The Madness of Mercury (Zodiac Mystery #1) by Connie Di Marco

San Francisco astrologer Julia Bonatti's life is turned upside down when she becomes the target of the city's newest cult leader, Reverend Roy of the Prophet's Tabernacle. Driven out of her apartment in the midst of a disastrous Mercury retrograde period, she takes shelter with a client who's caring for two elderly aunts. One aunt appears stricken with dementia and the other has fallen under the spell of the Reverend Roy. To add to the confusion, a young man claiming to be a long lost nephew arrives. The longer he stays, the more dangerous things become. Is the young man truly a member of the family? Can astrology confirm that? Julia's not sure, but one thing she does know is that Mercury wasn't merely the messenger of the gods—he was a trickster and a liar as well.  (Summary via Goodreads)

Such a great start to a new cozy series. Madness of Mercury by Connie di Marco is a fun, exciting, page turning adventure. All of the characters are well thought out and full of independent strong women. 

Julia Bonatti is starting over and is living in San Francisco where the fog rolls in everyday and she loves it. She is an astrologer and to supplement her income, works for the local paper doing a column called Ask Zodia. She has a new client, Dorothy who is a nurse and caregiver to her ailing aunts Eunice and Evandra Gamble. She is looking for advice on her love life when one of the aunts come to her and say that they are in danger! Julia looks into the charts and realizes things are not looking good. Things are lining up that could cause major problems. Then she gets a call to come back to the Gamble house only to find out that Luis, the aunts handyman is found dead??? Why would anyone want to kill Luis? 

On top of all of this she has some crazy followers of Reverend Roy and the Prophets Tabernacle picketing not only her and her house but her friend Cheryl who is the manager at the Mystic Eye. 

How is she going to get rid of these crazy followers before they do more damage than just to her and Cheryl's business?

Great and fun start to a new series! Look forward to book two. 

Review by Penny M.