Customer Reviews

Dare to Die (Death on Demand Mysteries)

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With DARE TO DIE, Carolyn Hart's Death on Demand Mystery series continues the misadventures of Annie and Max Darling, the couple who lands in the dead center of yet another murder. Nearing the end of an intense restoration of the Franklin house, their antebellum project and soon-to-be new home, Max plans a welcoming party. Broward's Rock, his South Carolina Low Country island home, will host a full evening of food, music and drink for neighbors and friends. Undaunted by water damage to the Franklin house remodel, Max rents the Harbor pavilion.

Anticipation of the gala at the Harbor elicits mixed reactions among the guests who have been invited, close friends of the Darlings. A well-to-do product of Broward's Rock, Max has gathered long-time "tennis club" associates into his and Annie's social circle. But a mysterious young woman arrives this day. "She comes in the rain, alone, on a bicycle."

Iris is a former island resident, long removed in time and place from her past life as a teenager here. She has dealt with personal demons --- drugs, alcohol and homelessness --- but returns to cleanse the memory of a night when her dear friend, Jocelyn, dies. She must discover the truth.

Meanwhile, Annie tends to business at her bookstore, Death on Demand. She welcomes local mystery writer Emma Clyde, who has developed a case of writer's block. While sympathizing with Emma's dilemma, Annie's plans change when her manager, Ingrid, is called out of town for a family medical emergency. Ingrid and Duane own Nightingale Courts, the local motel. Annie offers that the Darlings stay at the Courts and tidy up cabins for Ingrid's guests. Besides, she and Max need a temporary home until their new one is livable. Iris is the lone resident this weekend at Nightingale Courts. Emma overhears the talk and perks up at the thought of a girl on a bike who has just arrived, perhaps a storyline for her new book. Emma goes to the motel, carries an armful of towels to Iris's room on pretense of being a maid. Snooping for her book's plot seems a normal occurrence. However, she takes a nasty fall and lands in the hospital with partial amnesia.

In the course of housekeeping at Nightingale Courts, Annie visits with the shy Iris, lends her a suit for a swim and invites her to their party that evening. She is certain that Iris will renew old acquaintances among the good friends who will attend. Finally, party time arrives, punctuated by a sinister event: Iris's murder in the woods at the Pavilion's edge.

Now the Darlings trust no one, especially none of the couples they've befriended. These friends comprised the tight group as teens who ran with Iris, her pal Jocelyn, and Jocelyn's brother. Annie promises not to interfere with the local investigation, but breaks that vow when she and Max are victims of arson at the motel. Shaken, with Max's feet burned, Annie's mission focuses on their attacker.

Annie assists Billy, the local sheriff, in finding out where Fran, Buck, Russell, Liz and Cara were at the time Iris disappeared. Their whereabouts will likely explain Jocelyn's untimely death years before. Annie believes the two are connected.

Carolyn Hart's newest story fulfills a weekend's entertainment. My empathy, however, waned with Annie's stubbornness. Previous Death on Demand books evened the pair's involvement, which I found more desirable. Max is likable in DARE TO DIE, but Annie overshadows him. He is confined to a wheelchair during the latter chapters, a circumstance that might have been altered. Sleuthing in the formula of "Murder, She Wrote" tends to supposition rather than action.

Like earlier books in the series, DARE TO DIE follows the antics of a likable couple who solves mysteries in their secluded island home. The Death on Demand bookstore, as a setting element, completes the spice.

--- Reviewed by Judy Gigstad

Annie Darling, the proprietor of the mystery bookstore, Death on Demand, lives with her husband Max on Broward's Rock, an island off the coast of South Carolina. Iris, a young woman who grew up on the island, returns to probe a mystery concerning her friend Jocelyn, whose death was ruled a suicide many years ago. Iris feels that the death was actually a murder perpetrated by one of their mutual friends. Annie and her husand Max begin to investigate the death of Jocelyn and to interrogate the friends who might have been responsible for Jocelyn's death. Many motives are uncovered until at last the murderer is revealed. Carolyn Hart turns out her usual well-written mystery in this long-running series.

