Curio shop manager Camryn Brooks thought she’d seen every kind of snow globe—until she saw one depicting a crime scene…
Ever since she was a child, Cami has loved the sparkling beauty of snow globes, and now, she sells them. In fact, they’re so popular, Cami and her friend—coffee shop owner Alice “Pinky” Nelson—are hosting a snow globe making class.
After the flurry of activity has ended and everyone has gone off with their own handmade snow globes, Cami spots a new globe left behind on a shelf, featuring an odd tableau—a man sleeping on a park bench.
On her way home, she drifts through the town park and is shaken to come upon the scene from the globe—a man sitting on a bench. But he isn’t sleeping—he has a knife in his back. When the police arrive, it’s clear they consider Cami a little flaky and possibly a suspect. After her friends also come under suspicion, Cami starts plowing through clues to find the cold-blooded backstabber—before someone else gets iced…
Snow globe making projects and tips included!
After a scandal forces her to leave her job in Washington, D.C., Cami Brooks returns to her hometown of Brooks Landing, Minnesota. Cami now manages a shop called Curio Finds which specializes in a large variety of snow globes from all over the world. Her friend Pinky Nelson runs the adjoining café, and the two businesses are a great fit to draw more business to each shop. Cami and Pinky decide to join forces and host a class for customers to learn to make their own snow globes, which starts tensely but by the end is deemed by all to be a success. After everyone leaves, Cami notices a new homemade snow globe on one of the store’s shelves. The globe depicts a scene of a man sleeping on a park bench. On her way home from the shop that evening, Cami cuts through a park and comes across a man sleeping on a bench. Strangely, it reminds her of the scene in the snow globe, except this man is obviously a victim of murder. When the police start looking at both Cami and one of her friends suspiciously, Cami decides to put her crafting aside to do a little sleuthing.
The idea of a shop specializing in snow globes sounds like it would be fun to visit and would make a great setting for a cozy mystery. However, I love the premise of this book much more than the execution. If the entire book were as enjoyable as the scenes with the snow globe-making class, the book would have been excellent. This part of the book is very well done, and reminds me of Laura Child’s scrapbooking series. The reader sees firsthand how to create a snow globe and gets to know most of the important characters of the book at the same time. To follow up, there are detailed instructions at the end of the book so readers can try their hand at making a snow globe of their own.
Unfortunately, the rest of the book doesn’t live up to the pleasure of these crafting scenes. There is too much complicated backstory given at the beginning of the book, and it makes it hard to connect with the characters. Things aren’t explained clearly and it takes a while to figure out the important details of the setting and the main characters. The character I like the most is Clint, the detective who starts out seeming stern and boring and ends up being kind and interesting. There is a bit of a spark between him and Cami, but at least for this installment, any potential romance ends with a fizzle instead of an interesting cliffhanger. Cami, Pinky, and their friends Erin and Mark are harder to figure out, and I couldn’t relate to them. I couldn’t tell who liked who or what the four had in common that kept their friendship going for such a long time. The dialogue quickly started to grate on me, too. Cami, Pinky, and Erin use so many “cutesy” expressions that after the third or fourth “golly”, “gee whiz”, and “holy moly”, I began to think I was watching a 1950s sitcom. Although some of the dialogue is lacking, there is one very touching part of the book in which Cami describes her belief that when she found a penny on the street, it was due to her deceased mother dropping it from heaven just for her. I wish there could have been more of this type of scene which was beautifully written and made me care more about Cami.
The murder investigation itself is okay, but the solution of the murder, as well as the explanation of the mysterious snow globe, are anti-climactic and quite a letdown after the long build-up. The crafting, the sweetness that comes out in Cami when she reminisces about her birth mother, and the potential for an interesting romance between Cami and Clint help make up for some of the book’s weaknesses. Fans of Christy Fifield’s Haunted Souvenir Shop mysteries may enjoy this book by Christine Husom.
Reviewed by Christine
