Autumn settles over Stonebridge in a swirl of color and celebration, but beneath the charm of the harvest festival lies a mystery that pulls photographer Bobbie Brooks into danger. What begins as a joyful masquerade party quickly turns into a tangle of secrets, misdirection, and quiet instincts she can’t ignore.
About the Book
Autumn settles over Stonebridge, Vermont in a blaze of fall colors just in time for the annual harvest festival. The season’s joy is cut short when a masquerade party on the village green ends with one guest dead and another fighting for their life. Photographer Bobbie Brooks promises to leave the investigation to the professionals, until a friend’s desperate plea pulls her into a tangle of secrets, herbal poisons, and masked motives. With the Keep It Snappy Shutter Club by her side, Bobbie must piece together the truth hidden in the images captured through her lens before the killer focuses on her next.
Book Review: Masked Intentions
Masked Intentions is a richly layered cozy mystery, blending small‑town charm with an emotionally resonant amateur‑sleuth journey. Kara Lacey takes readers deep inside Bobbie’s thoughts; her instincts, her doubts, her grief, and her suspicions. It’s this intimate perspective that makes her such a compelling protagonist.
Bobbie is a widow still learning how to move forward, and her quiet gut instincts, the ones she tries to push aside, become the heartbeat of the investigation. Her determination to uncover what happened to her friend Iris, and later, to protect herself, feels both personal and earned.
The masquerade party provides a delightful foundation for misdirection, secrets, and a long list of suspects. The herbal‑poison angle adds a refreshing twist that keeps the mystery from feeling formulaic. I didn’t guess the killer, and the reveal was both surprising and satisfying.
The camera club backdrop is one of the book’s greatest strengths. The members’ assignment to photograph the masquerade party becomes a clever narrative device, capturing tiny details in snapshots that turn into clues that might otherwise be overlooked. Stonebridge itself feels warm, lived‑in, and worth revisiting.
Bobbie’s relationships, with her mother, her daughter, and her friends, grow in meaningful ways as they learn to communicate without controlling. These threads add emotional depth without overshadowing the mystery.
I enjoyed everything about this book and recommend it wholeheartedly to cozy fans, small‑town mystery lovers, and readers who enjoy amateur sleuths with complicated lives.
Series Note
If you’d like to start at the beginning of the Stonebridge mysteries, book one, Caught on Camera, is currently on sale for 99¢ through August 21. It’s a fun introduction to Bobbie Brooks, the camera club, and the charming Vermont setting that continues in Masked Intentions.
BookHookUp Content Note
Clean cozy mystery. No graphic violence, no profanity, no sexual content. Mild peril and thematic tension related to murder and attempted murder. Emotional themes include grief, healing, and family communication.
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I received a copy of this book from Great Escapes Book Tours with no compensation, and all opinions are my own. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.
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Kara Lacey is the author of the Camera Club Mysteries. Along with her husband, she lives in a tiny village nestled in the beautiful Green Mountains of Vermont—the inspiration for her novels. Kara is a photography enthusiast who also enjoys hiking, skiing, and getting cozy with a good book. When she’s not at her laptop creating havoc for her characters, you can find her rambling through the forest with her husband and spirited Labrador retriever, camera in hand.
Kara is a member of Sisters in Crime, Sisters in Crime-New England.
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