Bead on Trouble (Kitzi Camden Mysteries, No. 1) Review

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(More customer reviews)I enjoyed Bead on Trouble by Barbara Burnett Smith, which introduces Kitzi Camden, amateur beader, Texas political royalty, and budding sleuth. At a beading retreat held at a summer camp, one of the bead designers ends up murdered. Since Kitzi had just found out that the designer was having an affair with her best friend's husband, who is also a bead designer at the camp, she sets to work to prove that her friend isn't guilty. The police think Kitzi is a prime suspect, so she is working on her own, trying to snoop around while not looking guilty herself. Kitzi is fun to be around, and I enjoyed her first person narration of the story. Smith does give Kitzi a lot of beading info to tell us in exposition rather than character dialog or plot development, which is a slight weakness in the writing. Kitzi does get the "bad guy" in the end, but it isn't a classic solving of a whodunit; she more falls into the conclusion. I had suspicions but not certainty of who the murderer was, and I found the killer motive and method believable. Smith didn't "cheat" and leave out a lot of info; we're told all we need to know to get as far as Kitzi does. All in all, Bead on Trouble was a fun read, and I look forward to Kitzi's next case.

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Meet Kitzi Camden, former stateswoman. When she retired, Kitzi dreamed of doing what she loves best--beading. She certainly didn't plan to try her hand at amateur sleuthing. But lately, trouble seems to find her wherever she goes--even deep into the woods. When a young beader is killed at a beading retreat, Kitzi is faced with almost as many suspects as there are beads in her bag.