Customer Reviews

Elvis and the Grateful Dead (Southern Cousins Mysteries)

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

 

 

Tupelo, Mississippi is the town where Elvis grew up. Each year the townsfolk have a Best Elvis Competition that brings in thousands of his fans, impersonators and look alikes. Hair stylist Callie Valentine Jones has the real McCoy, the reincarnated spirit of the King in ironically a hound dog`s body though she knows it not.. He silently judges the contestants comparing them to when he was in star prime. He also is trying to reconcile Callie with her almost ex-husband Jack who disappears a lot, does not want kids, and has a secret job that only Elvis knows about.

One of the participants Brian Watson is found dead on the piano. When a second impersonator Dick Gerard dies on the dance floor, the local police believe both men were murdered. The prime suspect is Callie's cousin Lovie, the caterer of the event. When a third person dies, Callie's Uncle Charlie tries to persuade her not to investigate since Lovie's was dancing with the second victim when he started shaking and died and the focus will be on her even more and Charlie does not want Callie in danger. Callie and the King make inquiries anyway.

Peggy Webb's amateur sleuth is a lighthearted amusing whodunit with outrageous almost slapstick scenes that Callie seems to step into as she tries to help Lovie, dodge her spouse and deal with a horde of Elvis reenactors when she has the real one. She and Elvis the hound rotate perspective leading to a zany over the top of Woodall Mountain mystery. The second Southern Cousins corny mystery (see ELVIS AND THE DEARLY DEPARTED) is simply entertaining fun.

Harriet Klausner

I enjoyed this book. It's a cute cozy mystery. Having a Basset Hound for a character doesn't hurt either. I hope there will be another book in this series!

Another excellent read by author Peggy Webb. I do hope she continues to write
more and more of this series. Funniest concept I have read in a long time.
Elvis and The Grateful Dead is about Elvis impersonators...I am not going to
tell anymore except it was as funny as the first book. Kudos from me!! I am a
fan.

Elvis and Callie are caught up in murder again. This time they have found the body of an Elvis (the human, not the dog) impersonator dead. The town is hopping with Elvis impersonators due to annual Elvis festival and when the bodies start piling up, Callie knows she needs to do something because her cousin and best friend, Lovie, is the main suspect.

I had a blast reading the first book in this series. I found this book entertaining and funny at parts. I also found the stereotypes and sometimes stupidity of the character truly aggravating. I still loved the sections where Elvis' narrators the book but found Callie started grating on my nerves. How can the women take care of herself if she is busy investigating a murder then running her salon? I kept wondering how she could afford to run all over the place, which while is very minor, distracted me.

Callie's continuing obsession with her ex, who again you learn nothing much about, just made me want to slap her and tell her to move on with her life. Callie needs to kick him out of her life completely or take him back. I found it amusing but without depth in the first book. In this book, it bothered me because she still didn't make a choice. The other character, Lovie, for being a women of the world since she has had "more lovers then Elvis had hit" struck me as naïve at parts. The corny humor was still there and parts did make me laugh but I kept waiting for a little more depth in some of the characters.

The mystery in Elvis and the Grateful Dead was quirky and I enjoyed it. This book was an ok fluffy read (fluff is perfectly fine as sometimes I need to read fluff). I found the characters annoying and lacking development in this book so it only gets 3 Stars. I enjoyed it and will probably give the next book a try but I'm not going to rush out and get it

This book is the 2nd in the series by Peggy Webb (1st Elvis and the Dearly Departed). This book is just as wonderful as the 1st. I was very excited to see what kind of adventures Callie and Lovie get into. If you have a passion for shoes, food and Elvis you will enjoy this book. Webb has created 2 very different but lovable amature slueths in Callie and Lovie. This book, as well as the 1st if pretty fast paced. I usually don't like this type of mystery book, but this one has changed my mind. Webb has a well rounded cast in her books and they really help bring the story to life. I can't wait to read Elvis and the Memphis Mambo Murders

Great fun read. I especially love the chapters that "Elvis" narrates. Humor abounds. Working in the old Elvis songs is a great addition. The family is a great group of characters that any family would love to have and call their own.

I picked this up based on the synopsis on the back of the book. It looked promising.
Perhaps you have to be Southern, and Elvis addict or just like reading the same cliches over and over through a thin plot to be a fan of this book. To understand the menaing behind most of the heroines remarks you had to have read the pevious books - there was not no sufficient paragraph or two to bring a new reader up to speed on who and what was going on in this series. It took several chapters before you even found out the dog was a Basset hound.It was a major dissapointment.

I received this product on a Monday after ordering it the previous Thursday. It was shipped from California and I live in New Jersey.