By Lizzie McNeely

A bloody bride, champagne toast and red roses stamped with a gun print were on hand to launch Jill Edmondson’s Blood and Groom, the first novel of the Sasha Jackson Mystery Series from Dundurn Press. If there’s a bride in your life, this is the book to bring to the shower. In it, Christine, a high society snob, is the prime suspect when the groom that jilted her is found murdered in the Rosedale Valley; in an attempt to escape her consequent social pariah status, Christine hires Sasha Jackson to track the true murderer. Sasha, a novice P.I. with a rocker style and a sex-line night job, both roars around the city – courtesy of her ex-boyfriend’s motorcycle – and stumbles – courtesy of a penchant for Jaeger shots. Bonus fun for Toronto readers are the spot-on descriptions of local settings like The Pilot, Steve’s Music Store and The Horseshoe. It’s a quick, entertaining read best enjoyed with double vodka tonics and morning after grilled cheeses.