Sinister Summer (Wicks Hollow, #1)

by Colleen Gleason

[kimbacaffeinate]

Gleason introduces us to Diana Iverson, a successful lawyer who has just won a big case and expects to become partner by year’s end. We quickly learn there is a little something special about Diana and her success rate, but that will have to wait as something has happened to her dear Aunt in Wick Hollows.

Wick Hallows is a lakeside community in Michigan and apparently Diana’s Aunt Jean has died and leaving her everything. Diana take time off to settle the estate and make decisions from the cats to her love life. When she arrives in Wicks Hollow strange things happen. She isn’t sure about the handsome neighbor who lets himself in and someone breaks into her Aunt’s home.

Sinister Summer was a fun, paranormal murder-mystery that kept me engaged. I enjoyed Jean’s circle of friends and the friction between Diana and Ethan the next-door neighbor.

The supernatural or paranormal elements involved moved objects, and ghostly messages. Nothing scary, but there are hints that the folks in Wicks Hollow are a little different. We meet a Witch and Ethan’s own sister likes to read hands.

The story offers a romance, complicated by Diana’s Chicago boyfriend. (a cheater) whom she is taking a break from. The romance developed nicely, allowing for a slow build, friendship, and chemistry.

The mystery was well done and complicated by an outsider. I wouldn’t call this a cozy mystery, but it falls between that and maybe a Kendra Elliot novel. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer