Book: Bundle of Trouble Delivers a Good Mystery

I have been an avid mystery fan since my mother gave me my first Bobbsey Twins book. Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys joined the crew, and then I ran through authors Agatha Christie, Mary Higgins Clark, Patricia Cornwell and a host of others. Alas, motherhood has turned my reading time into less gruesome fare, as I’ve consumed books about parenting (less gruesome, sometimes more grueling.)

So it was a real treat to get a tweet asking if I would be interested in doing a book review, and even more intriguing once I found out it was for a mystery. Why not? Making no promises, I took the plunge.

Bundle of Trouble (A Maternal Instincts Mystery)by Diana Orgain is about new mom Kate Connolly, home on maternity leave, stumbling into a murder mystery — and maybe even a new career as a private investigator. When a dead man is pulled out of the San Francisco Bay, the police suspect a connection with Kate’s ne’er do well brother-in-law George. She’s in a race against the police… and her maternity leave… to get to the bottom of the mystery. In the meantime she is also learning how to be Mom to newborn Laurie… as if that weren’t hard enough without chasing a murderer!

Although there were a few times when I felt frustrated with the new-mom-as-private-eye hook, overall I enjoyed the book. There were moments where I laughed, identifying with those awkward new-mom moments we all face (there is a bit about fathers and TVs in the delivery room that is priceless, as well as Kate’s constant struggle with list-making), and there were moments when I just could not but the book down — which for me is the ultimate test of how good a mystery is. I was exhausted from a long flight and a time zone change, and yet I stayed up later than I should have to keep reading yet another chapter.

It is a fun read with some twists and turns and neither is completely predicatable nor comes to an impossible conclusion. Just what I like in a mystery novel.

You can find Bundle of Trouble (A Maternal Instincts Mystery)at Amazon. com or check with other booksellers.
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Disclosure: Diana Orgain’s publisher provided me with a copy of the book. I am part of the Amazon Associates program.

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