Customer Reviews

April Fool Dead (Death on Demand Mysteries, No. 13)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Annie Darling is sponsoring a book signing by Broward's Rock's most illustrious author, Emma Clyde, at her bookstore, Death on Demand. She creates brochures with clues to different mysteries to advertise the event and to entice readers to enter the contest to discover which books are referred to by the clues. Meanwhile someone else distributes bogus flyers which refer to unsolved mysteries which have occurred on the island in the past. Things become even more complicated when murders begin to occur. Annie and Max try to solve the murders and determine who has distributed the muckraking flyers. It is somewhat distracting as a reader to have 5 mysteries hanging in the air along with the murders. The solution at the end seems quite abrupt and incomplete as there is never a good explanation as to who distributed the flyers and why they were ever created in the first place. This is not typical of author Hart, which causes this book to be one of the lesser lights of the series.

I have to say that Carolyn G. Hart is one of the few authors writing two series, almost concurrently, about which I would be hard pressed to say which I enjoy more. Usually, I have a clear preference. Her other series, the Henry O. books, has a main character that is tougher than either of the stars of these, the Death On Demand mysteries - Annie & Max Darling, but these books tend to have more humor and light heartedness that I find enjoyable.
In this entry, Annie is preparing her store for a signing party for the new book by local author, Emma Clyde. Someone uses her technique of advertising the signing, however, to drudge up some old mysteries on the island and creates some hard feelings in the villagers. When a teacher is killed and is implicated as the person behind the fake flyers, Annie and Max attempt to straighten the situation out.
All in all, a great book, just what you expect from Ms. Hart.

Annie Darling, owner of the mystery book store Death on Demand, is busily preparing for a book signing of local author Emma Clyde's latest bestseller "Whodunit?". Annie, who is always fond of sponsoring contests in her store, has come up with a special promotion for Emma's book signing. The special contest is a challenge to identify nine mysteries and their authors, based on clues given in an advertising flyer which Annie has distributed around the island. However, several days before the signing event, another set of mysterious flyers appear on Broward's Rock Island which appear as if Annie is accusing some of her neighbors or murder and other crimes as part of her contest. In order to clear the name of her store, Annie and her husband Max set out to find the real author of the fake contest flyers.

I felt that the first half of this book moved pretty slowly. I did enjoy Ms. Hart's wonderful descriptions of the South Carolina swamps and wildlife. The pace of the story picked up for the last one hundred pages or so, when two island residents are found brutally murdered. Together with her friend Henny, Annie and Max try to discover if the flyers are related to the murders, or if the flyers were just a smoke screen to divert attention from the real murderer.

All in all, this was an enjoyable read. The many subplots in the book are all neatly tied up in the end, and there are many clues to send the reader down the wrong path in figuring out whodunit.

The fact that the protagonist's last name is "Darling" points up much of what is wrong with this book--there's such a thing as too cozy. Annie seems stereotypically "spunky" and Max's psychic mother, Laurel, has got to go. However, the plot never lets up and I couldn't put the book down.

The Death on Demand series does keep getting better and better. The characters are quirky and good old Broward's Rock is anything but peaceful. In this book Annie finds out someone is copying her idea for a book promotion, and getting her in a lot of hot water with the citizens of Broward's Rock. And then murders start happening, so Max and Annie have to find out what's going on. If you aren't a fan of cozy mysteries, this series is not for you, but if you love cozies, Hart cannot be beat. Her plots are tight, her characters are wonderful and she spreads around enough red herrings to keep things interesting.

Annie and Max Darling have taken charge of Annie's stepsister Rachel while Pudge is off traveling. One of the local high school teachers is found shot to death at her home. She happens to be one of Henny Brawley's best friends. In her hallway, the police find boxes of bogus flyers meant to upstage the ingenious promotion Annie's Death on Demand is sponsoring to celebrate the newest Emma Clyde mystery. Henny is convinced that Kay (the deceased) had nothing to do with the flyers, and Annie and Max promise to help find out who killed her. In addition to this mystery, Laurel is in search of drug dealers,scandalous doings are going on among the faculty and students at the high school,and retired police chief Frank Saulter is being stalked by a killer from the past. It seems that Annie and Max have gotten themselves into more than they bargained for this time.

This is among the best of the series so far. The story lines merge well into each other, and even though the author gives you all the clues, it is still difficult to solve the mystery. It is especially hard to separate the different plot lines, but alot of fun to read and try to figure it all out!

After 35 pages, I still didn't care one whit about any of the characters or what happened to them. Naturally, I put the book down.

APRIL FOOL DEAD by Carolyn Hart has Annie and Max Darling working to discover who is out to sabotage Emma Clyde's book signing at Death on Demand.
Annie has peppered the island with fliers announcing the signing, but someone has copied her style and is pointing fingers at the secrets of local residents. As usual Max's mother has an agenda of her own that points to the fact that an island paradise is anything but.
An excellent addition to the Death on Demand series.
Nash Black, author of SINS OF THE FATHERS.

Annie's got a great idea to promote Broward Rock's resident mystery writer Emma Clyde's new book "Whodunit" with a contest: a scavenger hunt through clues of mystery books and authors. Soon her promotion turns deadly, as someone forges her flyers and substitutes accusations and innuendos against her neighbors while offering a $1000 reward. As Annie races desparately back and forth across the island to dispute the false flyers, real murder raises its ugly head. The body count grows, Annie and her friends realize that this is no April Fool's joke, but the plot of a cunning and dangerous murderer. Will they fool the murderer first or be made fools by their wily opponent?

In the 13th Death on Demand Mystery, Annie & Max once again find themselves in the midst of mystery and murder. Their first mystery to solve is who is trying to ruin a book signing by placing fake publicity flyers all over the island. These flyers bring to light some unsolved crimes, and Annie becomes intrigued enough to want to solve them. Before she can spend too much time on that, however, a teacher is found murdered with a pile of flyers next to her body. And when a student ends up dead, Annie and Max must rush to uncover the murderer before anyone else gets hurt.

This was my first Death on Demand mystery, and it will not be my last. I enjoyed each of the characters, and thought it was an interesting cozy. I agree with some of the other reviews in that I found that the first 100+ pages were a bit hard to follow. I did wonder, however, if it was because this was the first book I had read in the serious. Overall, I enjoyed the book, and found it to be a light, fun read.

The first book in the series is Death on Demand. Enjoy!