Winnie's Web

The second book in the Jenny McNair Mystery Series, Winnie's Web, begins when Jenny McNair Campbell, reluctant assistant to her detective father, moves into the craftsman cottage that she has inherited from her beloved bohemian great aunt, Winnie. The day she arrives in her new home on beautiful Anamcara Island in the Pacific Northwest, Jenny digs up a skeleton in her rose garden. She also discovers that her aunt had enemies. Jenny attributes her ignorance of this to her aunt's ability to always see the best in everyone and to her philosophy that what others think of you is none of your business. Unfortunately Jenny is not as steadfast in her ability to follow that mantra, especially when she is met with the unwelcoming committee on the island. She soon realizes that some of the current islanders are still holding onto a fifty-year-old grudge which now, with Winnie gone, is directed at her.As Jenny delves into her aunt's diaries, letters, and old photograph albums, as well as old newspaper gossip columns, Jenny discovers who was buried in her aunt's garden some fifty years ago. She also finds the Pied Piper gardener who was the great love of her aunt's life. She reads of artists who stayed with her aunt and other visitors to the island from a lifetime ago. She learns about her aunt's beautiful friend Maggie who broke hearts and destroyed friendships. And she learns why she is not welcome in the Main Street Market, the Cut, Curl, and Color Hair Salon, and most painfully, The Crown and Anchor Pub. Jenny McNair is a spiritual counselor, potter & reluctant assistant to her father, Charlie, Scotsman, ladies' man & detective. Jenny solves crimes by ordinary activities-listening to music, making pottery & taking ferry boat rides back & forth to Bainbridge Island.As Charlie says, "So let me get this straight, Jenny darlin', you solved this case with some music that was playing over & over in your head, making a wee bowl, & by helping a woman on the ferry with her car seat?"Mysteries, including the discovery of a skeleton buried in her rose garden, as well as that of 3 abandoned dogs & a runaway boy, seem to fall into her lap. All are from Jenny's POV except for Saving Sharkey which is from the perspective of Malcolm MacGregor, the love of Jenny's life, which overlaps with Three Dog Island. While they are separate mysteries, they overlap in time, giving the reader a chance to see events unfold from different perspectives. In all the books, there are at least two mysteries going on with in-depth character development. Despite the crimes of murder, kidnapping, abuse, & smuggling, these books can be considered cozies. They are filled with charm & humor & even a wee bit of romance