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Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | MYSTERY COU | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Three South Carolina cousins return for their sophomore effort to solve the murder of an ex-beauty queen who returns to Indigo Island take part in the wedding of the year.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In the pseudonymous Cousins's fizzy second adventure (after 2003's Fiddle Dee Death), South Carolina cousins Lindsey Fox, Margaret Ann ("Mam") Matthew and Bonnie Lynn Tyler get together for a grand wedding at Pinckney Plantation on Indigo Island. When one of the bridesmaids, aspiring actress MaryMar Futch, goes missing and her look-alike assistant is found unconscious, the three amateur sleuths soon find themselves tangled in a kudzu-like mystery. The pace quickens after the assistant dies and someone steals Mam's identity. When MaryMar shows up claiming she's being stalked, Lindsey's not-so-secret beau, Maj. Will McLeod, hides MaryMar at Lindsey's for safekeeping. As Mam goes overboard on the wedding floral arrangements, MaryMar tries to seduce Will and puts on beauty queen airs. Lindsey tries to keep life on an even keel, but is plagued by jealousy and insecurity. Full of Southern charm, Low Country imagery, snappy humor and the requisite secrets and lies, this cozy shows that three heroines aren't too many; they are a triple treat. (June 3) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Mayhem with a Southern accent. Attending the opening of the Gatortorium in Indigo Island, S.C., Margaret Ann Matthews (Mam), her sister Bonnie Lynn Taylor (BLT) and their cousin Lindsey Fox (who's keeping company with Will McLeod, the local sheriff's deputy) find poor Lorna Spivey dead drunk in a bathroom stall--and dressed up to look like her boss, mantrap actress MaryMar, who's come home to be a bridesmaid at sweet, tasteless Sue Beth's wedding at Pinckney Plantation. Mam, in charge of the flowers and everyone else, corrals BLT and Lindsey into corsage making, kudzu clipping, even seashell collecting--an activity that lands them smack in the middle of a marijuana farm. While Mam's daughter Cissie is having her heart stomped on, MaryMar is being stalked, and the exterminator is riding around in a van with a dinosaur-sized cockroach effigy on its roof. Lorna, with no kinfolk to mourn her, expires. Gnats buzz. Lights flicker. Waves pound. Raindrops fall in torrents. MaryMar makes eyes at Will. And a peculiar scent reminiscent of cat urine emanates from a white van that turns out to be a mobile meth lab. Cousins, a real-life writing trio of cousins (Fiddle Dee Death, 2003), knows her Dixie, from Coca-Cola for breakfast to sweet tea for lunch. The slender plot is enlivened by sly humor and Southern hospitality with a bite. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Three cousins, Lindsey, Margaret Ann (Mam ), and Bonnie, solve a murder on the fictional island of Indigo, South Carolina, in their second adventure. When they attend the opening of the Gatortorium, they find a woman passed out in one of the public bathrooms. The woman, Lorna Spivey, who later dies, turns out to be the look-alike and personal assistant of former beauty queen Mary Martha MaryMar Futch. While the police investigate, Lindsey must keep the annoying MaryMar hidden in her home to protect her from the person who may be trying to kill her. The cousins make amiable cozy characters, with plenty of humorous banter, and the author evokes a strong sense of place. (The details of the extravagant wedding Mam is planning with the demanding mother of the bride provide an entertaining diversion.) Unfortunately, Lindsey, the narrator, is less defined as a character than are her two cousins, and the three of them seem to stumble into the solution of the murder rather than solve it. Still, this is an enjoyable romp written by three women who are themselves cousins. --Sue O'Brien Copyright 2005 Booklist
Library Journal Review
A wedding in the South Carolina Low Country and a body in the Gatortorium has detectives Lindsey, Margaret Ann, and Bonnie (Fiddle Dee Death) sleuthing in another tale of Southern mystery and manners. Cousins is a pseudonym for a trio of authors. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.