Twenty-six-year-old Felicia Davenport dreams of romance and faraway places. But lately, her dreams have been put on hold while she cares for her ailing father. Suddenly, she wins a contest (a trip to Martinique). A friend offers to look after her father and persuades her to go on the vacation. Felicia decides to go. When she arrives in Martinique, she attracts the attention of the hotel detective, thirty-year-old Jack Carter. But after her hotel room is broken into, Felicia and Jack wonder what the intruder was looking for…

I don’t want to give too much more of the plot away since this was a short story (74 pages). It was a delightful and sweet mystery-romance. I really liked Felicia, she was a lovely heroine, kind and thoughtful. I thought it was cute how she was addicted to puzzle magazines. Jack was a great hero. I loved the setting, and the intrigue.

A terrific story by Bobby Underwood. ( )

“This morning he’d woken to just another day on the island. Easy, sure, comfortable, definitely. Then Felicia had stepped off the bus, and without at first realizing it, so had everything he’d been missing in life.”

As with all of Bobby Underwood’s stories, the characters are real people like you and me. He has an unique ability to make us care about these people as if they were our own friends and family. I especially loved Felicia, a school teacher who tenderly cares for her aging father, while putting her own dreams aside. Her passion for crossword puzzles immediately endeared her to me, as I share that same passion. I was rooting for her from the get-go.
This romantic adventure/mystery shows off Underwood’s gift as a storyteller, as well. The pace, atmosphere, and action were perfect. It’s one of those rare stories that I just couldn’t put down. The prose is so smoothly rendered, it’s like finding that perfect rhythmic swimming stroke in calm, crystal-blue waters. I could have swam these waters indefinitely.

My favorite quote from the story:

“God has perfect timing, we just have to pay attention.”

Yes, we do. Thanks for the reminder, Mr. Underwood--and for the fun I had reading this wonderful novelette. ( )