A Fatal Romance

By June Shaw

Fixing up homes can be tricky.
Finding true love can be even trickier.
But finding a killer can be plain old deadly . . .
 
Twin sister divorcees Sunny Taylor and Eve Vaughn have had their fill of both heartaches and headaches. So when they settle down in the small Louisiana town of Sugar Ledge and open a remodeling and repair company, they think they’ve finally found some peace—even though Eve is still open for romance while Sunny considers her own heart out-of-business.
 
Then their newest customer ends up face-down in a pond, and his widow is found dead soon after. Unfortunately, Sunny was witnessed having an unpleasant moment with the distraught woman, and suspicion falls on the twins. And when an attempt is made on Eve’s life, they find themselves pulled into a murder mystery neither knows how to navigate.
 
With a town of prying eyes on them, and an unknown culprit out to stop them, Sunny and Eve will have to depend on each other like never before if they’re going to clip a killer in the bud.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jan 24, 2017
• ISBN: 9781516100927

Reviews for A Fatal Romance

[harley0326 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is my first time to read a book from this author. I really like her creativity and how the story flowed so easily. This cozy mystery was a bit more serious than I am use to and I have to say I really enjoyed it. The characters were great and I loved the twins so much. The author did a great job of describing them and I found them to be enchanting. It can be very hard to figure out who is who when you are dealing with twins. I remember in high school there were a set of identical twin boys. They loved to fool teachers and their friends.Sunny and Eve have opened a remodeling and repair company together. They are very gifted at their work and have clients lined up. I loved the spunkiness of one of the twins. She was very outgoing and looking for love. The other twin was a bit more reserved and not as trusting as her sister. The author really showed how close they were and I loved how they could sense when something was wrong with the other. The story surrounds the mystery of who killed their client . What I really liked was the nosy neighbors, and the detective who wanted them to stay out of the investigation. Neighbors love to think they are helping when giving information but sometimes they can really be well too chatty. The police are suspicious of Sunny and Eve. What makes everyone suspicious of the twins? Why do they start losing business? They soon realize they are in danger when one of them is injured by an unknown person. I loved the banter between Dave who comes to install an alarm system in one of the twins houses. He seemed to be an honest person but when the alarm doesn't work he became my number one suspect. I loved how the author gave us several suspects and I had a hard time figuring out who the killer was. Before the suspect is caught another murder occurs. Who is the unfortunate person who becomes victim number two? The twins will have to watch each other's backs as they try to stay one step ahead of the killer. Why does someone want one or both of the twins dead? It is a great mystery with twists that draw the reader into the story with action and intrigue. There was a part in the story that piqued my interest. Several times the author mentioned an older sister of the twins who was shot and killed in a drive by. This has bothered the twins for a long time because the murder was never solved. I'm hoping the author will write a story about this unsolved case and give closure to the twins. The ending is a shocker to me and I loved how the author was able to stump me on figuring out the killer. I received a complimentary copy of this book from The Great Escapes Book Tour . The review is my own opinion.

[kris_anderson-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A Fatal Romance by June Shaw is the first book in A Twin Sisters Mystery series. Sunny Taylor and Eve Vaughn are identical twins with very different personalities. The two of them joined together to open Twin Sister Remodeling and Repairs in Sugar Ledge, Louisiana. Eve and Sunny are attending the funeral of Zane Snelling, a client. They did a patio and pond for the Snellings. Zane had tripped on his patio and ended up drowning in his pond. The widow enters the church with the urn, trips, the lid pops off and ashes fly out. Some ashes end up on Sunny and in her jacket pocket (which causes to her laugh in nervousness). Sunny offers to fetch a sweeper and Daria Snelling gets upset. Sunny starts belting out a Christmas carol (she does this when uncomfortable, nervous, or thinking about relations with men). Daria orders the twins to leave the church. Sunny later discovers that some ashes are in her jacket pocket. She calls and leaves a message for Daria stating she has something that belonged to Zane and leaves her phone number. Later that day Eve returns to her home to find it ransacked. Someone destroyed her paintings (I am using the word loosely) and left a message on the wall. What were the intruders looking for? When Daria does not return Sunny’s call, the twins go over to her home. They find Daria dead in her kitchen. Detective Wilet is assigned the case and his investigation leads him to Sunny (of course). When clients start canceling their jobs, Sunny sets out to find the real killer. But this murderer will go to great lengths to avoid capture including killing anyone in his way!A Fatal Romance is an interesting concept for a new cozy mystery series. I do not believe there is another series with a set of twins. I found the pace of the novel to be on the slow side, and I was not fond of the characters. I found Sunny to be neurotic. She also has self-esteem issues (appearance and intelligence), and is jealous of her sister. She is also overprotective of Eve and smothers her (I understand why, but it was still unpleasant). Sunny worried about Eve over the course of the investigation. She would drive down her street, call her, and enter her home to check on her (many, many times). If I was Eve, I would change the locks of my home (or move away and leave no forwarding address). I believe Sunny’s singing of Christmas songs is supposed to be humorous, but I found it annoying (my mother thought it was funny, but she did not have to read the whole book). Eve is egocentric and intent on finding the love of her life (she has three ex-husbands from whom she still receives expensive gifts). I think the author was going for quirky, but she missed the mark with these characters. The characters lacked depth and realism. I give A Fatal Romance 2 out of 5 stars (not a fan). Sunny going on about Zane’s ashes was not amusing. She kept going on about the “flakes” in her jacket pocket and I thought she was going to lose it when she found some in the church. The mystery was uncomplicated (once it got started). I could identify the culprit long before the reveal (very small suspect pool). A Fatal Romance is just not my type of cozy mystery (I am told it might be because I lack a sense of humor).