Customer Reviews

Shadow of an Angel (Augusta Goodnight Mysteries)

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These Augusta Goodnight mysteries are wonderful with a cup of tea. This third installment of this clever and unique series, introduces the reader to Arminda who is recently widowed and visiting with her grandmother. Her cousin, Otto, is murdered and she finds the body! The story weaves around an antique quilt and family members from the past and present interlock to solve this mystery.

I'm looking forward to Mignon's next Augusta Goodnight read.

This may be the worst moment in Minda Hobb's life because she is mourning for her young husband she loved very much who died in a freak lightening accident while they were on a picnic. She moves back to her hometown of Angel Heights, South Carolina where she has another traumatic incident. In the woman's bathroom of Holley Hall, in the stall next to the one Minda was using, she comes upon the body of Cousin Otto.

At first everyone believed he died a natural death but the coroner rules it a murder. Feeling alone and frightened, Minda moves into the family home where she meets her temporary guardian angel, the heavenly Augusta Goodnight. Working together with some help from Minda's family, it is discovered that Otto's death and an attempt on Minda's life has its origin in a secret society two generations back who made a quilt that contained a deadly message somebody today doesn't want made public.

SHADOW OF AN ANGEL is a delightful and whimsical cozy costarring a protagonist that fans will like and sympathize with and her charming guardian angel. Augusta discreetly nudges Minda in the direction she wants her to go. The mystery itself is a cerebral teaser that will confound most readers but the joy in this novel is not the answer but the quest to find it.

Harriet Klausner

Arminda Hobbs has returned to her hometown of Angel Heights after the sudden death of her husband. She needs the comfort of her family. Unfortunately, she finds the body of her cousin Otto in the Ladies Room of Holley House, formerly the Minerva Academy. She also finds a curious pin. The design is reflected in an Alma Mater sampler done by her great grandmother, and a mysterious quilt passed along from member to member of a group of friends. How does this all tie into Otto's murder? Fortunately, she has her family and a guardian angel to help her.

The Augusta Goodnight series is fast becoming one of my favorites. The temporary guardian(her real job is tending heavenly strawberry fields) once again steps in to solve another mystery, in this case, she is tying up loose ends from a previous job. I found it very hard to put this one down and can't wait until the next one.

Temporarily filling in for Minda Hobbs' guardian angel, Augusta Goodnight is determined to help Minda discover the truth behind the recent murder of her cousin and its connection with mysterious events that occurred generations before in the small South Carolina town of Angel Heights. Minda, still grieving over the loss of her husband, had hoped to find peace in her childhood town. In order to do that, though, she must first help Augusta settle long-unresolved debts from her family's past. Minda is certain that her cousin's death is somehow connected to the secret society of private school girls known as the Mystic Six. Their flower-shaped pins and missing quilt are somehow at the core of the mystery. Will Minda be able to uncover the group's secret before someone else is killed? If August has anything to say about it, she will and she may even find someone to help heal her heart at the same time.

I can't help but like a book whose introductory sentence is "Things got off to a rotten start when I found Cousin Otto dead in the ladies' room." Although the writing at the onset of the book is a bit lackluster, the plot and characters are just interesting enough enough to hold the reader's attention until the middle, when the pace picks up and the book becomes truly interesting. Augusta's quirky malapropisms and a nicely complex mystery combine to make this a very satisfying read. Though it's not the best cozy I've read in a while, it was entertaining and I'm looking forward to the next installment in the series!

This book is a great book because it is descriptiv and full of description and detail. I love how they describe Augusta Goodnight, the protagonist's gaurdian angel. She is full of goodness in the way that she does everything and I think that that is wonderful! And it is full of mystery and the past where things were left unsolved from the 40's and earlier. Sadness occours, MURDER!!!!!! Everything that you could want in a book, is in the Shadow of an Angel!!!!! It took me around 3 days to complete it!!!! This is one book that you won't want to abandon ever@!!!! If I abandoned this book, it would be because I don't like to read, because this book has every genre there is!!!! It even has romance, and if youre a guy, then this book is still golden because it has action and adventure in it!!!!!!! If I abandoned this book, then i would be crazy!!!!!!!!1

rEaD tHiS boOk pLeAsE!

I enjoy this series because, due to the fact that the main character, angel Augusta Goodnight, is the only recurring character in the series, each book is different from the previous one. I enjoy many of the more popular mystery series going today, but find it sometimes hard to believe as the series gets older that the main character in the books would run across so many murders unless s/he is an actual detective or policeman.
In this entry, Augusta is helping a young widow recover from the loss of her husband. The widow, Minda, has returned to her small hometown, hoping that the familiarity of it will help ease her pain. Unfortunately, not too long after she arrives, she finds her cousin, Otto, dead in the women's restroom of the local museum.
The mystery involves events from nearly a century before, giving some added period pieces to the mystery. There are many many characters in the book, making it sometimes confusing. I had to refer to the list of characters in the front of the book a few times until I had all the names straight. That aside, it was a quick read and very enjoyable. I am looking forward to the next book in the series.