why was life so unfair? She’d lost her husband, she’d discovered he’d been keeping an entire, furnished apartment secret from her, she’d been barred from her work, and now she was going to have to spend all afternoon with her mother.

They’d host dinner parties, but the friends were always couples. They’d enter the property, two-by-two, like some form of well-heeled, impeccably-dressed human recreation of Noah’s Ark.

Perfectly imperfect. She’d take that. Perfect, after all, was totally and completely over-rated.

My Review:

I adored this cleverly penned book from beginning to end. The premise and writing were intriguing and original with a well-crafted mystery running through the center that kept my curiosity primed, although the complex characters were just as intriguing and unpredictable. The storylines were highly engaging and cunningly paced with a fair balance of humor, angst, and intrigue.

What sealed the deal for me was the wily Ms. Mayfair’s expert character development, as she has filled her tale with an authentic and uniquely complicated cast of characters who were not genuinely appealing or always likable, yet never failed to hold my interest. The observantly insightful and detailed manner in which characters’ emotional tones were narrated were an important part of the journey and frequently shifted with surprise revelations, humbling epiphanies, staggering stressors, irritations and annoyance, flashes of anger, relaxed amusement, and ultimately ending with a satisfying and sigh-inducing HEA. And as this is only her third published book within less than a year, I am quite eager to see what this crafty new talent comes up with next.