Elementary, My Dear Watkins

Mindy Starns Clark

Jo Tulip is recovering from being too near a bomb when it exploded. She is out of the hospital and slowly recuperating. Now someone who reads her newspaper column or web site is sending her odd emails. The person is asking if he/she should get involved when knowing about a possible murder attempt.

Danny Watkins is both Jo's best friend and the man she is in love with. He is in Paris for a three month internship with a respected photojournal magazine. He can't be there to help her, so she doesn't mention the emails to him. Danny is learning the trade he loves and working with people he has respected for years. Still, he is surprised when a job offer drops in his lap for more money than he knows he can expect at his level.

Jo travels from her home in Pennsylvania to New York City to see the doctor about her ankle and to see if she can discover who is sending the emails. There she runs into her ex-fiance, Brad. He insists they have lunch while he tells her why he left and what has happened. He believes her life is in danger. When he is severely injured while saving her from an unexpected attack, she believes him.

The story Brad tells before his injury involves her family and is very upsetting. After the fall, she goes to stay with her grandmother until they can figure out what is happening. Why would someone want to kill her? Could her parents have done what Brad claims? And the reader also wants to know if the events happening to Danny in Europe are related to what is happening to Jo in the United States.

This is a satisfying and comfortable ending to the Jo Tulip trilogy. The mystery is unrelated to the ones in the first two books. It's well done and unexpected, although the solution to the mystery felt contrived. The romance between Jo and Danny grows as the novel progresses despite the ocean between them. By the end of the book, the romantic will sigh contentedly.

This is Christian chick lit. Chick lit of course means it's not too deep, is often amusing, and gives the reader a strong young woman who still has her emotional conflicts. Mindy Starns Clark is able to give her characters Christian values yet keep the soul of chick lit. This book can easily stand alone. I really recommend reading the first two before it, though.

The Trouble With Tulip
Blind Dates Can Be Murder
Elementary, My Dear Watkins