Showing posts with label southern mystery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label southern mystery. Show all posts

Hold Up the Sky Review

Hold Up the Sky
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Patricia has done it again when she introduces new characters that we come to love and know as friends. One of the things I greatly admire about Patricia's books is her in-depth character development. Great read. I couldn't put it down and then was sad when I finished because it was like taking a trip and making new friends and then having to leave and wondering how they are doing. I wanted the story to continue so I could visit with them some more!

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From a veteran writer new to the Accent list, a novel about four women who find strength and insight in each other. Mamie is facing an overwhelming secret. Margaret has lost her home. Billie can no longer care alone for her disabled daughter. And Maria is living with an untenable choice. When these four women come together to live on a drought-stricken Georgia farm, they must open their hearts, and share their burdens, before they can find the bounty that lies hidden in tough times, and once again see the glorious pattern of meaning in their lives.

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Slow Dollar (Deborah Knott Mysteries) Review

Slow Dollar (Deborah Knott Mysteries)
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I thought the last several books in the Deborah Knott series were pretty poor. Mechanical plots, dull characters, uninteresting and implausible mystery solutions. In one of them, I intuited the murdered from the beginning because s/he was given too much "air time" when s/he was introduced - a common giveaway for untalented mystery writers. I feared that Maron had run out of ideas and was just churning out books for the money.
Happily, "Slow Dollar" more than restores my faith. As is typical with Maron, the point is less the mystery than the characters. As others have indicated, the new characters in "Slow Dollar" are delightfully drawn and wonderfully real. They add more depth to the incredibly complex relationships within Deborah's family.
And I absolutely, positively LOVED the new relationship with Dwight. Yes, I consider myself to be on a first-name basis with these people; they are that real to me.
Thank you, Margaret Maron, from this grateful reader. You're back on track.

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Murder Gets A Life (A Souther Sisters Mystery) Review

Murder Gets A Life (A Souther Sisters Mystery)
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Anne George has quickly become one of my favorite authors. Not only are her mysteries top notch, but the antics of Patricia Anne and Sister remind me so much of my grandmother and aunt. The dialogue is peppered with southern wit and charm. This is by far the funniest and most intricately plotted of all Anne George's books so far. It kept me in stitches the entire time. In fact, my boyfriend, who reads only science fiction became so interested with the bits and pieces of humor that I would read to him, that I had to read the book twice! Once to myself and once outloud to him. We both laughed until we cried. He especially enjoyed my rendition of the story, since I am from the south. His quote was "you make it sound so funny with your accent, that it wouldn't be the same if I read it myself". But as much as I enjoyed it, I would read it again!

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

Bring Your Own Poison (A Trailer Park Mystery #4)
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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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Best Served Cold (A Trailer Park Mystery #3) Review

Best Served Cold (A Trailer Park Mystery #3)
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this is another and the further adventures in a cute cozy series.
Funny and believeable characters throught the whole story keeps your attention and it is fun just to visit them. I look foward to more of the Tullahoma gang. the scary thing is, i could know these people!


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At the Kountry Kitchen, Wanda Nell gets a surprising customer-her brother Rusty, who she hasn't set eyes on since their mama died. Wanda Nell wants to heal the rift between them, but Rusty has other scores to settle in town. Then a man is murdered, and Rusty-who had a knock-down drag-out with him just hours earlier-disappears. Wanda Nell knows her baby brother isn't a killer, and she's got to find both him and the real murderer before the whole thing starts to stink like yesterday's leftovers.

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Flamingo Fatale (A Trailer Park Mystery #1) Review

Flamingo Fatale (A Trailer Park Mystery #1)
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I stumbled across this mystery, and I'm so glad I did! Read Harriet Klausner's review for a summary. I'll just add that I enjoyed the language, the characters' problems were real, and just like good Southerners, they enjoyed their Cokes. If you enjoy humorous Southern mysteries, you'll love Jimmie Ruth Evans' new series...at least I hope this is the beginning of a series!

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Leftover Dead (Trailer Park Mysteries (Berkley)) Review

Leftover Dead (Trailer Park Mysteries (Berkley))
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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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Murder Over Easy (A Trailer Park Mystery #2) Review

Murder Over Easy (A Trailer Park Mystery #2)
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Wanda Nell Culpepper is a divorced mother of three, who works two jobs to support her family, and lives in a trailer park. She and her beautician next door neighbor, Mayrene, seem real unlikely detectives, but they've now got two successful murder cases under their belts and there's probably no stopping them now. And this reader is particularly glad about that.
Ms. Evans has created a real small-town landscape in her mysteries. Everyday women with guts and common sense are solving their own problems and helping friends. Okay, they're taking the law into their own hands, but hey--that's where the fun comes in.
The story opens with Wanda Nell getting a call from her boss, Melvin, who owns the Kountry Kitchen diner where Wanda Nell works. Melvin's in jail for the murder of fellow employee Fayetta, who in Southern parlance 'deserved killing' but Wanda Nell certainly didn't want to see her boss get jailed for the crime.
So, Wanda Nell and her sleuthing partner Mayrene set out to clear Melvin's name. On the way, they discover a private men's club and enough scandal to set their small town on its ears. Plus, Wanda Nell has some surprises in store related to her son, TJ.
This novel might have deserved a five had there been more doubt in my mind as to who the murderer actually was. Also, I think Evans needs to do a better job of drawing her characters. Still, Evans has created an interesting and convincing world. I like Wanda Nell and Mayrene and I'll probably find more of her books to read.

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Melvin Arbuckle, Wanda Nell's boss at the Kountry Kitchen, has been arrested for killing a waitress with an unsavory reputation. Convinced of Melvin's innocence, Wanda Nell puts herself on the trail of a ruthless killer-and almost gets her goose cooked.

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