MURDER IN A LAVENDER DAZE

A murdered woman leaves behind an extended list of people who might have wanted her dead.

Emma Brennan is the owner of Aroma Wellness Spa in beautiful Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Emma’s mother, a college professor, is unhappy about her life choices, but Emma is supported by her grandmother and father, even if he’s often away on outdoor adventure trips. The spa is hosting a bunch of events leading up to Addison Lacey’s “happily divorced” party, where friends and relatives who never thought the marriage would last help her celebrate its end. The fly in the ointment is Addison’s mother, Gianna McKay, who’s hard to get along with and even threatens to cut Addison’s trust fund. When Emma goes to the McKay house to pick up her payment, she and Addison find Gianna dead in her bedroom. Emma’s already been involved in solving a murder, and although Det. Dylan Summers knows she has a talent for sniffing out the truth, he’s far from pleased to see her when he arrives at the crime scene. Gianna may have been smothered with one of the lavender pillows given to all the divorce party guests, and Emma, fearing her murder might damage the spa’s reputation, can’t resist poking around. Addison’s father, golf course designer O’Malley McKay, rushes home from a business trip to San Francisco to support his daughter, who was upstairs wearing headphones and listening to loud music when the murder presumably happened—making her a suspect. Enough people disliked Gianna to mount a challenge to Emma’s investigation. As the spa treatments continue for the divorce party guests, Emma hopes to keep everyone serene while she digs around looking for answers.

Information about soothing treatments and several healthy recipes help calm the turbulence surrounding the murder.