Although designated a Mystery on its spine, The Cameo Clue reads as a romantic suspense novel and will keep romance readers happy as the heroine chooses between two very different heroes and solves a dandy mystery in the bargain.

After a few years floating around the world teaching English on army bases, Katherine Kale finally settles down. She falls in love with a restored Victorian house in Maple Creek, Michigan, and when she moves in, she sets out to meet her neighbors and involve herself in her new hometown – where she will be teaching at the local high school.

Kate goes to the local Apple Fair and is immediately intrigued by two very disparate men. First she spots handsome policeman Lt. Dalton Grey and experiences lust-at-first-sight. Later, she sits on a bench to eat her lunch and meets Garth MacKay, a rather mysterious man with a black beard and a twinkle in his eye. Everybody she meets tells her to avoid him. Since Kate is in the market for antique furniture for her new home, Garth recommends a charity yard sale being run by a retired teacher (Cora Valentine) during the Apple Fair. Kate goes to the sale and meets Cora, who is asking more for the antiques than Kate’s budget will allow. However, they both end up in line for caramel apples and while they wait, Cora tells Kate she knows the history of Kate’s new house. Unfortunately, after one bite of her apple, Cora collapses on the ground and dies.

Kate finds herself investigating who murdered Cora for two reasons: first, she was almost a victim of the poison herself – if she hadn’t seen Cora fall after one bite, she would have eaten one as well. Secondly, she has the feeling she is not alone in her new home. At first it is just an eerie feeling of a presence in the home, but after Kate finds an old broken cameo in her garden, her home is invaded by a very much alive presence. Kate tries to find out who the cameo might belong to, but it disappears. Kate discovers that Cora and two other girls lived in her home in the early 70s. Two of the girls were drawn romantically to Gerry Raycraft, her now-irascible neighbor. Kate finds one of the girls’ diaries and begins to wonder how her life went after reportedly eloping with a handsome southern stranger. Kate’s life is threatened several times as she asks questions of her friends and neighbors, which brings both Garth and Dalton in as protectors.

What takes this story from the average to the special are Kate’s two romantic options. Lt. Dalton Grey is the type of handsome cop featured as the hero in many romance novels and he is immediately attracted to Kate. Garth MacKay is a borderline anti-hero; he is a member of the very conservative Michigan Militia, distrustful of government, over-protective, and mysterious. And he pursues Kate diligently. Kate keeps telling herself Dalton is the better choice, but she finds chemistry lacking. But even when she tells herself she won’t go out with Garth again, she is drawn to him like a moth to a flame. Garth is just a wonderful creation and as this is the first Katherine Kale novel, I can only hope that we will see much more of his romance with Kate.

The Cameo Clue is only Dorothy Bodoin’s second book, and I have already ordered the first one from Amazon. I definitely hope we will see more from this author.