Reviewed by Rabia Tanveer for Readers' Favorite

 

Angie Pantera thought she had a perfect life. She had a husband who loved her and she loved him for 25 years, she has two children who have grown up to be brilliant human beings and she has an anniversary to celebrate all that very soon. However, her world comes crashing down when she finds out that her life is not as perfect as she thought it was. She tries to look for answers and some comfort. She finds that in the form of a church-run nursing home where she thinks she has a place. However, even that becomes a nightmare when something innocent turns out to be a curse. Now people are ending up dead and they all seem to be connected to Angie. What is she going to do now? Will her blessing be a curse? Can she even clear her name before it is too late?

 

Before I jump into reviewing Tigers Love Bubble Baths & Obsession Perfume (who knew!) by Mary K. Savarese, let me praise the author for the selection of the cover image. I know it is bad to judge a book by its cover, but the moment I laid eyes on this cover, I knew the book would be good. That being said, I was very happy when I realized that I was correct in making this assumption. Unlike the usual murder mysteries that have young, vital and obviously attractive people as protagonists, this novel has a woman who has lived and loved her life and is now on to the next chapter. I enjoyed reading this novel from the perspective of a person who is not 25 years old. I loved the themes, the narrative and the overall development of the plot. The author had complete command over the story. There were no slip-ups, no mistakes and no complaints from me, which made this a brilliant novel. What more can I say? I loved it!

Henry G. Brinton, author of City of Peace

 

Freshly-divorced Angie Pantera looks for new life in the town of Birdsong, Maine, working as the recreational director of a Catholic nursing home. But when elderly residents begin to die, suspicion falls on Angie, who may be delivering more than the Eucharist. Mary K. Savarese writes with warmth, wisdom and spiritual magic, revealing how the impossible can become possible in a community of fragile but faithful people.

 

D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

 

If the title of this book doesn't attract interest right off the bat, its subject (a woman who forges a new life for herself as a nursing home recreation director, only to face charges of negligence and murder as residents begin to die under mysterious circumstances) will.

 

Tigers Love Bubble Baths & Obsession Perfume is billed as a cozy mystery, but under that headline lies a wealth of unique attributes of which the book's title is only the first indication that this is not your typical cozy mystery read.

 

For one thing, forty-eighty-year-old Angie Pantera, a self-proclaimed good-looker facing the ultimate betrayal by the love of her life, is reinventing her world under not just one cloud, but a new threat.

 

This leads her on a mission to clear her name, rebuild her life, and become an amateur sleuth in order to do so, bringing readers into the heart of a mystery that edges into questions of miracles as well as murder.

 

Readers thus receive a more multifaceted story than most cozy mysteries offer, with more twists and turns than the typical production.

 

From Church politics and involvements in the home they manage to the aftermath of divorce, the influence of serendipity and new obstacles to Angie's ultimate success, Mary K. Savarese writes with a warm, revealing hand. She deftly develops characters while painting a swirl of crisis situations that keeps readers not just involved, but emotionally connected to events. The ethical reflections are just as intriguing as the mystery itself: "Our residents asked for a final wish. God granted that wish. Why else would they die with smiles on their faces?”

 

Tigers Love Bubble Baths provides an engrossing saga of love, betrayal, murder, and underlying wishes and dreams about life's progression and end. These facets weave nicely into a story that will keep mystery readers engaged and thinking long after Angie's own dilemmas are resolved.