A FOOL AND HIS MONET BY SANDRA ORCHARD

At first I thought I wasn’t going to receive this book. It was on the Revell March blog tour and arrived late (10th, I think.) That didn’t give me much time to read it, but I’m glad I was able to review the book after all. On the surface it’s just a light mystery with some comedy in it, about a clumsy and slightly harebrained woman who has joined the FBI Art Crime Team. But there must be something else in there, because it was one of the review books I’ve most enjoyed reading. In fact, although the middle is a little rambling and the style rather brisk—leading to confusion if you’re reading in a hurry—I’d like to reread it. No offense to the marvelously talented writers out there, but I rarely want to go twice through anything that’s sent to me for review!

There wasn’t much plot. Serena Jones drifted around St. Louis, trying to track down two paintings stolen from a local museum where her friend Zoe works. Serena, who is clueless in all senses of the word, endlessly interviews (with often amusing incidents and lack of success) everyone who worked in the museum, and constantly makes some embarrassing mistakes as she can’t figure out the perpetrators. Large areas of light side plot involve her friendship with two men—the hunkier-than-is-realistic man who runs her apartment complex, and the snarky, witty FBI agent who trained her and now babysits her. I found the agent, Tanner, a more entertaining character, largely because he often said the things I wanted to say. Readers can vote for which guy Serena ends up with, although I don’t think she’s particularly suited to either of them. Her parents and her elderly aunt also add a lot of action—her aunt actually helps solve the mystery.

I was a little surprised by the one of the perpetrators and I felt the character was—peculiar, at best. Maybe even unreal or maybe the motivations just weren’t spelled out enough. The mystery is solved at the end but A Fool and His Monet seems to be the first volume in a long novel rather than an individual mystery book. Orchard’s first series, Port Aster, also seemed to be a 3-volume novel rather than three loosely connected stories as is the case with many mysteries. So I’m sure Serena’s adventures are far from over.

I was given this book by Revell in exchange for my honest opinion.