Customer Reviews

Deadly Valentine (Death on Demand Mysteries, No. 6)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Annie and Max Darling have just moved into their new home. They have a lot of interesting neighbors, especially Sydney Cahill who goes after every man she meets, including Max. Annie is not too interested in going to Sydney's Valentine party, but Max's mother comes to visit and decides that it would be great fun for the three of them to attend the party. When Sydney turns up murdered, there are no lack of suspects since she was involved with most of the neighborhood men and there are many jealous wives. Annie and Max check into their neighbor's backgrounds and discover even more motives. They are totally confused until Max's mother Laurel calls Annie's hand by inviting all of the neighbors to a meeting so that Annie can unveil the murderer's identity. Annie has no idea who committed the murder until she hears some of Laurel's conclusions during the meeting. Finally, Annie confronts the murderer and puts Laurel's life in danger as a consequence. This is another good cozy from the reliable Carolyn Hart.

I'm kind of torn over which Annie & Max book I love the most -- Deadly Valentine or Southern Ghost. However, if you like light mysteries, you can't go wrong with a Hart book. Annie & Max are the most delightful detective spouses since Nick and Nora Charles. And I, like the reader from Illinois, like it when authors use the same characters from book to book -- The town of Broward's Rock and its inhabitants are utterly charming. And for goodness sake, take heed to the writers/books Hart makes reference to -- some of them are wonderful!

Annie & Max Darling are a favorite sleuthing couple of mine, and this book is -- at the core -- another enjoyable visit with them. Ms. Hart's writing style is wonderfully paced as always. It does seem that this particular story has far too many references to other mysteries, mystery authors and characters, though. After awhile, I started glazing over those references as they didn't add to my understanding of the plot or character motivation. In fact, I would say they were distracting. I don't remember quite as many of these references in Ms. Hart's other Death on Demand stories, fortunately.

I love for an author to use the same characters. You become friends with them. Carolyn Hart does just that. Her characters, Annie and Max Darling are delightful. I love the way Ms. Hart drops other names of mystery writers. Her books have mystery and a little romance between characters. After reading a heavy duty mystery I always turn to Carolyn Hart's "Death on Demand" books. An nice cup of tea and a comfortable chair with a Hart mystery. Try it!

This book is set around Valentine's Day, and a big party that a neighbour of Annie and Max is holding. At the end of the party the hostess is found dead. There aren't many suspects for this murder in this exclusive gated community, but Annie and Max set out to find out who dunnit with the help of Max's spacey mother. I enjoyed this book a bit more than some of the previous ones since it didn't seem as silly and the murder and the clues were pretty good. But I can't tolerate Laurel much longer. She's too typecast for me, and that is why I gave this book a three instead of a four. Anyway, the war between the two cats, and Annie's paintings that are explained at the beginning of the book made this a fun book to read.

I'm in the minority here -- I hated this book. I never really warmed up to Annie and Max, perhaps because I hadn't read earlier books in the series (although I loved mother-in-law Laurel). But I just couldn't take all of the allusions to other mysteries -- sometimes several times in one paragraph. I only finished the book because I had it with me on a long airplane trip, and even at that I set it aside for a discarded Harlequin romance right in the middle of the mystery.

New home with new neighbors is the setting of Carolyn G. Hart's DEADLY VALENTINE.
Annie and Max attend a Valentine's day party given by Sydney Cahill because Max's mother accepted for them. Sydney has a bad habit of attaching herself to other women's husbands and collects a hoard of jealous wives in the wake of her behavior. By the end of the party Sydney is dead and the field of suspects is limited to those who attended the party.
Like all the Death on Demand mystery novels the pages are filled with references to crime novels and Laura's mental gymnastics. A good read is number 6 in this delightful cozy series with its memorable cast of characters.
Nash Black, author of SINS OF THE FATHERS.

Great series of mysteries, have enjoyed each one that I have read, and look forward to reading more of them. Well written and very interesting characters in each book. You will enjoy these books very much if you like mysteries.

I love for an author to use the same characters. You become friends with them. Carolyn Hart does just that. Her characters, Annie and Max Darling are delightful. I love the way Ms. Hart drops other names of mystery writers. Her books have mystery and a little romance between characters. After reading a heavy duty mystery I always turn to Carolyn Hart's "Death on Demand" books. A nice cup of tea and a comfortable chair with a Hart mystery. Try it!

This is a nice variation on the "locked room cozy" where several people, all having reason to want someone dead, are secluded in a room (an island subdivision in this case) and surprise, surprise, the hated person ends up dead. Some of the suspects are particularly nasty and you may want them all to be guilty so they'll all go to jail (but don't worry, this isn't Murder on the Orient Express.) A good time.