REVIEWS FROM HARRIET KLAUSNER
HALF-PRICE HOMICIDE
ELAINE VIETS
Obsidian May, 2010
When the judge awarded Rob Hawthorne half his wife's earnings for life, Helen Hawthorne refused to pay this outrageous alimony. She left her affluent home in St. Louis and went on the run until she reached Fort Lauderdale, where she has worked at a series of dead end jobs that enable her to avoid her ex-husband. Helen met her
fiancé
Phil, a private investigator, at the apartment complex where they both live. Phil wants to marry her, but before that Helen must return to St. Louis to fix her legal and financial liabilities.
Meanwhile, Helen works at Snapdragon, a high class consignment shop. One of the repeat customers, Chrissy, comes in with a purse to sell. Her husband follows her to the shop and they end up in a shouting match broken up by the store owner. Chrissy enters a dressing room to try on a dress. When the proprietor enters to see how it looks on her, Chrissy is dead. Rob has tracked Helen down and tries to blackmail her, but she refuses to play, knowing she will return to St. Louis and end the legal travesty. Her time in Missouri is interesting while her sleuthing in Florida is clever as both subplots blend together smoothly in a fascinating major move forward for Helen. When she returns from St. Louis, Helen is shocked that her employer has lost so many customers and is considering closing the shop. With Phil's help, Helen investigates the homicide hoping to find the killer and keep the store open.
The Dead-End Job mysteries are always fun to read but HALF-PRICE HOMICIDE is especially delightful as long story arcs are completed and new ones begun. This one is a must for series fans.
- Harriet Klausner
THE HANGMAN'S ROW ENQUIRY
ANN PURSER
Berkley Prime Crime PBO 5/10
For years cantankerous spinster Ivy Beasley ruled the English village of Round Ringford with a nurturing iron first. The townsfolk respected her, but did not care about her. When her cousin Deirdre asks her to move near her, Ivy agrees and relocates to an assisted living community, Springfields, in Barrington.
Still filled with vinegar and energy, Ivy needs something to occupy her time. She thinks she may have found just the thing when she meets Augustus "Gus" Halfhide at church. He has recently moved here and seeks something to occupy his time too. They, along with Deirdre, open up an investigation agency. Their first case is chosen because it interests them and involves the death of a woman in one of the cottages on Hangman's Row. The cottage belongs to Theodore Russell, whose ancestors once owned most of the village, but he has become a recluse who uses an agent, Miss Bailey, to conduct his affairs.
Ann Purser provides a delightful spin-off from her Lois Meade mysteries starring former series support player, the silver-haired, crabby Ivy, her cousin and her new friend. Readers will enjoy the dynamic trio as they investigate the murder of Gus' neighbor with zest and display energy that a person half their age will admire. With Gus adding enigmatic denouements, Deirdre a bit of fear, and Ivy the vinegar, of course, readers of the Meade English cozies will feel right at home and enjoy this senior citizen murder investigation.
- Harriet Klausner
HIS AT NIGHT
SHERRY THOMAS
Bantam Books PBO 5/10
Her uncle, Edmund Douglas, keeps Elissande Edgerton locked away at his home so she can care for her aunt, who is a pale, pathetic, laudanum addict. Elissande's goal is to never become her aunt, but if she remains under Uncle Edmund's tyrannical care she may succumb. She knows her only safe escape is marriage, though that can be a risky proposition. However, she cannot even take advantage of that option since her uncle entertains no one and never allows her to go to the galas.
When their neighbor's home is infested by a large rat population, Elissande's uncle is forced to host the guests of their house party. One of the attendees is the inane, loud-mouthed Lord Vere, who is apparently an expert on nothing except releasing rodents; even his brother cannot understand what happened to him that turned him into such a fool. However, no one understands he performs as the fool as a means of catching vicious criminals. He feels the real fool when Elissande, selecting an idiot, brazenly enters his bedroom causing a scandal that leads to marriage. However, she quickly realizes her husband is brilliant and love, and his inquiry, leads to danger for both of them.
