Lots of laughs and groans, plenty of angst, and coming home for a reunion can be a really bad idea. Things are a lot different now that her mom is gone and the killers from the Beauty pageant murder are in prison, but murder happens anyway and the victim is a really disgusting piece of work. A rich old man has died and she has to be on hand for the reading of the will, finds out she is half owner of a nearly bankrupt estate, and her friend is really her half-sister. Enough things happening with assorted boyfriends and insights into past events to drive anyone to distraction. Addictive read that just keeps moving along. Loved it.
I requested and received a temporary uncorrected digital galley from Storm Publishing courtesy of NetGalley. Pub Date Jun 10, 2025
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High school reunions can be murder; literally.

Our favourite daughter of Aubergine is back in town for her 10 year high school reunion, revisiting some memories that are better suited to stay in high school along with sweaty gym socks. After winning the town's famous beauty pageant, Dakota Green is finally finishing veterinary school but she owes it to her best friend Lacy (and the upcoming willing reading of her newly discovered father) to return to town. When hometown golden boy turned reality star Brett Brinkley suddenly chokes on the dance floor, it seems that there's more secrets in the small town than anyone could have imagined.

I have been waiting with bated breath for the return of Dakota, Lacy, Savilla and crew after reading the first book of the series. Kristen Bird does not disappoint with her follow-up book. Filled to the brim with a fast-paced story, well-developed characters, and real-world issues, this book is a must have for your bookshelf.

The books in this series always fly by to me, and I love that you can clearly picture people in your own life mirrored in the book's characters. It brings a feeling of bookish camaraderie to the experience, while also trying to solve the mystery along the way.

I cannot wait for book 3, and hopefully many more to follow!

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the opportunity to read this book for free in exchange for my honest review.

This is the second in the series and as enjoyable as the first. The books are a little bit madcap with amazingly odd and unique characters dancing around the key characters. There is a death and there is a diamond as the title suggests, and yet somehow they both seem secondary to the character development and the tidbits of each suspect's private life as it is gently revealed, and each has reasons for murder. The running background story about being an heiress adds flavour and keeps the plot moving, and gives the characters reasons to interact. A fun and actually quite joyful book despite the murder!!

Another thrilling whodunit adventure in Aubergine and The Rose Palace with our favorite female main character and soon-to-be a doctor in veterinary medicine who also has a knack for detective work, Dakota Green. Five stars all around, I loved it.

Thank you, NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this author’s last book. This one was just as fun and full of story as the last. I really like this author they’re becoming an instant buy for me. I love the pace, humor, and heart behind the story.

⭐️ 5/5
First person POV, single narrative: FMC- Dakota
Liner Timeline with some quick flashbacks
Whodunit Murder Mystery
Setting: Aubergine, Virginia

While this is Book 2 in the Dakota Green Mystery Series you don’t have to read the first to follow along. The author provides just enough history and background on returning characters to get you up to speed without slowing down the story or making you feel out of the loop.

The characters were well thought out and the roles they each played in the mystery and different side stories was really well done. There were so many times that I had doubts and thought it was too obvious who the suspect was but then I was SO WRONG because another twist was throw at me. It was complex and captivating, I was completely engrossed and can’t wait to read what’s next!

This looked and sounded like a fun read but it took me a few days to get through for some reason. I actually started keeping notes as I read this one so I’d remember what I wanted to write here.

-This is definitely book 2, and I’ve never heard of book 1, so without that background I am not sure I can do this review fairly. I’d be interested in reading it though.

-Is it protocol for police to require all attendees at an event stay at that location for long enough that they have to be assigned rooms to sleep? Especially when they keep making a point about how everyone is local, lived here forever, still lives here, low flight risks is what it sounds like. Not a single person pushed back on this.

-“Mommy” “Stepmommy” etc make me cringe every time I read adults using those words, and I’ve lived in the South for 25 years.

-The pageant stuff really threw me, but I might need to read book one. I’ve been around pageants. I’ve never seen a culture where the entire town including male children live and breathe for a pageant, or where a town this supposedly small can support a pageant every single year?

-Convicted murders were both allowed to visit the lawyer of their victim, while the daughter of their victims was there, just to hear the will reading???

-Wait, the murders are sisters AND housed in the same prison???

-Why is Savilla so eager to take care of her mom and her aunt/nanny and get them out of jail after they murdered her father?

-I find Savilla’s mixing up of words really charming actually.

-I can’t suspend enough disbelief that a $75,000,000 diamond was on display in a case in a hotel in some random small southern town. Or that it went missing and there wasn’t an immediate worldwide uproar. Or that it wasn’t insured?????????

-The police had an ankle monitor handy and put it on someone who wanted to leave the hotel???

-They found the jewel that “could be sold to remedy some of the Rose’s financial problems” $75,000,000 is only going to solve SOME problems??????????

