Dru’s Short Musing:
We are introduced to two protagonists (Olivia and Aubrey) who are so different from each other, they make a great mystery solving pair. This book quickly became a page-turner as I had to know the outcome.

A well-written drama that had me immediately immersed in all aspects of this wickedly solid storyline that kept me intrigued throughout. With visually descriptive narrative, engaging and witty dialogue, the author set the stage for an intensifying and suspenseful tale that pulled you in for a roller coaster ride that you don’t want to get off until the last turn. The mystery was nicely executed with a slew of suspects, clues tossed around that kept me busy, and a few twists and turns that kept me in the game. When I thought I figured things out, the author threw in more information that had me looking at others instead, all which enhanced my reading pleasure. This was a fun and enjoyable whodunit and glad that there will be a second book so we can get to know more about Olivia and Merritt.

Series Name: A Tula Walberg Mystery | Book 1
Genre: Private Investigator Cozy Mystery
Release: July 8, 2025
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Purchase Link

Book Synopsis:
A brilliant Boomer detective and her ambitious Gen Z assistant try to get along in this delightful feel-good mystery.

Olivia Blunt is thrilled to be hired as assistant to the nationally renowned investigator Aubrey Merritt. She longs to become a valued contributor to the great detective’s work, but Merritt is a difficult, exacting boss, and the learning curve is steeper than she expected.

After weeks of boring computer work, Olivia is finally invited to join Merritt on an important case. On the night of her sixty-fifth birthday party, Victoria Summersworth somehow fell over her balcony railing to her death on the rocky shore of Vermont’s Lake Champlain. She was a happy woman—rich, beloved, in love, and matriarch of the preeminent Summersworth family. The police ruled her death a suicide, but Victoria’s daughter Haley thinks it was murder.

Merritt and Olivia soon discover that the Summersworth family is complicated web of lies, ambitions, and resentments. As the list of suspects grows, Olivia makes one apparent mistake after another. When she blunders into a truly dangerous situation, she realizes Merritt might be right: she might be in over her head with this whole detective thing…or she might be unravelling a mystery even bigger than the one they started with.

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