HIS AT NIGHT is a historical romance starring a clever man masquerading as a fool and a woman who sees past his
façade
. Readers will relish this entertaining tale as love places Elissande in terrible danger. Sherry Thomas' tale is a winner.
- Harriet Klausner
A STRANGER IN THE FAMILY
ROBERT BARNARD
Scribner June, 2010
In Glasgow, Scotland, Kit Philipson was raised by professional parents; his mom taught school while his dad, who escaped the Nazis as an infant, was a journalist. He loved both of them and knew they loved him.
However, twentyish Kit is stunned when his dying mom informs him he was adopted; his birth name is Peter Novello. Her comments trigger vague, not quite lucid memories of a nursery and a woman baking, as well as strangers taking him away from what were apparently his biological family. Needing to know the truth, he searches newspaper clippings for Peter Novello. He learns that in 1989, in Sicily, three-year-old Peter Novello was abducted. Kit intensifies his quest to meet his family, but is confused by what he learns.
This terrific story will be on most short lists for suspense thriller of the year as everyman Kit digs deep into his past trying to connect the dots between Leeds, Sicily and Glasgow. The journey is filled with twists and turns and nothing is quite what it seems. Readers will enjoy joining Kit on his quest to uncover the truth.
- Harriet Klausner
CANDLESTICKS
SHARON ERVIN
Five Star June, 2010
ISBN: 9781594148767
In San Diego, American Wire Service chief Duke Mallory, allows his enthusiastic intern Jancy Dewhurst, to cover the South Beach burglaries. There have now been four break-ins when the families were away from home. Police Detective Thad Bias tells Jancy he is frustrated as his boss, Captain O'Brien, has destroyed the crime scenes with his desire for TV appearances. Jancy soon realizes there is an oddity in the serial robberies: besides valuables, the thief takes candlesticks.
After writing a couple of articles that are published with her by-line, Jancy receives several threatening phone calls. Her
fianc
é,
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent Jim Willis, takes time off to be with Jancy to insure she is safe. Jim and Jancy marry as planned and go on their honeymoon. Then Jancy reads in the Denver paper that robberies similar to those in San Diego, with candlesticks stolen, have occurred. Soon their lives are threatened by a dangerous crook obsessed with candlesticks and more.
The third Jancy Dewhurst investigation (see THE RIBBON MURDERS and MURDER ABOARD THE CHOCTAW GAMBLER) is a superb sleuthing mystery that also moves forward the relationship between Jancy and her Fed. Readers will relish this enjoyable story with a terrific twist. Readers will enjoy Jancy's jaunt into marriage in this entertaining whodunit.
- Harriet Klausner
MURDER IN THE HAMPTONS
DANITA CARTER
Strebor Trade PBO 6/10
Detective Theodora Pratt knows the Hamptons have not seen a killing in quite awhile, and she loathes all the spectators ruining the murder scene. The yacht near the floating corpse is owned by Liza Lord, Hampton old money, who explains to Pratt she provided the yacht as a venue for newcomer Donovan Smart to throw his White and Platinum party introducing himself, his sister Reece and their friend Chyna to the neighbors of exclusive Coco Beach. Most of the snobs detest the nouveau riche rapper TuSmArt (aka Donovan Smart) invading their turf; he just wanted them to know he and his sister are house trained.
Although the party was successful, until the floater was found, most of the stuck-up locals are elated that the undesirables will be forced to leave in police custody. However, stereotyping the rapper is a mistake since Donovan is Einstein brilliant; he also, unlike the notorious rappers, prefers less notoriety in the women he dates. He wants a woman with the 3 Bs (beauty, body and brains). As Pratt hones in on the outsiders as suspects, as well as flirty restaurant owner Troy, she also begins to revise her theory when the autopsy reveals the body has an excessive amount of Oxycontin, a prescription drug.
MURDER IN THE HAMPTONS is a terrific police procedural that looks into whether money can buy class and social status. Danita Carter makes a strong case that social status does not define class. Fast-paced with a nice twist, readers will relish Theo's homicide investigation into a rapper who just wants to take his sister and their BFF out of Brooklyn.
