A Fatal Stain (Daring Finds Mystery, #3)

by Elise Hyatt

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 seeing 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…  

• ISBN10: 0425255239
• ISBN13: 9780425255230
• Publish Date: 2 October 2012 (first published 1 October 2012)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Berkley Publishing Corporation,U.S.
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 304
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780425255230

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

I had pretty much given up on this book being released so it was a very pleasant surprise to see it available. I really enjoyed the first two books in this series and this book was a delightful addition. I absolutely love Dyce's sense of humour and outlook on life and she is surrounded by equally great characters. The dialogue is consistently entertaining. I usually shy away from cosy mysteries with children, but E is a hoot and his childhood brings back memories of my own (which did involve a fire or two but thankfully never explosions).

The mystery was an interesting one and I liked the lack of adversarial elements between Dyce and her Detective fiancee, Cas. They worked together in a way that was somewhat believable and very pleasant to read. Ms. Hyatt leads the reader to the culprit, so it's not a big reveal, but I loved the ending and didn't see it coming at all, so I didn't feel at all let down.

I truly hope this isn't the end of this series - I would dearly love to see another book with Dyce, E, Cas and Ben. I'll keep my fingers crossed.