Elementary, My Dear Watkins

by: Mindy Starns Clark

Published by: Harvest House Publishers (January 2007)

Reviewed by Kathy Johnson

The third book in the Smart Chick Mystery series, Elementary, My Dear Watkins,finds Jo Tulip once again dispensing household advice in her newspaper column, solving a mystery, and pursuing her love interest.

All three converge when she receives anonymous messages through her advice column warning of danger. Her ex-fiance informs Jo that it is her life in danger right before he takes a fall in front of a New York train. All the while, her present boyfriend who is working in Europe, must confront the reaches of Jo's powerful and wealthy family.

Jo Tulip's family is wealthy and dysfunctional--from a grandmother who has taken in a teenage girl, an aunt whose life revolves around the garden, parents who have tried to manipulate Jo's life, an uncle and cousin warring with her father in business, and the business itself. Her family may have some unusual members, but who would want her dead?

Will Jo be able to keep both herself and her long distance romance with Danny Watkins alive? Has her faith been tested beyond what it can take? Can she solve the mystery in time?

Armchair Interviews says: The story is humorous, multi-layered, faced-paced mystery, and slower-paced love story.