- Harriet Klausner
THE TAKING OF LIBBIE, SD
DAVID HOUSEWRIGHT
Minotaur Books June, 2010
Two men dressed for combat invade the home of former cop turned millionaire Rushmore McKenzie in St. Anthony, Minnesota. They take him to Libbie, South Dakota. Befuddled by the abduction, Mac is taken aback when he learns the townsfolk believe he is a con artist whose latest scheme threatens to bankrupt Libbie.
He persuades the city council and law enforcement they arrested the wrong man. Apparently someone stole his identity to pull off this scam. Instead of suing for false arrest, he offers to help catch the crook; partly out of altruism but more because city council member Tracie Blake is pretty. As he digs deep into the con, Mac concludes the plot needed insider help to make it happen, but his questioning of townsfolk angers the residents who reject his theory. They don't believe a local would do such a thing.
This is an intriguing mystery of townsfolk vs. the hero, with most of the locals preferring to believe Mac is the miscreant and not one of their own. The investigation he is doing expands as Mac also looks into a double homicide. THE TAKING OF LIBBIE, SD is an exciting tale that will hook readers from the starting snatch to the twisting finish.
- Harriet Klausner
A BAD DAY FOR PRETTY
SOPHIE LITTLEFIELD
Minotaur Books June, 2010
In Prosper, Missouri, widow Stella Hardesty and Sheriff Goat Jones enjoy dining together with both looking forward to an after dinner "snack". However, Goat's soon-to-be-ex-wife Brandy arrives intoxicated and hysterical claiming she needs protection.
Stella stops at the sewing machine repair shop she inherited from her late husband, Ollie. While looking in on her assistant, Chrissy Shaw, Stella answers the phone. Former wife abuser and ex-Oxycontin addict Neb Donovan has been arrested for the murder of a woman. Apparently a tornado tore apart the demolition-derby stadium snack stand revealing a body that had been interred there. Neb poured the concrete that was ripped open. Stella, feeling she still needs to protect Neb's wife Donna as she did when her husband was a druggie, investigates.
Sophie Littlefield's amateur sleuth's return is a soft boiled crime caper with Stella balancing her inquiry and her desire for the Sheriff in a fun light-hearted whodunit. Readers will enjoy cozying with Stella, who has to deal with the inane shenanigans of Brandy and her boyfriend Will.
- Harriet Klausner
VOWS, VENDETTAS & A LITTLE BLACK DRESS
KYRA DAVIS
Mira Books Trade PBO 6/10
Bay area mystery writer Sophie Katz attends the engagement party of her best friend Dena Lopiano's cousin, Mary Ann, to Monty Sanchez. However, the joyous party turns ugly when someone shoots Dena. She survives, but will probably never walk again.
Sophie, who has solved cases before, vows to find the culprit. Her boyfriend Anatoly, a private investor, pleads with her to leave the inquiry to the police, but she refuses. Shockingly she finds a myriad of suspects when she expected to uncover few, if any, since she knows everything about her Sicilian spitfire BFF. However, who the culprit is remains just out of reach.
This is an exciting, lighthearted amateur sleuth mystery that readers will enjoy, although the culprit seems obvious rather early. Still the fun in this tale of a Jewish, African-American vendetta are Sophie's choices. Kyra Davis provides a wonderful tale with a superb climax that will have readers clamoring for the next San Francisco treat.
- Harriet Klausner
INNOCENT
SCOTT TUROW
Grand Central Publishing May, 2010
Over two decades ago then-attorney Rusty Sabich was tried for murder and acquitted because the legal system presumed innocence. He has since become a Kindle County, Illinois, Chief Appellate Judge.
When Sabich's mentally shaky wife Barbara dies in bed from apparent natural causes, Tommy Molto, the prosecuting attorney when he stood trial, who is now the acting chief prosecuting attorney, believes he has the SOB this time and goes after him with a vengeance. He encourages his chief deputy, Jim Brand, to go after the sexagenarian judge too. Brand is already suspicious of Sabich because Rusty chose to conceal his over-medicated wife's death from everyone, including their son Nat, a law student who is also mentally unstable, for nearly twenty-four hours; enough time for poison to disappear from her system. Rusty has other complicating issues re his election to a higher court, an ethics charge, and his affair with his law clerk, Anna Vostic.
