Review: A brand-new Kiki mystery is cause for rejoicing!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 10, 2013
I first met author Joanna Campbell Slan several years ago when she did a book signing of her Kiki Lowenstein mysteries at a scrapbook crop I attended. She was gracious and fun, and I snapped up signed copies of her first two Kiki mysteries. I quickly became hooked, and since then have read everything Slan has written--she's now got several mystery series going, and they just get better and better.This latest in the Kiki series picks up where "Picture, Perfect, Corpse" left off. Kiki's mother-in-law, Sheila, is still recovering from her broken collarbone suffered in the climax of the 7th book in the Kiki series. "Group, Photo, Grave" is the 8th in the series, and begins with the wedding of Sheila and her beloved Police Chief Robbie Holmes, in a beautifully orchestrated event. It is cheering to see Sheila so happy -- and to hope that perhaps being happy will make her less snappy--but the happiness is short lived. Murder has been done, and the uninvited victim  turns what should have been a joyful honeymoon into a horrible nightmare.The mystery is intriguing as always, and its culmination convincing. What I love just as much, however, is how Slan writes from the heart. She makes us care deeply about her characters, and she always incorporates important social concerns that teach the reader without the reader feeling as if we are being lectured. Slan makes us care.Since I would never give away too much of a mystery (heaven forbid!), I will say that I loved seeing the continuing development of Kiki and Deitweiler's relationship, along with that of Kiki's daughter Anya. Other characters will instruct and delight (and, yes, annoy--Kiki's mother is a horror show; thank goodness for the comic relief of Aunt Penny). It is the gradual revelations regarding Deitweiler's fatherhood, and not only by way of his baby with Kiki (who in this book is not quite four months along) that spoke to me in a special way. Big-hearted is what comes to my mind as just the right word for Slan and so many of her characters. I can't wait to read more about Kiki's changing, wonderful family in the next Kiki mystery! Kiki is not just a literary character--she has become a dear friend.