ESSENCE OF FOUL PLAY

A new spa opens in beautiful Carmel-by-the-Sea to excellent reviews and nasty threats.

Opening Aroma Wellness Spa is the fulfillment of a California dream for Emma Brennan. She’s supported by her grandmother, a librarian she calls Nana Lissa, and cousin Sierra Reade, who runs the spa’s restaurant, but not by her mother, who wanted Emma to follow in her footsteps as a teacher; similarly, among the local residents, there are both well-wishers and critics. Foremost among the latter is Willow Shafer, a rival of Emma’s since college, whose own local spa emphasizes a different approach to treatment. Even before Aroma Wellness opens, Emma witnesses tension between various town residents, as when Willow oddly accuses tennis-playing socialite Palmer Pilsner of leaving a death threat under her door. Hoping to smooth things over with Willow, Emma gives her a gift basket, but when Willow is fatally bludgeoned by a candlestick from that basket, Emma becomes the prime suspect in her murder. Things may be going well with the spa, which is booked up, but Emma can’t get over being both a suspect in Willow’s death and, soon, the recipient of a death threat of her own—so she decides to do a little investigating. It turns out that a lot of people had reasons for disliking Willow. As the police question the most likely candidates, Emma uses her network of friends to dig up information while trying to maintain her inner peace and her hopes of seeing one of the fairies Nana Lissa assures her are nearby.

A promising spinoff of Gerber’s Fairy Garden Mystery series with many of the same charming characters.