The first book in what would become a 10 book series (not counting novellas) sets the tone. Nora is the middle sister of three who were raised in a blue-blood Philadelphia Main Line family to be debutants, but whose parents spent all the fortunes, raided their trust-funds, then stole enough money from friends to leave the country, leaving the oldest with the family furniture, the youngest with the family’s art collection, and Nora got Blackbird Farm, complete with a 2 million dollar tax bill.

With no skills but great connections, she’s given a job as the assistant to the social columnist at the tabloid newspaper, owned by a family friend. At a party celebrating the newspaper’s longevity, she finds said owner dead in his bedroom and its obviously murder.

I like that Martin chose to make Nora the opposite of the clichéd amateur sleuth: she’s not fragile at all, takes Krav Maga for exercise, but she has a fainting problem, and being kind and classy is deeply woven into her dna. But she can’t help but want to help people when they ask her to, and her job attending parties gives her a ready made opportunity to ask questions and listen to gossip. I like that Nora’s obvious romantic interest is the son of a mob boss who is fighting to stay out of the family and against the criminal instincts he was raised with, and that he shows his interest with sincerity instead of braggadocio.

The mystery was well plotted with a resolution that neither transparent nor obvious, and it made sense at the end. ( )

Written by the prolific Nancy Martin, the Blackbird Sisters Mystery series is set in Philadelphia and has a great cast of unique characters. The main character, Nora Blackbird, comes from an old, wealthy family and lives in the rather dilapidated family home. Her parents, apparently not good money managers, have left the country, leaving her the property, land and a two million dollar tax bill. Finding herself needing to work to make ends meet, Nora raids her grandmother’s vintage clothing cache in the attic and goes to work as a society page columnist for a local paper, using her connections to gain entrance to the upper crust establishment society gatherings. Her sisters, wild child Emma, and flaky, earth mother, Libby, round out the quirky cast.

On Nora’s first assignment, she unwittingly stumbles across a murder: a millionaire art collector who is an old family friend. As she investigates the crime, using resources she didn’t know she had, she crosses paths with a variety of intriguing characters, including the son of a rumored New Jersey crime boss, who shows more than a little interest in the down-on-her-luck blue blood.

Currently, there are ten titles in the series, and a two-book spin-off series about a relative of Mick Abruzzo, Nora’s love interest. I’ve read all these mysteries and have enjoyed the experience and characters. ( )

A lovely start to a mystery series, and exactly the kind of light reading I needed at the exact moment I picked it up. So it might have gained a half star for being perfectly fitted for the moment.

I loved most of the characters, particularly Nora the protagonist, and her slightly but not overdone snarky outlook on life. I liked that there's no romance triangle in sight, and I liked that I totally didn't see the murderer coming (but props to me, I did suspect an eventual accomplice.)

Sadly my library seems to have a fairly random selection of these books, or I'm pretty sure I'd just have got them all and read them end to end. ( )

This is the first in the series, which for whatever reason I read last!

I liked the story, I liked the characters.

Nora is covering a party for the newspaper she works for and walks in to discover the body of the owner. Both of her sisters disappear, a priceless pillow book appears, Nora's house is ransacked, she meets Michael Abruzzo......

I found this to be a light entertaining read.
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Not as silly as I expected. ( )