Review

Maggie Gerber and her friends, the members of the Good Buy Girls, are looking forward to the holiday season in St. Stanley, Virginia. They women are dedicated bargain hunters and the holiday season is perfect for finding ways to find great deals. One of the Girls, Joanne Claramotta, is expecting with her first child, and should be thrilled, but feels unattractive and insecure when her husband Michael hires a beautiful and mysterious young woman as an assistant in their deli. Maggie and their other friends assure Joanne she has nothing to worry about, but while doing some holiday shopping, Maggie finds Michael unconscious on the floor of his deli and his new assistant Diane Jenkins is also on the floor – a victim of strangling. Maggie wants to help prove Michael’s innocence, but the facts about Diane don’t add up, and  they all seem to point at Michael as the murderer.

The best things about this series are the shopping excursions with the Good Buy Girls,  the way Maggie and her friends stick together and support each other, and also the character of Maggie’s daughter Laura. This book has two out of three, so while it’s good, it could have been better. Maggie, her best friend Ginger, and their friend Claire, are all there for Joanne when she needs them. That is one of the best parts of the book. Maggie’s college-age daughter Laura plays a large role in this book, which is another plus Laura is level-headed, kind, and compassionate and often more mature than Maggie! I hope she continues as a major character in future books. Unfortunately, there isn’t much shopping in this book and even the shopping tips at the end of the book are pretty skimpy.

The worst feature of this series is the rivalry between Maggie and fellow shop-owner Summer Phillips. Their childish antics almost ruined the prior book in this series. Hopefully, Maggie and Summer will take the advice from Maggie’s daughter to heart when Laura scolds them, “Don’t you think you two should get over this? You’re both women in business, you need to work together not tear each other apart.” Although I don’t see a lot of cooperation between Maggie and Summer, most of their more exaggerated exchanges have been toned down in this book resulting in characters that are more realistic and more likeable. If these two characters could declare at least a partial truce, the series can only get better.

I’m undecided on Maggie’s relationship with Sheriff Sam Collins, who is Maggie’s ex-boyfriend but has the potential to become her current boyfriend. They both seem to have matured, so for the first time it seems a relationship between the two could work. Sam is involved in the investigation and even when things don’t look well for Maggie’s friend, she is able to see Sam is doing his job and not take it personally. The mystery and ultimate solution were a bit predictable, but I love that the solution was revealed in an unexpected and gripping way.

The absolute highlight of this book however has nothing to do with the mystery or Maggie’s love life. There is a wonderful scene with a side-character near the beginning of the book that is so touching it alone is worth reading the book. To say more could ruin the moment for other readers, but this scene is so well-written and romantic, it is a delight to read.

Josie Belle is the pen name of Jenn McKinlay, so readers who enjoy her Cupcake Bakery mysteries will also like Buried in Bargains, the third installment of the Good Buy Girls mysteries.