This entertaining sequel to PRESUMED INNOCENT once again explores the theme of what is truth and justice. The story takes a good look at what motivates Molto and Sabich, who interpret the same incident from completely different perspectives. In many ways a psychological thriller rather than just a legal courtroom drama, readers will relish the return engagement as the lead pair are yin and yang, burdened with six decades of baggage and no one is purely innocent.
- Harriet Klausner
THROUGH THE CRACKS
BARBARA FISTER
Minotaur Books May, 2010
Over two decades ago, in Chicago's Lincoln Park, a man raped Jill McKenzie. Teenage coke user Chase Taylor was arrested, convicted, but freed on appeal.
Now a sociology professor, Jill has put together a profile on her attacker that leads her to believe he is a serial rapist. She hires private investigator Anni Koskinen to find this predator. Jill believes he has sexually battered at least seven women in the past decade, in between his prison time for other crimes. Although Anni considers her client has an ax to grind, her social work background enables Koskinen to communicate with the other rape victims. She follows those discussions with meetings with those involved in the McKenzie case. She increasingly believes her client is right in her assessment.
Anni makes this gritty dark Chicago investigative tale work as readers will empathize with her, the victims, and the cops trying to remove psychopaths from the streets. Character-driven and aptly titled, THROUGH THE CRACKS is a wonderful tale and readers are sure to want more of Barbara Fister's work.
- Harriet Klausner
FALL
COLIN McADAM
Riverhead Trade PBO 6/10
At the affluent and prestigious St. Ebury School in Sutton, Canada, the son of an American diplomat, extroverted, athletic Julius and the lovely Fallon are an item. All the guys at school want Fall as their girlfriend, but the most envious is Julius' roommate, the intellectual, reticent loner Noel. Still, in spite of his coveting Fall, Noel and Julius are buddies.
The administration punishes Julius for a typical teenage stunt; his punishment is confinement to his room. Unable to see Fall, he asks Noel to visit her. Noel's fixation on Fall intensifies as he has the opportunity to spend time alone with the object of his obsession, even if it is only as a surrogate. Soon after he begins seeing Fall, she vanishes.
Told in turn by Julius and Noel, FALL is a psychological suspense tale. The reader gets to know the obsessions of both teens and the woman each cherishes in his own way. Part of the insight is how different Julius and Noel are in their behavior, especially their relationships with others; but ironically how similar they are when it comes to Fall. Readers who appreciate a psychoanalytical story will relish FALL as the action, including what happened to Fall, takes a back seat to the astute look at the rivals who desire her.
- Harriet Klausner
BUY BACK
BRIAN M. WIPRUD
Minotaur Books June, 2010
Insurance companies hire recovery expert Tommy Davin to retrieve stolen property; usually the Brooklyn native pays a small fee to the thief enabling the insurance company to retrieve the item without having to pay out the full value.
Tommy has some debt problems since his girlfriend Yvette took off for Vegas leaving him with her IOUs to Vince Scanlon. He knows he better pay Vince off, even though it is not his debt. Vince believes in extended definitions of relationships when it comes to breaking body parts. Tommy persuades three buddies, led by Huey, to steal three paintings from the Whitbread Museum so he can collect the recovery fee from the insurance company. The plan works, but as his pals leave the museum with the art, they are mugged by two thugs with guns and the paintings are stolen from Tommy's thieves. NYPD suspects Tommy is the mastermind while Vince wants his money now. Finally there is the insane Russian who obsesses over Yvette by stealing her abandoned cats.
Brooklyn is becoming too hot for Tommy as he plays dodge ball with a vengeful debt-collecting mob, the cops, and the cat thief. All this insanity goes on while Tommy looks for the thieves who stole from his thieves. BUY BACK is an amusing over-the-top crime caper in which readers will expect Elmore Leonard to show up.
