Mavis Miller #2
Reading this book and the one before it, It’s Elementary, I was reminded that the perils of raising a kid come with a mega peril: other parents. The heroine of the series, Mavis, is a newly single mom who lives with her retired dad and a very adorable 8-year-old named Pearl. Mavis, one of the few black moms at the suburban elementary school which Pearl attends, is extra attuned to the passive aggressive judging that goes on in school parking lots everywhere. These days, facebook groups and social media in general seem to have ramped things up even more.
As the book opens, Mavis is gearing up for her annual job review, hoping for a promotion and a pay bump, and when she gets neither – instead being offered an “opportunity” to run an extra DEI workshop for the staff for a paltry sum – she gets so steamed she quits. This all happens in the first chapter so I’m not giving anything away.
What I loved about the first book, and this book too, are author Bryant’s mordant and funny observational skills. Her descriptions of some of the mothers – one of whom runs a “self care” Mary Kay style empire, and one of whom is a parenting instagrammer – really are often laugh out loud funny. The descriptions of the other parents are just as well observed.
What I had a problem with in now both books was Mavis’ massive level of anxiety. Some of her anxiety levels are fair – she’s rogue investigating the death of Pearl’s soccer coach, and the detective she met in book one keeps telling, no, begging, her to stop. She ignores him and goes ahead breaking into places and gathering clues the police seem to have little interest in.
Meanwhile – and this is a strength of the book – she’s balancing a new boyfriend, Jack, as well as the reemergence in her life of her ex and Pearl’s dad, Corey. Corey seems amazingly thoughtful and patient and I found myself wondering at times just why she’d broken up with him, but Jack is equally kind and patient. I’m sure this triangle will be a source of tension in books to come.
She’s also wondering what the heck is going on with her Dad’s podcast, which rehashes Law & Order episodes. Her dad has a little bit of the detective in him as well though, and proves very helpful, as does her very nosy next door (and interestingly fierce) elderly neighbor.
Everyone here, from the bitter school principal to Pearl’s frazzled teacher to the woebegone music teacher directing a school production of Annie, is exquisitely drawn. As is Mavis herself. I think her anxiety got to me because the author draws you in as a reader so closely to her character that she seems real. You actually are legit worried about her.
This is a little sharper and funnier than an average cozy, and Bryant’s background as a romance writer is apparent in her well drawn and thought out love triangle. The mystery part – the death of the soccer coach – is of course a part of the plot, and the resolution is actually quite clever, but it’s not the main attraction. The main attraction: Mavis herself, and Bryant’s keenly honed writing. — Robin Agnew