Customer Reviews

Death Dances to a Reggae Beat

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

 

 

Kelly Ryan is living the island life. She's general manager for the island's radio station, participates in the local effort to help nesting turtles and has a nice guy in life. Then things start to go wrong. She inherits the chairmanship of the local parade committee. Her boyfriend goes skiing and never comes back. Then the most obnoxious member of her committee, a recent arrival and know-it-all, is found murdered on the turtle's nesting beach. Kelly isn't planning to investigate a murder but curiosity gets the best of her.

While this is not classic literature, it is a fun and light departure for the genre. It even managed nominations for best first novel from both the Agatha and MacCavity folks. It also garnished an Anthony best paperback nomination. I enjoyed the setting which Grilley uses well with only a couple of boring tourist lectures. She gives us "continentals" a vicarous insight into really living on an island. The plot is so-so at best with too few real contenders for the killer (tho the reason for the killing is pretty clever).

Bottom-line: a tropical cozy for your beach or poolside reading OR save it for a snowstorm when you need a mental vacation.

Kelly Ryan is a transplanted Chicagoan living on an island in the Caribbean. She runs the island's radio station and has the annual island birthday parade dumped on her. It doesn't help, that her boyfriend dumps her and her ex-husband is getting married again. A tourist with a know it all attitude ends up getting murdered and Kelly finds herself trying to find out who did it.

I enjoyed this book. It makes a wonderful beach book, and the author has left plenty of plot lines dangling for sequels.

St.Chris, St. Croix, whatever. I lived on the island in my early twenties, and kate captured the essence of life as a transplant from stateside. I had fun reading her story as fluffy as it was yet at the same time recalling wonderful memories of life in C'sted. Looking forward to reading the next two books. Now I know where I'm going to spend my next summer vacation.

Kelly, the main character, lives on a fictional Carribean island, St. Chris. She works at the radio station as an announcer. She has a full life with lots of friends and a cat. Someone is found dead. Kelly, in the end, solves the mystery of the death.

I found this book boring. I got so tired of hearing about the Carribean history; I felt too much was told about that. I also was annoyed by Michael calling Kelly 'Mama'. I just got couldn't get into this book. I felt it just rambled on.

I didn't find the attempted humor to be funny. I also got bored with the boating and parasailing.

Being on a Carribean island, I felt this book did have potential. But life on this Carribean island felt mundane to me, rather than exotic. I kept hoping this book would get better, but it didn't.

There were, however, a few things I did like, such as the turtle walks. I really enjoyed "walking" on the beach at night looking for turtles. That was fun.

I also enjoyed Kelly going out to dine with her friends.

I didn't really enjoy this book. It was hard for me to finish.

I had the killer in my detective cross hairs early on, and I had the motive about halfway through the book. I was shocked that it was so obvious -- surely I must be following a red herring? But no, the plotting was that simplistic.

But -- I'm ready to move to St. Croix! I enjoyed the book for its description of island life -- how soon can I emigrate? It sounds like a lovely way of life -- so much sitting around outside with friends over food and/or drinks, feeling the sea breeze, and enjoying sunny weather so much of the time (thanks to air conditioning, and she doesn't say anything about occasional hurricanes).

The plot involves a truly annoying woman who is found dead on a beach early in the book -- but we've seen enough of her to know that some people will be kind of relieved rather than sorry to see her dead. The detective-heroine is manager of the "St. Chris's Island" (St. Croix?) radio station, and the deceased was on a committee she is chairing -- and besides, the radio-station-manager is the one who finds the body. Before long, it's clear that someone is angry with her -- very angry. But is it about the murdered woman or something else? And can she find out who is threatening her?

This was a pleasant read, good for an airplane or vacation (dare I say a beach read?) but people who like to try to solve mysteries as they read them will probably find this one a bit too easy. If you don't read a lot of mysteries, this would be a good start because there are lots of clues in this plot. I can't say much without revealing too much, but the author needed to do her research on certain occupations a little more carefully, because it couldn't happen that way in real life.

What a waste! The author tried hard to be funny, but fell far short of the mark. It was ridiculously unfunny, a very dull mystery. It might (might!) have been okay if the author hadn't tried so hard to make every paragraph witty, but it was a complete and total waste of both time and money.

As an owner of a small Book Store named The Bookie I often get a chance to read an advanced copy. This wonderful mystery takes place on a small island in the Carribbean. Both the author and I live on St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. For anyone who is currently living there, there will be a book signing soon. Call us for details at 340 773-2592.