A Veiled Deception
(A Vintage Magic Mysery)
by Annette Blair
Humorous, light magical story but too
unfocused on the mystery side
Madeira Cutler
has worked for a prestigious New York clothes designer for many years.
Returning home to Mystick Falls, Connecticut, Maddie becomes embroiled
in all the small town and family dynamics as her sister Sherry's
arch-enemy Jasmine is all too present at the festivities and a little
tied to her future mother-in-law and ultimate snob Deborah Vancortland.
When Maddie discovers Jasmine strangled by her sister's bridal veil,
Maddie investigates to clear her sister's name. Her understanding of
fashion takes an unexpected turn when a ghost appears. The wedding
gown, a vintage gown given by Deborah to Sherry, possesses a magical
power to make its past all too visible. Can Maddie and the magical
wedding dress clear her sister? How will a little touch of magic and a
vintage gown transform Maddie's life?
Annette Blair's A VEILED DECEPTION
is a humorous, light magical feel good story. Maddie's return home
elicits the bittersweetness of one's hometown as both good and bad
memories are both never too far away. The power plays between Maddie
and her friends make the opening chapters fun and endear the reader to
both Maddie and her sister. The isolated scenes of Maddie's vision of
the gown's past and the ghost itself are a few of the emotional
highlights in this mystery. As the tale develops, however, A VEILED DECEPTION loses focus from
those parts that give this book its most power and charm. The mystery
itself is a bit too easily solved and the reader guesses the
connections a bit too quickly despite the clever twist at the end. The
mystery becomes more of a subplot for Maddie's self-discovery, a
discovery that feels self-indulgement and a bit too self-centered. The
sense of compassion that emerges from Maddie's connection to the past
disappears too quickly as the mystery becomes more a story of Maddie
discovering her true calling. The past revealed by the ghost and the
sense of connection he evokes rapidly gets subsumed by Maddie's
increasing individualism and focus on her quest for identity. Although
in a way, the search for self presents a couple of pleasant ghostly
twists, the tone becomes increasingly shallow as the book progresses.
A VEILED DECEPTION
with its magical element and vintage take on the clothing so often seen
in the chick lit genre will appeal more to romance lovers than mystery
buffs looking for a clever mystery with a clever hunt for the culprit.
Sweet, funny and heart-warming at times, A VEILED DECEPTION is a charming
story of a young woman's homecoming, a homecoming fraught with funny
and outrageous incidents. As a mystery, however, A VEILED DECEPTION leaves one
wanting more clue twists, more discovered history and more of the
center of the story.
Publisher:
Berkley Prime Crime Mystery (January 2009)
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