Customer Reviews

Death on Demand (Death on Demand Mysteries, No. 1)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Annie Laurance runs a mystery book store, Death on Demand, which she inherited from her beloved uncle. Once a week she has a meeting of the Sunday Night Regulars, local mystery writers from the South Carolina island where she lives. One of the writers, Elliot Morgan is a disagreeable fellow who threatens to reveal things about his fellow writers which they would prefer to keep quiet. Before he has a chance to do so he is killed, presumably by one of the Sunday Night Regulars. The local police suspect it is Annie herself but with her friend Max Darling, she sets out to find the real murderer. Max and Annie discover that each of the Regulars has avoided a brush with the law and each has something to hide which Elliot could have known about. There are lots of wonderful references to classic mysteries and mystery writers as Annie and Max work to solve the case. This is the first book of a justly popular series.

Since milieu is such an important part of a mystery novel, avid mystery readers will like Hart's Death on Demand book store and the cozy little island community in which it is located. Most of the characters are mystery novelists, and if the crimes and solutions are not brain teasers of the first order, mystery fans will enjoy the familiar references.

A delightful book, with endearing characters, this is the first in a series. The setting, an island off the South Carolina coast, is pleasantly unusual, and Annie's affection for it and for her mystery bookstore, Death on Demand, "the best mystery bookstore this side of Atlanta," as well as the whole genre of mysteries, are contagious. The comments on various mystery authors on whom she dotes have me dogearing pages so I can hunt up books by enticing authors I've never tried. I look forward to Annie's comments on books I have read or the appearance of books I recognize in her monthly mystery painting contest. The courtship is a lot of fun, and Max Darling's winning move in the campaign will bring a smile to the face of anyone who treasures books.

I was recommended this series by an Amazon review. I was a bit disappointed, but not too bad with this first book. I think my main complaint was that I didn't care for Annie. She seems almost too naive and too dumb to be believed at times. But maybe she'll get better, and I'm going to give this series a chance. The best part about the book was the "name-dropping" of well-known mystery writers and characters, and the way Ms. Hart used these writers and their plots to help explain the mystery on the small South Carolina island. The venue holds a lot of promise becaue this island is so small and so insolated, so I look forward to some quirky characters. In this particular book Annie is wokring with her beau, Max to help clear her name because it appears that she's the number one suspect in some island homicides.

Annie, the bookstore-owning heroine is too immature for belief (she apparently runs a business but still has, as she admits, uncontrollable temper tantrums?? - try growing up) and she's not bright either (her denouement scene is a joke). Her attempts at investigation are totally unbelievable, but really unnecessary to the reader since the perp is obvious from the start. The cozy mystery bookstore and off-coast southern island locale, along with her charming, bad-boy Logan Huntzberger-style male sidekick are redeeming factors, but it isn't enough. I won't be reading anymore of this series. (By the way, stay far away from the Wheeler Publishing large-print edition. It is full and then some of the worst typos ever.)

I found the plot predictable, the characters boring and stereotyped, the flowery descriptions of the setting overwrought, and the name-dropping of mystery writers as irritating as my ex-boyfriend's account of his Sag Harbor softball team.

Looking for a new series to keep me occupied for the summer, I read this first installment of the Death on Demand books...I know a lot of reviewers like the name-dropping, but I didn't know all these writers and it made me feel stupid! Also, another reviewer noticed some lack of research, like with the College of the Ozarks near Branson...however, since the character mentioned southern Arkansas in connection with that college, it must be our University of the Ozarks (which used to be College of the Ozarks) which is in WESTERN Arkansas, far away from the swamps of southern AR...but all those picky things aside, it was a pretty good mystery, I just wish Annie hadn't been so careless in her investigations, i.e.: using the one computer that was likely to get her in trouble (surely there was another way to check the disk), and staging her final trap when she knew Max was on the way back with proof...I like my heroines to use their brains, not set themselves up for disaster.

Annie Darling is the owner of a bookshop located on a small island that hosts an unlikely large number of crime fiction writers. During a meeting of those writer one of them got killed and Annie is eager to investigate about the murder, especially because she is one of the prime suspects.
In my opinion the book is nothing special and the mystery in itself is rather disappointing. At times things are far too obvious and at others they simply does not make sense (you can spot a few minor contradictions in the story).
However the setting is really nice, the idea of the bookshop is appealing and the continuos references to famous detective stories and mystery writers may attract fans of the genre. For these reasons it may be worth to explore some other books of this series, hoping that the quality improve.

The characters on the island are fun and I love Max & Annie. Max's mother is a stitch. The plot was excellant really made you interested to see what happened.

This book has everything a reader could want: suspense, intrigue, lovely setting, and a hilarious cast of characters...I love the Annie Darling mysteries and this book is no exception!