the power of partnership
Olivia Blunt is a big fan of fictional detective stories and one real-life detective. As a fact checker for an online news bureau, she checked on story about Aubrey Merritt, and she became fascinated by the woman. She used logic and psychology to solve famous murders, and Olivia just knows that working for her would be life-changing. So when the chance came to apply to be her assistant, she applied.
Olivia gets the job only to spend two months answering the phone and making appointments. She got to go out to art gallery with her on a case, only to be the person holding an umbrella over the detective’s head as she got in and out of the cab.
But then she got the call that changed everything. Haley Summersworth calls about her mother, Violet. The previous week, her mother had fallen from her deck and died. The police are saying that it’s a suicide, but Haley is convinced that her mother was murdered. Olivia does some research and presents the case to Merritt, and the world’s greatest detective agrees that it is worth investigating. So they head off to Vermont, with Olivia driving her in her father’s beat=up car.
Violet was from a poor background and worked her way up to a position in advertising. That was how she caught the eye of the man who owned the company. She was only 30 when she married 50-year-old Warren Summersmith, who had 2 kids. After they married, they had 2 more kids, and were together for many years, until Warren fell off a boat and died. Violet ran their businesses for many years, but now Warren’s son Neil runs Kingfisher Development and their son Scott runs the Wild Goose Resort.
Merritt and Olivia stay at the Wild Goose Resort (Merritt in a lovely suite, Olivia in a small staff bedroom) as they investigate. They talk to the family and friends and look over Violet’s house. They dig up secrets and rumors, addictions and affairs and financial indiscretions. And through it all, Olivia offers up her ideas and theories to Merritt. And through all the investigating, Olivia is trying so hard to impress her boss. But instead, she gets everything absolutely and completely wrong.
Will they be able to solve the mystery of Victoria’s death anyway?
The World’s Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant is a fun new murder mystery that introduces a modern-day Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. The partnership between Merritt and Blunt is a perfect balance of personalities and styles as Merritt quietly notes the clues she sees and hears and Blunt strikes up conversations with those involved in the case and digs up secrets. The relationship makes for a fun story, and I loved seeing how they interacted with each other through the case. This mystery is a lot of fun and filled with surprises and intelligence.
Egalleys for The World’s Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant were provided by Berkley through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.
