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.

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Bring Your Own Poison (A Trailer Park Mystery #4) Review

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(More customer reviews)This series continues to get better and better as characters develop further and relationships grow. Wanda Nell Culpepper is a hardworking mother of three who occasionally happens upon a murder. In this case, it takes place at a party at the Kountry Kitchen, where she works. The author does a very credible job of having Wanda Nell get involved in trying to figure out the murderer but without doing anything stupid. What I found more interesting than the murder plot, though, was Wanda Nell's interactions with her family and her boyfriend, Jack. These are all extremely likable characters, who are three-dimensional and who care about each other a great deal. Even Wanda Nell's ex mother-in-law is thawing out towards her, and the older woman's conversations with her cousin are a riot. This is a light, but well-written series with sensitivity and heart. I highly recommend it.

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Park the new Trailer Park mystery on your shelves. Waitress Wanda Nell Culpepper is burning the candle at both ends, but she can't afford to pass up hefty tips from a bachelor party at the Kountry Kitchen. She's prepared to dodge a few roaming hands-but not to witness a murder.

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Leftover Dead (Trailer Park Mysteries (Berkley)) Review

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(More customer reviews)I have so enjoyed this cozy series. I'm almost embarrassed to admit how much I always look forward to the next coming out. That being said, this one just wasn't up to par. Although more specifics will follow, this installment felt a little thrown together--not as polished as the previous stories in the series.
In book five of the Trailer Park mystery series, Wanda Nell and her new husband, Jack, look into a murder that occurred 31 years ago in Tullahoma. The victim, Jenna Rae Howell, was a very pretty young woman who lived and grew up in a city about 4 hours north of there. Her murder was never solved. As a matter of fact, there was obviously a cover up. Jack smells the makings of a book. The sleuthing begins...
Up until now, Wanda Nell Culpepper has been the perfect cozy protagonist--smart, stable, sassy, mouthy, independent, and a joy to be with. Now she is married to Jack Pemberton and, if this installment is any indication, the union isn't doing her any favors. She comes across as less independent--more in need of the man in her life to make things OK. Although I previously considered Wanda Nell Culpepper to be a terrific everyone's mom, Wanda Nell Pemberton comes across as more grandmotherly--weaker, less sure of herself.
In the previous books, the primary focus was always Wanda Nell, her kids, the Kountry Kitchen, and Mayrene. In LEFTOVER DEAD, it is Jack....and his wife. I missed the familiar backdrop of the Culpepper family unit, and unity, providing that (cozy, if you will) stabilizing force. It was that force that made me want to join in and be a part of. In this one, instead of giving us a chance to get used to Jack being one part of the larger picture, we are handed a totally different Kodak moment.
Will I read the next? Definitely. I prefer to think of this as just a bump along the road of rural cozydom. But next time, "Ms. Evans", please allow us some of our familiar turf.


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Waitress Wanda Nell Culpepper is barely hitched to her new husband, Jack, before the couple starts digging into an unsolved murder from thirty-one years ago. But a new death puts this cold case on the front burner.

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