Finding Miranda
The Minokee Mysteries Book One
by Iris Chacon
Miranda Ogilvy is accustomed to being invisible. She’s a big-city librarian until her aunt dies suddenly, leaving Miranda a century-old cottage forty miles beyond the middle of nowhere. So, Miranda makes the life-changing move from Miami to Minokee.
But even in a small town, people don’t notice Miranda. The only two people who seem all too aware of her are a handsome, blind neighbor (way out of her league) and the man who murdered her aunt (too late to move back to Miami?).
Shepard Krausse is a late-night radio talk show host, but it isn’t because he “has a face for radio,” as the saying goes. In fact, Shepard is such a hunk that the little old ladies in his tiny Minokee community set their clocks every day in order to be on their front porches sipping coffee and watching through binoculars as he takes his morning run. Shep waves to the ladies (Psst! Bernice, yer droolin; on yer apron.), but he has never seen them. Shep has been blind since birth. His best friend (and guide dog), Dave, goes everywhere with him, including on the morning run. (Shepard’s the cute one; Dave’s the smart one.)
Shepard’s radio show, “Sheep Counters with Shep and Dave,” caters to insomniacs whose paranoia and conspiracy theories are keeping them awake. Shep has a conspiracy theory of his own. He believes his uncle, the governor of the state of Florida, is corrupt in a big way, and may even be behind the murder of Miranda’s late Aunt Phyllis.
Miranda is small, plain, and, of course, invisible. Shep is the size of a professional wrestler and, of course, resembles Adonis. She squeaks by on a librarian’s salary, still wearing clothes she owned in high school. His matching outfits are laid out for him every morning by his chauffeur/valet. She has learned four languages by listening to CDs in her car. He speaks seven languages, which he learned while in boarding school in Switzerland. Her aunt was a small-town librarian and part-time birdwatcher. His uncle is the governor of Florida, and his mother acts like the Queen of England. Miranda attended a community college. Shepard has an Ivy League law degree.
Not since the owl and the pussycat has there been a more unlikely pair.
Now that Miranda has moved into Minokee, Shep and Dave are determined to protect their new neighbor from the bad guys. They just need to find out who or what the villains are. Miranda and Shep don’t know that soon, on a steamy Florida night, the city girl and the blind deejay will be running for their lives in the inky darkness of a swampy Florida forest.
REVIEW
5 out of 5
I was intrigued by the blurb of this romantic mystery, and I was curious to see whether it would skew more towards romance or mystery – the blurb certainly leaned towards the romance side of things. Ok – onto the book! Miranda and Shepard are great characters, but Dave the dog is the one who really stole my heart. There’s enough twists to keep me invested in the mystery, and the plot moves along smoothly enough that if you’re not careful you’ll blow right through this story. If you enjoy fun mysteries with an unforgettable cast of characters, you’ll love this first installment in a new series!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Iris Chacon is like a trip to sunny Florida, from the horse country of Ocala to the playgrounds and beaches of Pensacola, Orlando, Miami, Key West and all points in between.
Good, clean, fun is the Chacon mantra, whether on white sandy beaches, on theme park thrill rides, or on the pages of a novel. A good book is a vacation for the mind and spirit, and Iris loves vacationing with quirky characters in quaint locations.
Travel through laughter and tears with surprising people, and see the world in its happiest colors. That’s what reading can do for us. That’s what Iris Chacon writes for us.
