Two Tickets to the Christmas Ball

It’s Christmas and Cora Crowder just can’t get into any kind of Christmas spirit.  None of it feels right.  She’s a relatively new Christian, with minimal support in the city.  Her family puts the “fun” in dysfunctional, so they are more of a downer than anyone needs.

Simon Derrick is the serious man who is the boss of Cora’s boss at work.  They really don’t know each other until they are both at the same odd bookstore at the same time.  They also both receive tickets to a well-kept secret: The Sage Street Annual Christmas Ball.  Neither really has any intention of going.  This is a romance, so the reader knows better.

Paul writes a believable love story about two people from varying backgrounds, united by their faith.  She manages to interweave fairies and wizards into this faith without a great deal of hoopla and uproar; all things are possible.  While reading this, I was reminded a great deal of Grace Livingston Hill’s work (updated quite a bit) and also of the works of Emilie Loring.  Fans of either author should be happy to read Ms. Paul, if they haven’t already.

Reviewed by P.J. Coldren, April 2011.

Callie Webber has a job she loves. Experienced as a private investigator and attorney, she is now employed by the J.O.S.H.U.A. Foundation to investigate the integrity, including financial activity, of nonprofit organizations in which her philanthropist boss is interested. He then decides whether to make donations, often very substantial, based on her
recommendations. Oddly enough, Callie and her boss, Tom, have never actually met but they have developed a strong rapport and a feeling of mutual trust over the phone.

Working for the foundation gives Callie a sense of making a real contribution to society and enhances her faith in Christ. It also keeps her so busy she has little time to dwell on the sudden and gruesome death of her husband although she treasures her quiet times in her home on the Chesapeake. Thus, she is looking forward to returning home when Tom asks her to make one more day trip first, to deliver a check to an old friend’s hunger relief organization.

What promises to be an easy errand soon turns into something a bit more involved. Tom’s friend dies, almost in front of Callie, and it becomes apparent that the cause is probably murder. Tom asks Callie to stay and investigate on behalf of his friend. Unfortunately, it’s not long before Callie realizes her own life may well be in danger and very few of the victim’s family and co-workers can be trusted. Solving this murder may carry a very high price.

A Penny for Your Thoughts is the first of the Million Dollar Mysteries by Mindy Starns Clark. Billed as an “inspirational” or “religious” mystery, the touch of faith is lightly done and comes across quite naturally and unobtrusively rather than being heavyhanded as some religious novels can be. Callie is a refreshingly intelligent and resourceful woman, eminently likable, while Tom is an enigma. Who is this man besides being very wealthy and undoubtedly generous? When will he and Callie meet? What, if anything, will happen when they do?

The author has really piqued my interest with this first entry and I’m looking forward to the next, as much for the puzzles surrounding Tom, as for Callie’s sleuthing adventures. It’s nice to have a new mystery series with a well-constructed plot in addition to good character development, a combination not every author can accomplish.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, 2002.
Review first published on murderexpress.net in 2002.