Dive in. If you enjoy cozy mysteries, you’ll love this one. I loved Stella immediately.Meet Stella O’Neil, retired FBI agent Oscar O’Neil’s granddaughter. She’s got a lot on her plate, trying to figure out her crazy, stubborn family, the hidden secrets that caused her grandfather’s estrangement from her dad, and starting out as a realtor. Throw in a dead body found in what used to be the town’s … town’s “royalty” family’s manor, and she’s neck deep in a mystery.
She may be sweet, but she’s pretty stubborn herself.
As Stella’s curiosity leads her from one town resident to the next, a dramatic tale of family secrets starts to appear, but is she getting too close to the truth? A scary car chase in the dark has her nerves on edge, but she won’t give up until she finds out who the skeleton once was. She’s so close… but someone… maybe more than one person… will do anything to stop her.
Stella has to solve the murder and figure out the riddle so she can untangle herself from this legal and personal mess… before things go too far.
No graphic violence, sex, or strong language. Other books in the series:
Mind Your Manors
A Dead Market
Home Strange Home
Duplex Double Trouble
Mid-Century Modern Murder
and linked series, Cherry Pie or Die, the Baker Street cozy mysteries.
With a pinch of humor, a bite of suspense, lots of mystery, a touch of small town romance, characters that you want to be friends with, a few dogs and cats, and free recipes, there’s a little bit of something in one of these mystery books for everyone.
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If you like riddles and mysteries, you’ll love this book!
Great start to a great series!! I absolutely loved this book. CeeCee has a way of telling a story that MAKES the reader turn the pages. Just the right amount of spook and mystery.
Stella’s first assignment at Flaming Royalty has her visiting the three senior siblings who live in a creepy old mansion that needs to be readied for an Open House. They are bizarre, to say the least. When Stella discovers a skeleton in the house, she decides to investigate on her own, and as a relative newcomer, she becomes acquainted with the community and its history in the process. The pace picks up quickly with a series of suspicious incidents, and plot twists as the story unfolds. This was a very well written read, with vivid, yet concise descriptions, and memorable characters – an enjoyable page-turner that kept me up way past my bedtime.
I good mix of mystery and real-world real estate. Enjoyed the characters and have purchased t he second book in the series.
I loved everything about this cozy mystery. But then again, I’ve loved all of her books!
I enjoyed this book. I liked the protagonist, but her uncle–who invited her to leave home and come to work for him–never really came to life for me. The bizarre characters who inhabited the mansion his real estate company was trying to sell were well done. But there were several intense scenes where that mansion felt like it was haunted, and at the end, they were never wrapped up. When I finished the book, I felt like I’d had an enjoyable, but sort of unfinished, reading experience. I liked what was there. I just wanted more.
Mind Your Manors is the first book in the Cee Cee James Flamingo Realty Mystery series. Stella O’Neil flees the corporate world and moves back to Pennsylvania and the town she was born in. She has a job selling real estate with her uncle. Her first job is to prepare an old mansion for the market. In walking through the place she stumbles across a body up on the third floor and calls the police. The three elderly residents of the manor seem to be hiding something and Stella begins her own investigation.
This series is off to a great start. What better job for a realtor-in-training, a creepy mansion with an even creepier family. Stella’s wrestling with her own ghosts-in-her-family closet, but when she takes on the creepy mansion in town, she’s dealing with a skeleton, not a ghost. She puts her snoop skills to the test and soon ferrets out the mystery., but not before putting her own life in danger. Can’t wait to read book 2.
I enjoyed this cozy mystery. It was a little different than most. I liked that it didn’t leave the reader hanging. I would recommend.
I really enjoyed this book! The mystery is sound, the characters interesting, and the side plots thought provoking. Good dialogue, too. Very entertaining!
A marvelous start to a new series from a great storyteller! I have come to appreciate that any book from CeeCee James is going to be a well-written, well-told story. And this story is further proof of that statement. There are some crossover characters from another of Ms. James’ series that made this story even more appealing.
Stella’s story is refreshing, and I believe her series will be my favorite. I enjoy reading a cozy mystery where the heroine does not try to one-up the local law enforcement or think herself superior to others. Stella is just a real person, with real life issues, just making her way in the world. She just happens upon a murder victim and her natural curiosity leads her to uncover clues that may help the police put away the murderer.
This is a fun, clean, and easy read. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys an entertaining whodunit.
I enjoyed the book and I think it might become a good series. I liked getting to know Stella O’Neil. I think as Stella looks more into her fathers family the story will become more interesting for me. CeeCee James is an author that I have read before and like so I will be giving this series another look.
A keeps-you-guessing, slightly spooky murder mystery with an engaging amateur sleuth main character.
4 stars
I purchased a copy of Mind Your Manors (A Flamingo Realty Mystery Book 1) by CeeCee James and this review was given freely.
A highly descriptive and detailed story containing small town life, a loving family and a mystery surrounding a creepy family. Raised by a strict and highly focused single father in Seattle, Stella returns to the mysterious town of her estranged relatives, Brookfield, Pennsylvania to work in her unconventional Uncle Chris’ real estate office. Stella’s new mentor Kari throws her into the deep end by abandoning her to clean and stage her first home, Valentine Manor, where not only does Stella find an odd family but also a dead body.
Must read new cozy series!
Stella O’Neil has moved back to her home town and has been hired by her uncle to become a realtor at his company. She has other reasons for moving back to town including finding out why her dad and uncle became estranged from her grandfather, retired FBI agent Oscar O’Neil.
On her first day of the job as a realtor trainee, she is tasked at clearing out and staging the colossal home of 3 elderly siblings with unfriendly personalities. Just Stella’s luck when she discovers a skeleton in one of the empty long forgotten bedrooms. With her sense of curiosity leading the way, Stella soon discovers dark family secrets which someone wants to remain hidden as she investigates the case.
What I really like about this new series are both the characters and the storytelling. Stella is a very likable character that finds herself in some peculiar situations. Her uncle, dad, and grandfather are all a bit stubborn but share one common goal and that is to protect Stella. I can’t wait to dive into the next book in the series to find out what happens to the O’Neil family. Will Stella be able to get the family back together?
Stella can no longer stand her job in the corporate world–she decides-against her Dad’s advice to head off to her small hometown where her Uncle has a job at his Realty company waiting for her. Stella knows nothing about her past and the Grandfather who still lives in that small town. She wants to find out–so off she goes–
Her Uncle is a lot easier going then her Dad—but unlike her Dad he kind of wishes that maybe he can reconnect with his father. Her first assignment is to prep an old mansion for sale. The three octogenarians who live there are less then welcoming–or at least two of them aren’t. As she is wandering around figuring out what to clean or have cleaned first she stumbles upon a dead body. She does tell the police–a lot of good that did. So she decided to “get to know” the other inhabitants of the town and see if she could figure out who the person was–
Things get dicey and Stella is stalked. Her Uncle is starting to worry and her Dad is still trying to entice her to come home.
So what were the mysteries surrounding this mansion and the family that lived there–you will find out–eventually.
The ending made me so very happy–but I won’t tell you why–I think it is what the next book in this series will be about!!
A flamingo logo for a real estate agency? In Pennsylvania? !
Stella moved away from her dad in the Northwest to return to the place where her grandfather and uncle still live, the place where her mother left them. Uncle helps her to take the courses and begin a career in real estate, but her first lesson is in what not to do when you find a skeleton in the client’s residence. Let the sleuthing begin!
A fine cozy mystery to begin a new series.
Already have next one….it was good
Good read. Interesting plot.