Kari Bovee is truly a talented writer! In this third book of 'A Grace Michelle Mystery', Grace is busy with her career as a costume designer, training a girl, when she receives a letter from her father who has been supposedly dead for many years. Her husband was out if the country for a few days. Unfortunately, her father arrived during that time. Would she meet him? If he has been alive all this time, why has he just now contacted her? Where was he when she and her sister were on the streets trying to survive? Should she meet with him and hear what he has to say?
Meantime, Grace is visited by the actress she is working with to please help her solve a crime the police are not putting as a priority. She refuses, that is until it affects her personally.
Facing the dilemma of her family's safety, the safety of others she feels close to, and the possibility of losing the job she dearly loves, Grace must discover an heirloom secret, find a kidnapped person, or more people will die.
Following Kari Bovee's usual style, this is a fast-paced story filled with mystery, action with emotional ties affecting her decisions. It is a story of courageous survival, betrayal, conflict, and binding relationships.
I love the ongoing support of her husband and her close relationship with tried and true friends.
The characters feel so real and the scenes are easily visualized. As always, her Title s a fun "play on words" and is very fitting as is the Cover image.
*This book was gifted me with no pressure to post a positive review. This is my honest review. ( )

Book three in the Manor House Mystery series, starring Grace Wheaton, curator and manager of the estate / museum in the North Carolina mountains.

As cozy mysteries go, this is a pretty good series. I like Grace, who is generally calm in a crisis, and obviously competent at her job. She does seem to take more chances and she has a blind spot where romance is concerned. I like most of the supporting characters and wish that her roommates Scott and Bruce had a larger role in this episode. Her irascible assistant Frances is a hoot! Millionaire Bennett’s stepdaughter Hilary is a distraction but provides some needed tension. My stars but that woman behaves like a teenager, and a spoiled brat teen at that! Of course, Grace will help the police discover the culprit, proving her worth to Bennett and further securing her future role at Manor House. ( )

This is a great series - I enjoy the characters and they are well written and the setting is at a grand manor which always makes for a fun story. The mystery component isn't very tough, but they are entertainingly good. ( )

Grace Under Pressure is the third book in the Manor House series. And a great book it is, too.

Mr. Bennett, owner of the Manor House, and Grace want to bring the Manor House into current times, so they have a production crew in making a DVD, to sell in the gift shop.

Some small items have gone missing and Grace and Bennett are not sure if it is Bennett's step-daughter or the film crew taking them. About the same time Grace hears from a long time friend who works in a museum in California who warns her that someone has stolen some valuable items from museum. The next day the young leaves the tour again only to be pushed down some stairs and dies form the injuries and Mark Ellroy, who is supposed to be watching is shot in the arm. While this is going on another items, more valuable, is stolen from the Manor House.

Once again Grace is in charge of damage control for the Manor House, as she doesn't have complete faith in the detectives in her town. But with the appearance of someone she thinks she has seen at The Manor, recently, and gets a threatening note, she starts working more closely with the police.

The cast of characters are just wonderful. Her housemates, Bruce and Scott, are back helping however they can. Grace and Francis seem to have reached an understanding about each other. Grace and Jack may even be able to begin to work on their friendship.

Definitely looking forward to the next book in the series. ( )

A good read overall. I'm a fan of this series characters and this book has a LOT of character development. I felt the murderer was fairly obvious from about halfway through, but the trials that Grace goes through kept my attention and kept me from being frustrated. A pet peeve of mine is authors that don't let their characters listen and Grace did her fair share of not listening and conclusion jumping but I'm hoping this is a one-off and not a sign of things to come.

I enjoyed this story, but not as much as the others - I suspect this book will lead to a more enjoyable series, however. I'm looking forward to the next book. ( )