Where the Light Shines Through

A fantastic start to a new series, Where the Light Shines Through is the first book in The Olivia Penn Mystery Series by Kathleen Bailey. Olivia is a journalist who has moved her way up the chain with her popular advice column, “Penn’s Pals”. Before moving to New York, Olivia goes to visit her father, Bill, in her hometown of Apple Station and finds herself down the rabbit hole as one of her best friends, Paige, is found murdered. This book is written with such beautiful descriptions as the author takes us through the small town of Apple Station. I really liked that the story was not rushed and that the reader is introduced to each character one by one. This made the story and its setting easy to picture as the plot thickened.

A.J., another one of Olivia’s childhood friends, is arrested for the murder of Paige, however, Olivia feels deep down that there is no way that A.J. had anything to do with Paige’s death. She decides to stay in Apple Station to help solve the homicide despite local law enforcement shooing her away every time she tries to get involved. Even worse, bad things start happening to Olivia and she can only take it as a warning to stay away.

Where the Light Shines Through has a brilliant cast of characters that exude the feeling of a small town. Frank is Olivia’s godfather and Olivia and his son Junior have a past history of dating. Cassandra who works for the local paper in Apple Station has a grudge against Olivia which screams of jealousy. Bill, Olivia’s father, is a sweet man whom anyone would want for their dad. And Preston who is part of the local law enforcement team is foreshadowed to be a possible love interest of Olivia’s. These characters along with Olivia’s friends, Victoria and Sophia, and the local townsfolk really make this book feel like home to anyone reading it.

One of my favorite parts of the book that isn’t necessarily related to the main plot, is the question and answer parts of Olivia’s column. There is one part of the book where Olivia is distracted on a live Q & A and she gives the funniest answers to the questions. Her editor quickly describes Olivia as having “technical issues”.

Overall, this series has a lot of promise. The author did an amazing job of building the characters, plot, and setting and then adding the suspense and mystery aspects after Paige’s murder. I look forward to reading the next installment in this series.