-Time skip, now Dakota entered a pageant in the summer and won a bunch of money? How was that funded if the Rose is broke?

Overall, I did want to find out what happened, and I’d read book 1, but without it I felt lost.

I loved the first Dakota Green novel and was delighted to receive the ARC of her second. Dakota's adventures are never boring, zany moments follow her everywhere she goes!

It's her high school school reunion and she returns home and expects the typical small talk that will bring. Instead, it's time to solve another mystery and murder.

This one involves some diamonds and a lot of spunky banter from Dakota. An equally fun installment in her series, I hope to see more!

Thank you NetGalley and Storm Publishing for a chance to read and review. These opinions are my own. This one is due to come out in June of 2025.

Another thrilling murder mystery in Aubergine!!

I absolutely loved this second instalment in the series, I again had no idea who the killer was until it was revealed and there were twists and turns that kept the book intriguing and exciting.

I loved seeing the relationships build further from book 1 and I am really excited to read the next book!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC copy of this book.

A great murder mystery with plenty of twists and turns. Dakota is back in Aubergine for the weekend to spend time with her boyfriend, Charlie, to attend the reading of Mr Finch's will, and to attend the 10-year high school reunion being held at The Rose Palace. Her plans are somewhat disrupted by one of the reunion attendees dying in the middle of the dance floor during the event! Dakota has to put her sleuthing hat on again to try and figure it all out with Charlie. Blackmail and secrets, a missing jewel, and plenty of suspects. This wasn't quite as strong a story as the first book, but I'm enjoying the series so far.
Thanks to Netgalley, Storm Publishing, and Kristen Bird for the free ARC. All opinions are my own.

An Heiress's Guide to Death and Diamonds by Kristen Bird is a fun, twisty small-town mystery with plenty of scandal, secrets and sharp wit. When Dakota Green returns to her hometown for her high school reunion, the last thing she expects is to witness a murder at the Rose Palace. What follows is a fast-paced whodunnit filled with red herrings, dodgy motives, and enough family drama to keep things juicy.

The murder mystery itself is well-crafted, with a satisfying list of suspects and just enough clues to keep you guessing. I really enjoyed how each character had a believable reason to want the victim gone—it gave the story a realistic edge while still leaning into cosy crime territory.

That said, the subplot around Dakota’s inheritance felt a little over-complicated and at times took the spotlight away from the main mystery. Still, Bird does a great job of weaving in backstory from the first book, so you don’t need to have read it to follow along.

Personally, I found it charming and entertaining. If you like your murder mysteries with a touch of humour, Southern charm and a determined amateur sleuth, this one’s worth picking up.

3.5/5.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

Dakota proved herself as an excellent amateur detective in A Beauty Queen's Guide to Murder and Mayhem and is now back on the case after a death at her high school reunion. I love the strong female characters and their relationships with one another featured in this series. Every time I tried to stop reading at the end of a chapter to do adult things, I was hooked to read just one more sentence.

I was invited by the publisher to review this book. Dakota has a lot on her plate as she returns to her small hometown for a high school reunion. She is attending veterinarian school, is in a long-distance relationship with the town's sheriff, and has recently learned of her real parentage. But then there is a death at the reunion party, and the person who died is none other than Brett, a reality TV star. The prime suspect is Dakota's childhood best friend. Dakota is then thrust into a race against time, and must figure out who really committed the murder, figure out the truth about missing diamonds, decide whether to accept an inheritance, and pick through a ton of suspects.

I liked that this book had a variety of people to choose from who could have committed the murder, and their reasons were legitimate and relatable. But I could have done without the competing storyline of the inheritance. This is the second book in a series, and I felt the author did a great job of catching readers up so that they did not have to have read the previous book to understand this book's characters and storylines.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was a little disappointed in this book compared to the first one. I found it to be repetitive at times, which really put me off. While I loved the main characters, I just couldn’t feel any connection with them. That being said, I will still read the 3rd in the series.

Dakota Green is home to attend her ten year high school reunion as well as deal with some family business and spend time with local sheriff and possible boyfriend Charlie Strong. What she hadn't planned was to be thrown into another murder investigation or to have to once again try to prove the innocence of someone close to her! With a whole graduating class to choose from and a victim who had ruffled more than a few feathers Dakota knows she has her work cut out for her and that's before she even has a chance to discuss a once in a lifetime job offer with her aunt!

Book two in the Dakota Green Mysteries begins a few months after the conclusion of the first with a second visit to Aubergine, Virginia, and the Rose Palace. I hadn't read the first book, and now I don't need to, as there are plenty of spoilers here to give the game away. On the plus side, I didn't work out whodunnit which, when it's realistic, which this was, is always good.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Storm Publishing, but the opinions expressed are my own. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this enough to continue with the series. 2.5 rounded up to 3 for the killer’s identity.