Spanish Dagger
China Bayles Mystery, No 15

by Susan Wittig Albert

China Bayles is juggling her herb shop, catering business, and starting a weekend papermaking class, plus her family’s needs. Luckily, China has friends to help her through each aspect of her life. Even when her friend Ruby is trying to deal with her mother getting older and her ex-boyfriend blowing her off, Ruby still tries to be there for China, giving her good advice on how to figure out who killed the person China found while looking for yucca plants.

There’s a subplot where China’s half brother hires her husband, who’s a private investigator, to figure out if her father had an accidental death or not.

China and her friends are instantly likeable characters. Readers can sympathize with their busy lives. Readers can also understand that some will do whatever they can for each other, i.e., finding yucca plants for a papermaking workshop. The mystery of why the corpse was in the yucca plants, and who killed that person, is filled with many possible suspects. The mystery has enough complexity that it keeps readers guessing what exactly happened.

The subplot is humorous as China really makes everyone understand she wishes her half brother would leave their father’s death alone and how she emphasizes that he is her half-brother when people call him her brother.

China Bayles' Book of Days (NonFiction)

Reviews of other titles in this series

Mistletoe Man #9
Dilly of a Death #12
Dead Mans Bones #13
Bleeding Hearts #14
Spanish Dagger #15
Nightshade #16
Wormwood #17 [review 1] [review 2]
Mourning Gloria #19
Cat's Claw #20
Widow's Tears #21
Death Come Quickly #22
Bittersweet #23
Blood Orange #24
The Last Chance Olive Ranch #25 [review 1] [review 2]
Queen Anne's Lace #26