Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Oakdale Library | MYSTERY HAR | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Park Grove Library (Cottage Grove) | MYSTERY HAR | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | MYSTERY HAR | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Stillwater Public Library | MYSTERY HAR | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Valley Library (Lakeland) | MYSTERY HAR | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
National Bestselling Author and winner of multiple Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Awards, Carolyn Hart continues to dazzle mystery fans with an all new Death on Demand Mystery.
Winter has arrived in Broward's Rock, South Carolina, and business has slowed for Annie Darling, owner of mystery bookstore Death on Demand. So when the island's resident writer publishes the latest in her popular mystery series, Annie jumps at the chance to host a book signing, even though it conflicts with her shift at the local charity shop, Better Tomorrow.
Luckily, fellow volunteer Gretchen Burkholt agrees to sub for her. The signing goes well, but Gretchen interrupts the event multiple times, leaving voice mails about scandalous news she's dying to share. Even though Gretchen tends to be excitable, Annie heads over to Better Tomorrow, where she finds Gretchen dead on the floor, an axe by her side.
Annie enlists the help of her husband, Max, to piece together a puzzle involving an overturned kayak, a stolen motorboat, a troubled love affair, and a reckless teenager. And she must tread carefully in her investigation, because a killer is on the loose, and that killer works well in the foggy days of winter...
Author Notes
Carolyn G. Hart is the author of eight award-winning Death on Demand mysteries and four Henrie O mysteries. The first writer to win all three major mystery awards--the Agatha, the Anthony, and the Macavity--for her novels, Hart is the former president of the organization Sisters in Crime.
Hart's first novel in her mystery series, entitled Death on Demand, focuses on prime murder suspect Annie Laurance Darling and her attempt to clear her tarnished name. Some of the other novels in the series include Something Wicked, winner of the Agatha Award in 1988 and the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original in 1989, Design for Murder, and Honeymoon with Murder, which won the Anthony Award in 1990. Letter From Home also won the Agatha Award for Best Novel in 2003.
Her latest novel is entitled, The Devereaux Legacy. (Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In Agatha Award-winner Hart's sparkling 22nd Death on Demand mystery (after 2011's Dead by Midnight), Annie Darling enlists Gretchen Burkholt, a fellow volunteer at Better Tomorrow, to sub for her at the charity shop so she can host an author signing at her Broward's Rock, S.C., bookstore, Death on Demand. To Annie's horror, someone kills Gretchen with an axe during the charity shop's afternoon shift. Police chief Billy Cameron is sure ex-con handyman Jeremiah Young, who fled the crime scene, is guilty, but Annie's longtime customer and mystery connoisseur, Henny Brawley, is equally convinced of Jeremiah's innocence. When Annie and Henny find a link between Gretchen's murder and the "accidental" drowning of fussy and pretentious Everett Hathaway two weeks earlier, the suspect field opens considerably. A bucolic setting, colorful characters, and frequent knowledgeable recommendations of mystery authors and books old and new help make this another winning entry in a cozy series that shows no sign of age. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman-Schneider Agency. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
It's winter on Broward's Rock, the South Carolina sea island where Annie Darling runs Death on Demand, a mystery bookstore, and her husband, Max, a consulting firm. It should be quiet, leaving Annie with nothing more to worry about than avoiding Laurel, her mother-in-law, currently pressing sunflowers on everyone, or Emma Clyde, the resident eccentric mystery writer. During an event at the bookstore, Annie receives dramatic messages from the woman who substituted for her at A Better Tomorrow, the remotely located volunteer relief shelter. As soon as the bookstore event ends, Annie heads to the shelter to soothe her friend but instead finds her dead. The ex-con handyman, hired by Annie's loyal friend Henny Brawley, is the prime suspect and the only one the meddling mayor will let the police consider. Annie, Max, Henny, Emma, and Laurel do some meddling of their own, along with careful observation of how people get around the island, which leads to trapping the real killer in lies. A particularly satisfying entry in an always-satisfying cozy series.--Muller, Karen Copyright 2010 Booklist
Kirkus Review
Did you hear the one about the mystery-bookstore owner menaced by an ax murderer? Annie Darling, proprietor of Broward's Rock's detective bookshop Death on Demand, is due to volunteer at the island's charity store, Better Tomorrow. But a book-signing by local author Emma Clyde forces her to swap times with Gretchen Burkholt, who rings up several times to gossip about a scandalous message she's found in a jacket donated by the family of Everett Hathaway, who accidentally slipped out of a kayak and drowned on a midnight sail in frigid January. By the time Annie arrives at Better Tomorrow, Gretchen is long dead, the murder weapon, an ax, left beside her. Most everyone considers the handyman, Jeremiah, the culprit, but Henny, the volunteer coordinator, believes him innocent and helps him hide. Annie and her husband Max decide to help vindicate Jeremiah, but their investigation is stymied when the mayor relieves the police chief of his job. With persistence, the amateur sleuths discover that Gretchen may have been murdered because she could recast Everett's death as not an accident but murder. There's no shortage of suspects within Everett's family and business circles, and two murders become three when the Hathaway housekeeper is shot. Henny will be waylaid and Annie accosted in a dense fog before mystery writer Clyde helps deduce whodunit, leading to Jeremiah's freedom and the police chief's reinstatement. The series hallmarks are all here--the Christie-like clues, the multiple motives, the never-ending gossip, the mystery fiction allusions, the cats Agatha and Dorothy L--but where's the verve, the wicked surprise? Barely mid-level in this venerable series (Dead by Midnight, 2001, etc.). ]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Death Comes Silently is Agatha Award winner Hart's 22nd title in the "Death on Demand" series. Gretchen Burkholt is brutally murdered while substituting for Annie Darling at Better Tomorrow, a volunteer organization helping the needy. Annie feels responsible for Gretchen's death, so she, her husband, and a friend join the police search for the elusive murderer who has killed before. Kate Reading, winner of three Earphone awards and named "Voice of the Century" by Audiofile magazine, skillfully captures the comfortable banter of the husband-and-wife duo, the obnoxious teenage defiance of a murder victim's niece, and the ambiguous tone of the same dead man's younger wife. VERDICT Solid for mystery collections and those who like a good mystery without the blood and gore. ["Recommended for all cozy mystery fans, especially for those who like to read Joan Hess, Leslie Meier, and Jill Churchill," read the review of the Berkley Prime Crime hc, LJ 4/1/12.-Ed.]-Ilka Gordon, Siegal Coll. of Judaic Studies Lib., Cleveland (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
