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FROM THE GROUNDS UP
by Sandra Balzon
Severn House, March 2010
192 pages
$27.95
ISBN: 0727868306


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Maggie Thorsen is tired of looking at lousy prospects for Uncommon Grounds, her coffeehouse that was taken out by a freak snowstorm. Her realtor, Sarah Kingston, finally comes up with an interesting option. Sarah owns a train station, currently sitting empty. It has lots of potential due to the new commuter train that will be stopping in Brookhills twice daily. Maggy's former partner wants out, Sarah wants in. This could work.

Then things start to go wrong. A relative of Sarah's is murdered. There is vandalism at and around the train station. Accidents begin to center on Maggy and her environs. Who doesn't want Uncommon Grounds to reopen? Or is all of this unrelated to Maggy, and somehow more to do with Sarah and her bizarre family?

Maggy's boyfriend Jake Pavlik is not amused. She keeps turning up in the vicinity of dead bodies and crime scenes . It's bad enough that the guys back at the Brookhill County Sheriff's Department are giving Sheriff Pavlik a hard time about his girlfriend and her uncanny ability to be at a crime scene when they show up. He really doesn't like it when she persists in asking questions and checking things out on her own. It's not just that it makes him look a bit foolish, it tends to be dangerous. That doesn't deter Maggy.

Balzo has quite a good series going with Maggy and her gang. It's cozy without being cute. It definitely appeals to that niche marketing thing that's so hot in publishing now, and yet it's also realistic. Balzo has great characters and a setting that she makes work nicely for her. It's always nice to read a series in order, but Balzo doesn't make that mandatory. My only question? When do the t-shirts come out?

Reviewed by P.J. Coldren, March 2010

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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