- Harriet Klausner
THE BOHEMIAN GIRL
KENNETH CAMERON
Minotaur Books June, 2010
After traveling by motor car on the continent with his faithful companions Rupert and Harold for the last six months, tired American novelist General Denton returns to his home in London. He hopes to find some respite after having spent two months of his time in a horrible Transylvanian jail; but feels the jaunt in the jalopy was worth it.
However, rest will wait when he opens a two-month-old letter of desperation from Mary Thomason, whom he does not know. She pleads with him to help her. Denton learns that Aubrey Heseltine delivered the letter and that he had found it attached to the back of a painting. While Denton tries to learn more about his potential client, someone is stalking Denton.
This is an excellent early twentieth century mystery that contains two strong subplots which Kenneth Cameron, seemingly effortlessly, interweaves back and forth before tying them together. Fast-paced yet affording readers a strong sense of time and place, THE BOHEMIAN GIRL is a terrific historical thriller with a powerful cast led by General Denton.
- Harriet Klausner
INSATIABLE
MEG CABOT
William Morrow & Company June, 2010
In New York, Meena Harker writes scripts for the soap opera "Insatiable". She enjoys her work and is diligent with hopes of earning a promotion. However, she is hurt when the boss selects Shoshona Metzenbaum, an 00-sized treadmill walker with family connections (like a super director aunt and uncle) for the position. Things get even worse when Shoshona orders Meena to write a vampire storyline for the TV show. Having the "gift" of sight that enables her to see who will shortly die, Meena detests the vampire craze and especially loathes her soap following the parade, not leading it.
In the apartment building where she lives with her brother and Jack the dog, Meena meets Romanian Prince Lucien, who is visiting neighbors. She likes the fact that, for the first time, she has encountered a person whose death she cannot foresee. However, as she falls in love with the sophisticated Eastern European, Meena is unaware of why she fails to be able to foresee his death: Prince Lucien, the offspring of Dracula, is already dead. He is in town in his capacity as the ruler of the vampire community.
This is a jocular, tongue in cheek urban fantasy romance that is closer to George Hamilton than Bella Lugosi or Christopher Lee. INSATIABLE is an amusing lampooning of the vampire craze. This story is fun and readers will enjoy Meg Cabot's humorous "Love At First Bite" romantic comedy satire.
- Harriet Klausner
IN SHELTER COVE
BARBARA FREETHY
Pocket Books PBO 5/10
Five years ago, Brianna arrived in Angel's Bay, California, to marry Derek Kane. However, not long after they exchanged "I dos" he was arrested for stealing three paintings from the local museum. He was convicted and sent to prison. Just a few weeks before his release, Derek is dead.
A single mom, Brianna believes she is the only person besides her mother-in-law and the real thief who believes her husband was innocent. Upon his death, she vows to uncover the identity of the real thief. Accompanied by their son, Lucas, she returns to Angel's Bay. She blames Police Officer Jason Marlowe for Derek's conviction based on his testimony. When she learns Jason is her neighbor, she is outraged, especially when Lucas seems to worship the cop. Worse, she is also attracted to him and stunned by clues that make her believe either Derek was guilty or Jason set him up to take the fall.
The latest Angel's Bay tale is an exciting romantic suspense story that will have readers, as well as Brianna, wondering whether Derek or Jason is the culprit. Although the key characters' cause seems forced rather than driving the flow, readers will enjoy accompanying the widow as she seeks the truth in Shelter Cove.
- Harriet Klausner
THE DEVIL AMONGST THE LAWYERS
SHARYN McCRUMB
Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press June, 2010
In 1935, the country remains in the Great Depression, but to schoolteacher Erma Morton, the economy is the least of her worries. Virginia police have arrested her for the murder of her father; her mother was also taken in by the cops, but released when they decided to prosecute only Erma. The national papers send reporters and photographers to cover the story while from Tennessee comes Johnson City Sleuth teenage reporter Carl Jenkins.
