Death Goes Shopping

Jenny Turnbull is the promotion manager for a large, suburban shopping mall. It is Hallowe'en and as if that isn't bad enough on its own, an irate customer finds his way to her office to complain, Sanata Claus quits and the pumpkins weren't delivered where theys hould have been. To top it all off, a shooting occurs in the Mall. With her job on the line, Jenny finds herself investigating the case. Shopping malls have been used as a location for many activities in mystery fiction, but this is one of the first times that the chief investigator was a mall employee. This has the promise to be an excellent series and I look forward to the next installment.

Sit down and have a cuppa with Jenny Turnbull, Promotions Director of a megamall. Wise for her thirtysome years, she's galvanized into action when an unseen gunman opens fire in the Food Court and kills two innocent people. Even if she solves the murders, what will she do with all those pumpkins and the eight-foot rabbits? To top it off, Santa has quit. First novelist Jessica Burton has a winner with her wry and capable amateur sleuth Jenny. A background in the shopping centre inidustry has given Jessica a thorough education in the basics of running a mall. If anything can happen in this microcosm under a metal roof, it does, from a disgruntled man who demands a new pair of shoes, to shoplifters and drug dealers, to rotten city politics. From the start, her voice pulls the reader into the business of juggling chaos between holidays: "When the shoe hit my desk, I was head down and counting elves, so I just reached out and swept it off." Minutes later bullets strafe the Food Court, and Jenny's directing traffic like a bat out of heaven. "Send the rabbit over," she says, arranging for screens from the Blood Donor Clinic to quell the crowd's panic, Not long after, she's sitting in a rocker with her feet propped up and her knitting needles clicking along like a freight train. Her "left knee had a bag of frozen corn niblets across it, and the label on the designer pouch covering the right one said 'Peaches and Cream, Flash Frozen.'" Jenny's in her element solving crimes. From her nerve centre office, aided by her roommate and psychic sister, Helen Lemieux, Mall Security Chief, quick with a quip but full of common sense, and Tiny, a giant itinerant worker with a heart as big as his biceps, she puts herself on the firing line to make the Rosewood Centre safe for humanity.

Jessica Burton has an interesting resume. Born in Scotland, she has lived all over the world, as her father worked for the British airline for six years. She emigrated to Canada, completed her schooling, and worked in the newspaper industry, followed by the shopping centre industry. She presently lives in Brampton, Ontario.Jenny Turnbull is the promotion director of Rosewood Centre. Her job revolves around planning holiday festivities, handling disgruntled customers, and keeping the public relations on a smooth plane. She handles her job with panache, and everyone loves her, as she has the answer to almost every problem which presents itself. That is, until someone murders three diners in the middle of the food court during a Halloween celebration. Jenny is an inveterate knitter, and one of the casualties is a good friend who ran the wool store: "'She was such a nice person and so helpful.' I couldn't let it go. 'I was just in her store yesterday to see if the rest of my wool was in yet, this new stuff she put me on to. How can I be talking to her one day, and she's dead the next? She was going to order me a particular shade of green they've just introduced. I really need that colour now I've changed my whole pattern around.'"Death Goes Shopping is an exquisitely written tale of two roommates caught up in a murder that appears to be a senseless act on the surface. But Jenny, armed with a sense of humor that will keep the reader laughing and engaged, and her security guard roommate, Helen, eventually put the pieces together to solve an intricate puzzle. Burton does a great job with her premier mystery, and Jenny is a lovable heroine who blithely traipses through the world with lots of energy, enthusiasm, and wisdom.Jessica Burton's knowledge of both the newspaper business and the shopping centre business lend credence to her tale. She truly writes what she knows, and her realm of expertise is interesting and provides a scenic landscape for her tale. Her main characters are sweet and well-rounded, and their side escapades complete the tale. Burton even works in some Scottish fairy dust for the reader's pleasure. A rousing first effort!Shelley GlodowskiReviewer