In Broward's Rock, South Carolina Max and Annie Darling are staying at the Nightingale Courts while their antebellum mansion is being renovated. The couple plans to host a picnic with their island neighbors celebrating the renovation. At the motel, they meet former islander Iris Tilford, a recovering drug and alcohol addict tied to a local overdose death and a suicide when she was a teen. Annie invites Iris to the party.

However the Darling gala abruptly ends when Iris' corpse is found; someone strangled her to death. Police Chief Billy Cameron demands a promise from Annie that she will stay out of the investigation that he (and his team) is conducting; she agrees. However, eccentric islander mystery writer Emma Clyde sees a novel coming from the Tilford homicide so investigates until she is knocked out of the game. When the unknown culprit appears to target the Darling duet, Death on Demand bookstore owner Annie and private investigator Max break their pledge to Cameron and begin snooping.

As always with the wonderful Death on Demand series (see DEATH WALKED IN), fans receive an engaging whodunit with many interwoven references to other mystery authors and their titles. The story line has an Agatha Christie feel to it in which almost any moment Inspector Poirot (instead of Annie and Max) will gather the suspects together and challenge each of their alibis in a group interrogation that brings out the past and present. Fans will enjoy the latest cozy as the Darlings try to prevent further killings especially their own.

Harriet Klausner

Book arrived earlier than I hoped, which was great as it was a Mother's Day present. Exactly in described condition. Very happy with this supplier.

The book was in beautiful condition and it arrival as very timely.
Carolyn Hart is one of my favorite authors and this book lives to her reputation.

I love all of the death on demand mysteries. It always transports me to that little island. C. Harts descriptions of homes, the characters...it's like you're standing right there watching it unfold. it's a good read, not too easy or hard to figure out. you want to flip to the end...but must find out everything. can't wait 'til the next "darling" book!

I have read most of the Death on Demand series but Dare to Die was one of the better ones but not my favorite. I thought the middle of the book was slow and then the book ended abruptly. I was also getting the 5 high school friends mixed up. But I normally do feel like Carolyn has too many characters. Over all a good book.

The Death on Demand series has been a long time favorite of mine. I love how the murder mysteries are interlaced with (usually literary based) fun and frivolity. Dare to Die did not follow the usual format. The mystery was front and center for the entire novel and unfortunately the mystery was depressing. The message of the novel was clear - teenagers do stupid things and those things will come back to haunt them as adults if someone doesn't kill them first. And worse, the repeated mentioning of a certain clue made the murderer obvious way too soon. Dare to Die was a fast and easy read, as most cozy mysteries are, but ultimately a disappointment. Sadly, this book was nothing more than average and I have come to expect more from both the author and the series.

DARE TO DIE by Carolyn Hart--I dare you not to LOVE it!

"She came in the rain. Alone. On a bicycle" and Iris Tilford's arrival will open old wounds and scare someone into committing murder to hide old sins.



Annie and Max Darling are back! This time they are thrown into the middle of an investigation into the death of a former Broward's Rock resident who has come home after a decade away to put things right--one of her twelve steps to sobriety--when she is murdered at a party Max is throwing for Annie to celebrate their new home.



Someone doesn't like the Darling's meddling and chooses arson to try to put a stop to it, but it'll take more than that to derail Annie and Max from finding out who killed Iris.



With the help of her husband and Broward Rock's own resident "Jessica Fletcher"--famed mystery writer Emma Clyde--Annie manages to draw the ire and attention of some very powerful people who for their own personal reasons want events of the past to remain buried. That just isn't how life in a small town in the South ever works, but someone is willing to commit murder to keep the past in the past. Will the one of the Darlings be the next victim?


Carolyn Hart is a master at her craft. Her books are perfect How-to-Write-a-Mystery-Novel Textbooks. Ms. Hart breathes life into her characters and makes them as real as relatives we all have (and a few we all avoid at the family reunions) endearing them to fans of cozy mysteries and just great stories as well. A wizard with words, Ms. Hart never disappoints and DARE TO DIE is another must read in a long list of the great reads she has provided to us. Thank God for Carolyn Hart and her love of a good mystery, a great story, and a fantastic sense of humor. She blends those talents with ease and we all reap the benefits.

DARE TO DIE--I DARE you not to love it!

Carolyn Hart has another winner with this book. I have read all of the books in this series and am looking forward to the next one.