The big shot journalists make it seem as if the townsfolk were against Erma because she is pretty, charming and educated. They write their reports so it reads the way they believe the public (and Mr. Hearst, who has cut a deal with the brother of the accused) would want to picture the case. Carl knows he cannot compete in their league so he sends for his twelve-year-old cousin Nora Bonesteel, who has the "sight", to see if she can give him the true story.
Based on a true media feeding frenzy, this is a timely historical mystery in which the reporting supersedes the case. Sharyn McCrumb makes a case that nothing really has changed except the medium used by the journalists, who still slant and cherry pick what they report. Carl lacks confidence and experience so he depends on Nora in her youngest appearance (see THE SONGCATCHER and GHOST RIDERS). Readers will enjoy this insightful entry in McCrumb's Ballad series.
- Harriet Klausner
NEVER WAVE GOODBYE
DOUG MAGEE
Touchstone Books June, 2010
Feeling sad but proud of her nine-year-old daughter Sarah, who is going to spend two weeks at sleep-away camp with her best friend Linda, Lena pays little attention to the vehicle or driver picking up her child. Lena waves goodbye to Sarah and goes inside their home pondering how to get her marriage to David back on track. Soon a second van arrives to pick up Sarah.
By the time the confusion is cleared up, Sarah, Linda and two boys, Tommy and Franklin, are the missing, victims of a kidnapping. The FBI leads the investigation, but has little to go on. The kidnappers demand one million dollars.
In the woods, one of the abductors, Mr. Everett, is with the four frightened kids until he has an accident after a chance encounter with a hiker. The kids are alone, struggling to survive. Sarah becomes the de facto leader of the quartet.
NEVER WAVE GOODBYE is a high octane suspense story wrapped around several related (by the abductions) family dramas. Doug Magee gets inside the hearts and souls of the children and their parents; each sharing a common fear they will not see one another ever again. Readers will relish this gut-wrenching human drama.
- Harriet Klausner
GIVE + TAKE
STONA FITCH
Thomas Dunne Books / St. Martin's Press May, 2010
Jazz pianist Ross Clifton travels from gig to gig where he picks up wealthy women attending his performance. He actually makes a much better living robbing his affluent tryst partners.
However, Ross' perfect life begins to tank when he is asked to watch his sixteen-year-old nephew, Cray. Ross cannot stand his brother's son. However, when Cray catches his felonious uncle thieving, he raises the stakes at a time when Clifton is visiting his dying father and falling in love with a fellow thief, singer Marianne London. Now his nephew's actions, compounded by his girlfriend's past, threaten Clifton in ways he could not have imagined.
GIVE + TAKE is a wild, romantic family noir held together by the felonies that take on a life of their own. The cast is strong, especially Clifton, Marianne and Clay, but so is the ensemble in pursuit of them in this fast-paced adventure. Readers will enjoy this zany thriller in which the "good guys" motto is: "a family that thieves together belongs together".
- Harriet Klausner
THE BIGGEST LIAR IN LOS ANGELES
KEN KUHLKEN
Poisoned Pen Press May, 2010
ISBN: 9781590586976
In 1926, in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles, Negro Frank Gaines is lynched near the temple of evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, but the two major newspapers remain silent about the murder. Dance orchestra leader Tom Hickey learns about the death of his friend from an underground paper. He asks his neighbor, LAPD Defective Leo Weiss, if indeed the lynching occurred and if yes what Police Chief Davis is doing about it. Leo says yes Gaines was murdered, but the cops are insisting nothing happened.
Tom investigates the murder starting with a visit to Aimee Semple McPherson's Angelus Temple. However, he is soon followed and beaten up, with warnings from a speakeasy owner and Klansman Leo that if he fails to drop his inquiry, his new enemies will insure he does so permanently.
Although there is too much going on between the 1926 cop-business-politician-newspaper-evangelist connections, the orchestra, the hero's family life (especially his sister) and the investigation, readers will enjoy this historical amateur sleuth mystery. The story focuses on Los Angeles during the Roaring Twenties through Tom's eyes.
