First an admission, with another review already waiting to be written, I didn't set out to read this one in one day. Just a quick peek, I thought. I'm always drawn to character driven stories, however, and the next thing I knew it was almost time to think about a mid-evening snack as I pondered the ending. All-Day Breakfast Cafe owner Gia Morelli is beginning to feel at home in the Rolling Pines area on the outskirts of Florida's Ocala National Forest but wasn't prepared to find herself living across the street from a murder scene. Ironically, she'd just had a confrontation with the victim, Gladys, earlier when Gladys accused her dog of digging up her lawn and threatened to take care of it permanently if it happened again. Gia's dog, a Bernese Mountain Dog named Thor, had been inside at the time and was always closely monitored and on leash when out, but the woman had loudly persisted. Turns out that this sort of run-in with a neighbor wasn't a rarity for Gladys, so the suspect list was rather long when she was found dead.

Although a relative late-comer to the series, as noted, I've come to like the characters and how well they mesh their skills and personalities to work through their amateur investigations. Given that Gia's best friend Savannah's husband Leo is with the police, as is Gia's boyfriend Hunt, they obviously aren't just flailing around in the dark. Alfie, their friend with some serious computer and hacking skills, is a stand-out this go-round and I had admired him for potentially putting himself in hot water with the police near the end for the benefit of his friends. A sense of community shines forth in this installment, making Gia realize she really, really needs to get to know her neighbors better. Let's just say, the neighbors are their for them when the time comes. Another stand-out character, one willing to fight his own inner demons that prevent him from being easily being able to enter a building of any sort, is Harley, who I recalled vividly from the previous book. He's there for Savannah in her time of need once again, offering support.

In other words, it's the characters that drew me into the series and made this one a stand-out to me. Now, true, I did have a couple quibbles with Gia, such as her tendency to venture out without her cell phone on her instead of someplace else in her purse or on a table. As she acknowledges, she let her guard down, so it's obvious she's recognizing some basics she needs to work on. Let's face it, how many of us really think we're going to be attacked when we venture out our doors, though she's trying. Bottom line, a fast-paced mystery that held my attention from the beginning. Thanks #BeyondThePagePublishing for this early peek at what's going on with Gia and her circle of friends. What a great ending after that emotional roller-coaster at the end.