Publication Date: April 8, 2025
A fast-paced, witty, and delightful new mystery about a marriage proposal planner whose biggest job yet is threatened by a dead body (or two).
Jessamine Bricker loves a plan. Contingency plans and pros-and-cons lists are her love language, and because of that, her proposal planning business is thriving. But with rent costs rising at her office building, Jess jumps at the chance to plan a proposal between her snobby high school classmate, Diana, and her very wealthy boyfriend, Trenton Tillard…the Fourth.
Roped into joining Diana’s ”pre-bridal” retreat at the exclusive Golden Ash resort, Jess hopes to fade into the background, get some work done, and maybe find some time to unwind. Their first day is anything but relaxing: Diana is furious about the mountain spa’s lack of cell phone reception, the couple next door argues constantly, and Jess swears she just saw a drug deal go down. To top it all off, she’s warned to stay out of the woods by the gruff and sexy chef, Dean Osbourne. Is this a retreat or a horror movie?
As Jess tries to do her job while placating the bride-to-be and her increasingly over-the-top demands, she spends more and more time with the resort owners, finding herself much more in tune with the laid-back Osbourne family than her social climbing “boss.” Between a meditation garden-related drowning and Jess’s discovery of a body in a sauna, it’s clear that deadly secrets abound at the Golden Ash. Now it’s up to Jess to unravel the mysteries here in the mountains—before all her plans are cancelled…permanently.
A Proposal to Die For by Molly Harper is a cute title with several meanings. A Southern mystery set in Tennessee, a proposal takes center stage throughout it all.
The hopeful bride-to-be, Diana, was not at all likable. She was very self-centered with visions of riches due to her chosen bridegroom’s family wealth. But first, she needs the perfect proposal, which is where Jess comes in. As the proposal planner, Jess has a lot on her plate, but it will be worth it in the end if she gets her large fee because then she’ll have the money to help fulfill her dreams. The groom, Trent, seems easy for Diana to mold, but is he really? And will the proposal actually take place?
Much of the story takes place in a small town at an upscale spa. When Jess, Diana, and others in her wedding party stay there to make a plan for all of Diana’s wishes to come true, things go astray repeatedly. Several stories keep the pace moving, but when there are several deaths, things tend to go off the rails, especially since they might be murders.
Clues are gathered and sifted through to figure out whodunnit. As Jess gets close to the family that owns the spa, especially the chef, Dean, there’s a little bit of romance at play, adding another layer to the story. When the crimes are solved, and the whodunnits revealed, there is some closure, but the real closure comes a year later in the epilogue. I just wish it went on a little longer.
A Proposal to Die For is filled with Southern charm and some murders and mayhem. This cozy mystery has many clues leading us to whodunnit.
Molly Harper is the author of more than forty paranormal romance, contemporary romance, women’s fiction, and young adult titles. A lifelong romance reader, she graduated with a Masters of Fine Arts from Seton Hill University, focusing on writing popular fiction. She lived in Kentucky for most of her life before recently moving to Michigan with her family…and she’s still figuring out how to choose outerwear and play complicated winter card games.