- Harriet Klausner
WHEN DEATH INTERVENES
L. C. HAYDEN
Five Star May, 2010
ISBN: 9781594148507
In Two Forks, Wyoming, Linda Randig is mourning the deaths of her parents in a car crash. Soon afterward, she receives an anonymous phone call from a person who tells her to open an envelope that he left her and that he can see what she is doing, even inside her house. Inside the large parcel are three other envelopes. One is labeled open me first and contains pictures of her parents' car. Another says open me next; inside is a picture of her estranged son Eric with her grandson. The third shows her husband Mitch lying dead in the garden. Linda races outside to see if her husband is dead. The caller tells her to get in her SUV and head to Minnesota to await further instructions.
At South Dakota Custer State Park, Linda is parked next to retired Dallas police detective Harry Bronson and his wife Carol. Harry recognizes a troubled soul and gets Carol to talk about her woes. Unable to resist, although Carol warns him not to play cop, Harry, with the help of his former police partner Mike Hoover, who is still on the force, begins to piece together the motive behind a serial killer.
WHEN DEATH INTERVENES is a terrific thriller. Bronson, and the dynamics of the extended and dysfunctional Randig family, provide readers with an exciting adventure.
- Harriet Klausner
TRESSED TO KILL
LILA DARE
Berkley Prime Crime PBO 5/10
Quaint St. Elizabeth, Georgia, is a typical small southern town in which the locals know one another and the crime rate is extremely low. Grace Terhune and her mother Violetta own a beauty shop that they operate out of the latter's home. They are swamped with customers who are going to attend the town meeting to discuss funds for the Preserve the Rothmere Museum Fund and for putting computers into the schools. The other item on the agenda is whether to allow Morestuf Mart to build a store in town.
Society doyenne Constance DuBois demands Violetta put highlights in her hair just prior to the big meeting. The hairdresser warns the haughty client that she already has too many chemicals on her hair and fears adding any more. Violetta proves right when Constance's hair turns orange. Blaming Violetta, Constance vows to shut down the beauty salon. Following the meeting, they find Constance's corpse in the parking lot. All evidence points strongly towards Violetta, so Grace, knowing the cops will need all the help they can get, begins her own inquiry.
This first Southern Beauty Shop amateur sleuth story nicely captures the ambience of life in a small Georgia town; for instance references to the War of Northern Aggression are accepted as commonplace. Grace is a classic steel magnolia who refuses to accept her mom's guilt and the consequent closing of their beauty parlor. She determinedly investigates because she knows the townsfolk, especially the ladies, quite well; and cannot afford to hire a professional detective. Rather quickly she finds others with motives to kill Constance, though she struggles with who actually committed the crime. Lila Dare provides a fun, regional amateur sleuth story with a very likable mother-daughter team.
- Harriet Klausner
A TIMELY VISION
JOYCE and JIM LAVENE
Berkley PBO 5/10
On the Outer Banks of North Carolina, in the village of Duck, lives Dae O'Donnell, owner of the store Missing Pieces. The store contains useful, valuable or kitschy items that Dae has "found". She is also the mayor and everyone who knows her knows about her psychic skills in finding lost items for her neighbors in Duck.
At the annual Fourth of July party, Miss Mildred asks Dae to find her missing watch that she loaned to her sister Lizzie. The siblings have always squabbled, ever since Lizzie won the local beauty contest and Wild Johnny Simpson chose her over Mildred. Dae sees the watch on Lizzie's arm, but no one has seen the woman for days until Dae discovers her body buried in sand on the beach. Circumstantial evidence points to Miss Mildred, leading the police to arrest her. Dae refuses to accept the official reasoning, so with the help of town newcomer Kevin Brickman, a former FBI agent, she investigates the homicide.
This opening act of a new amateur sleuth series is a wonderful mystery due to the many eccentric characters, including Dae. The whodunit is complicated enough to keep readers entertained and stymied as to who killed the sister and the heroine is sassy and spunky. Joyce and Jim Lavene have shagged another hit series.
- Harriet Klausner