Flimflam Fairy

Magical Cozy Mystery Bookstore, #1

by

Elizabeth Pantley

Fun beginning for this new paranormal cozy mystery spin-off!

Flimflam Fairy is the first book in veteran author Elizabeth Pantley's new Magical Cozy Mystery Bookstore series featuring new business owners Willa Treadwell and Lucy Young, longtime friends who have retired but surprisingly find themselves at loose ends until they discover the most perfect resolution. In this series opener, readers learn about the store's magical functions and watch as Willa and Lucy jump in with both feet on their first journey literally inside a book and race against time to save a young fairy's life. 

Willa and Lucy are personality opposites: Lucy is a spontaneous, colorful extrovert, while Willa is more reserved and cautious. But in the effort to get them in possession of their new-to-them bookstore and off on their first adventure, we really don't learn too much background about these two main characters; in fact, we are halfway through the book before we even see their surnames. Still, a comfortable familiarity grows, and they are a likable pair, each with quirks and strengths they play to throughout the story. 

The series is a spin-off of the author's previous Magical Cozy Mystery Book Club but works well as a standalone. However, the earlier series is a 'must-read' for paranormal mystery fans who enjoy a literary-themed tale. This book focuses on the front-end process of supplying reading material to the magical libraries and book clubs across the series' world. 

Willa and Lucy get the first look at new publications and are to vet their suitability for inclusion in the libraries. Yet behind-the-scenes secrets remain to unfold. As in the previous series, there is a talking cat and a crossover pink lizard character, an olm named Bob, who makes an early appearance to explain the functions and rules of bookstore ownership to the two women. 

As before, there is plenty of good camaraderie and the sharing of delectable meals as the gals, along with their experienced cat companion, Banjo, go about their mission to save a life or solve the murder of a much-loved fairy in the magical setting of Whisperglow Village. While Banjo is attuned to the ways of the book journeys, the two women must quickly adjust to becoming characters in a novel they are experiencing from the inside out. 

A new twist in this book journey is a time-travel element that gives the main characters the chance to change the story's outcome altogether. This surprising left turn jolts the new investigators into action, adding another layer of suspense and a race against time. Will Lucy, Willa, and Banjo be able to track down the Flimflam Fairy and avert a murder in time? 

I recommend FLIMFLAM FAIRY to readers who enjoy literary-themed paranormal cozy mysteries, especially fans of the author's previous series. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.