Review: A Charming Crime by Tonya Kappes

This is the first book in the Magical Cures series by Tonya Kappes.  It is the first book I have read written by Ms. Kappes and it sure won't be my last.  I found the book humerus,  fun, a bit campy and with just enough action to keep the story moving.  We are introduced to June Heal, as the fire department has come to put out the fire that has destroyed her shed and workroom.  See, June has taken over running her mother's homeopathic medicine stall at the local flea market, Doses by Darla.  June has been experimenting with creating better tonics, even though she has had no formal training.  She simply trusts her instincts as her mother has instructed her all her life.  

June has a best friend, Oscar who lives next door and has been her best friend since childhood.  Oscar is now on the police force and works under his uncle, Jordan.  
After the destruction of her shed and workshop, Oscar convinces June that she should check out the town of Whispering Falls, a small village not far for their current hometown of Locust Grove.  Oscar himself is taking over the job of Sheriff and thinks that June should relocate as well.  June is unsure, but decides to head to the village with her cat, Mr. Prince Charming to check things out. What she finds throws her carefully ordered and mundane world into a tailspin.

The entire story is told from June's point of view.  There are parts where I could really feel June's confusion with how things were working out and the new world she had found herself in.  I am not sure that could believe how quickly June adjusted to her new life though.  Maybe it was the almost hippie lifestyle that June was raised in, or maybe it is that she has always been just a step off of normal herself.  

As I stated earlier, this is a fun book, though a bit campy at times.  But not every book needs to be or even should be a serious tomb to be painstakingly picked apart and debated over for every drop of nuance, real or imagined, that it may or may not hold.  I am giving this book a solid 3 stars on Goodreads.  It was a quick read, and just the right thing if you are looking for a few hours of distraction.

Goodreads:

Bubble... Bubble...

June Heal has nothing to lose when she relocates her homeopathic cure shop, A Dose of Darla, from the flea market booth in her home town, to a quaint shop in the cozy but unusual little town of Whispering Falls, Kentucky. Or so it seems.

Cures and trouble...

Whispering Falls has a lot of secrets. From talking snow globes to whispering animals not to mention a few sprinkles of fairy dust, June realizes Whispering Falls is more magical than she thought. . .literally.

Magic stirs...

June discovers she was born into a family of psychics, and her homeopathic cures truly are magical. Unfortunately, they are not magical enough to save her from being the number one murder suspect when a member of the community that she had just had a disagreement with shows up face down in the lake with June’s lucky charm in the victim’s grasp.

And troubles double...

Add to that an attraction to her high school best friend, Sheriff Oscar Park and Mr. Prince Charming, her cat, is stealing charms from Belle’s Baubles, June is forced to clear her name in more ways than murder. After all, they don’t have cauldrons in jail.