A Fatal Stain by Elise Hyatt is the third book in the “Daring Finds” mystery series. Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime, October 2012

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.

Planning her wedding and refinishing furniture should keep Dyce busy that is until she finds a stain on a table and thus begins Dyce’s pursuit of a case that is not a case until her family is threaten and an unlikely hero saves the day. This was a fun read and I enjoyed the interplay between Dyce, her parents, especially her father, her best friend Ben, her fiancé Cas and her pride and joy, little “E”. The antics that Dyce gets into had me laughing as Ben tags along to help in solving this puzzling case. A good read and I can’t wait for the next book in this amusing series.

Elise Hyatt is a pseudonym for Sarah A Hoyt