Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody by Barbara Ross is the first book in the NEW “Jane Darrowfield” cozy mystery series. Publisher: Kensington Books, coming June 25, 2019. Available only at Barnes & Noble until June 30, 2020.

Jane Darrowfield is a year into her retirement, and she’s already traveled and planted a garden. She’s organized her photos, her recipes, and her spices. The statistics suggest she has at least a few more decades ahead of her, so she better find something to do . . .

After Jane helps a friend with a sticky personal problem, word starts to spread around her bridge club—and then around all of West Cambridge, Massachusetts—that she’s the go-to girl for situations that need discreet fixing. Soon she has her first paid assignment—the director of a 55-and-over condo community needs her to de-escalate hostilities among the residents. As Jane discovers after moving in for her undercover assignment, the mature set can be as immature as any high schoolers, and war is breaking out between cliques.

It seems she might make some progress—until one of the aging “popular kids” is bludgeoned to death with a golf club. And though the automatic sprinklers have washed away much of the evidence, Jane’s on course to find out whodunit . . .

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Barbara Ross has another winner on her hands with her new “Jane Darrowfield” cozy mystery series. I loved it. Jane is the kind of person who knows how to get the job done and it is her natural busybody self that she is sought to help out a senior community with a situation that looks like it is getting out of hand. Does she succeed? Not if you count the murdered body of one of the instigators. Who wanted him dead? Seems like the everyone, but with the efforts of Jane and her inquisitiveness, she gets right down to business and discovers a lot more of going on behind the scene and it’s those facts that narrow the field of suspect until there was only one person standing.

The author did a great job in fast-paced and action-packed whodunit that had me immersed in all that was happening on the pages. The mystery was nicely done and I liked how the author introduced us to the various characters and the role they were going to play in this drama. The execution set the tone in this delightfully charming debut. I kind of thought I knew who the killer was and triumphantly smile when the reveal was made but then Barbara put that sneaky little twist and yeah, it made sense. There were a few other twists that added to my reading pleasure. I like how the story ended with opportunities and new adventures for Jane and her friends.

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FTC Full Disclosure – I received a digital ARC of this book from the publisher.