When Emmy moves to the coastal town of Rock Point, Oregon, it's to live her dream of opening a kite shop. She figures that since the other kite shop in town sells different types from hers, there's plenty of room for two. But she doesn't figure on the dead body she finds on the beach, nor the fact that her roommate Avery is suspected of killing the man. So Emmy decides to find out who really did kill him, and hopes that she can get there before Avery is sent away for good...

I picked up this book because it had a different premise, but it would have been better if I'd just left it alone. How big is this town that two kite shops can sustain in it? Are there really that many people that fly kites in this town? To be fair, even though I live in a large city (and have always made city living my life) I've never seen anyone flying kites anywhere, and I haven't flown any since I was kid.
Now, I'm not saying people don't; I'm sure they do or they'd stop making them. I'm merely pointing out that this town has a lot of kite-flyers. Just sayin'

At any rate, Emmy comes off as self-important and thinks others are beneath her. She seems to think she's smarter than everyone, including the police. This is not the type of protagonist that I'm interested in reading about, and I won't be reading any more in the series. Sorry. ( )

Blown Away is the first book in the A Kite Shop Mystery series and a wonderful debut it is. The next time somebody tells you to go fly a kite, your first stop should be Strings Attached to talk with Emmy and purchase one of her handmade kites.

Emmy Adler has moved to Rock Point to live her dream and open a kite shop specializing in her own design handmade kites. The morning of the Grand Opening, Emmy and her dog Bear are taking their early morning walk on the beach, when Bear runs off to a collection of rocks along the shoreline and starts to bark. When Emmy catches up she finds that Bear has been barking at what appears to be a dead body. The body turns out to be that of Miles Logan, the chef at The Tidal Basin.

While getting her business off to a start, Emmy is living at Avery Cook’s house, they have been friends since childhood. Avery had recently broken up with Logan and the night he was killed, Avery had claimed she was ill and went to her room and since she was not seen until the next day, she has no alibi. When it is found that she was to met with Miles the night of his death and is reported to have been seen near where he was found, With Avery arrested for the murder and in Emmy’s opinion that police are not interested in looking any further, she begins her own investigation,

Emmy soon learns of an argument between some mushroom hunters and Logan, that Logan had plans to open his own restaurant which might lead the owner of the Tidal Inn to lose his business and that there were plans to use Avery’s property for a real estate development.

With the help of Stella Hart, a retired school teacher and local artist, who Emmy has hired to help out in the kite shop and from, surprisingly, Jack Sullivan owner of a rival kite shop.

I really enjoyed this new series and had me guessing until the end. It has a well-plotted story with interesting and well-developed characters. Looking for seeing more of Stella and seeing what might develop between Emmy and Jack.

I can’t wait for the next book in this exciting series ( )