12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a Great Time to Discover Carolyn Hart!, June 21, 2003
Carolyn Hart, where have you been all my life?
Seriously, how is it that I never spotted you on the bookshelves amongst the Sue Graftons and Patricia Cornwells and Sarah Paretskys? Well, I have now rectified that, thank goodness.
Carolyn Hart is a mystery lover's dream come true. Her stories are for anyone who will confess to the guilty pleasure of reading serial mysteries (okay, and even for those of you who won't admit it, but secretly indulge nonetheless). ENGAGED TO DIE is Hart's latest installment --- the fourteenth installment, to be exact --- in the Death on Demand whodunit series featuring Annie and Max Darling, amateur detectives reminiscent of Nick and Nora Charles.
Annie Darling owns a bookstore, but not just any bookstore. She is the proprietor of Death on Demand, a popular venue on the island of Broward's Rock in South Carolina that specializes in selling leather-bound enigmas and paperback puzzlers. If you have ever walked into a real-life mystery bookstore like The Cloak and Dagger in Princeton, NJ, you know the sheer joy of losing yourself in the thievery, murder and mayhem oozing from the pages authored by Dashiell Hammett, Carolyn Keene or Arthur Conan Doyle.
The bookstore setting is ingenious; it affords Hart the opportunity to show off her knowledge of mystery writers, new and old, great and virtually unknown. Conversations in the store between Annie and her customers are peppered with titles and authors, and the reader, if a lover of mysteries, can't help but feel that he or she is part of a special club. Henny Brawley is described as the store's best customer; each of her visits results in the purchase of several books and the exchange of mystery trivia. (Brownie points for anyone who knows the significance of the name "Hepzibah" in the mystery genre.) The bookstore even boasts a cat named Agatha, homage to you-know-who.
The mystery at hand in ENGAGED TO DIE: Jake O'Neill, the young, handsome fiancé of widowed --- and wealthy --- Virginia Neville, has been murdered, his body found face down at the end of an oyster-shell path at an ocean overlook. The suspects are many, including Chloe, the young assistant who works in Annie's store and who had fallen in love with Jake. The Neville family is also not without motive. Upset by their father's bequest, which left virtually everything to Virginia, his nurse-turned-second wife, each of the Neville children could have and might have bashed in Jake's head to keep him from benefiting from the family inheritance.
Max Darling, a lawyer and devoted husband of Annie, is deputized into duty by the acting police chief and begins to investigate the death. Annie decides to launch a search of her own, hoping to exonerate her co-worker. Their seemingly different paths ultimately intersect, as they become unknowing targets of the murderer.
Find Carolyn Hart on the bookshelf. Read ENGAGED TO DIE. Or, better yet, start at the beginning with DEATH ON DEMAND, the first in the series, and work your way up to ENGAGED TO DIE. That's my plan.
--- Reviewed by Roberta O'Hara
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
enjoyable Death on Demand mystery, March 8, 2003
Wealthy Nathaniel Neville shocked his two children and their spouses when he married his nurse and later left her with the estate when he died. His wife Virginia promised the irate foursome that they would be her heirs, but that vow seems shaky now. Virginia apparently has fallen in love with artist Jake O'Neill. At the opening of her new gallery in Broward's'Rock, South Carolina, Virginia announces that she and Jake will marry.
Already disturbed by their father's will, her stepfamily goes berserk thinking the handsome artist will waste what they believe is rightfully theirs. Chloe Martin is also stunned by the announcement because she thought she was exclusively seeing Jake. However, someone decides to take action, killing the charming artist. All evidence indicates that Chloe committed the crime as she flees the scene and her shawl is found near the victim. Chloe's boss mystery bookstore Annie Darling tries to prove her assistant is innocent while her spouse Max helps the police with the official investigation.
Though the who-done-it is relatively easy to figure out by real amateurs like this reviewer, readers will enjoy the latest Death on Demand mystery. Although obvious, the story line is fun to follow, as the darling lead couple wants the same thing even while working on opposite sides of the inquiry.
Harriet Klausner
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Dying to Disengage?, October 1, 2006
Young Jake O'Neill was a handsome, smooth talking, a love 'em and leave 'em womanizer who found his way onto Broward's Rock and into the arms of just about every unattached woman in town. So who would have been surprised that wealthy Virginia Neville would commission him to be her husband? For one, the houseful of sour stepchildren whose father had left everything to Virginia but whom she had promised to leave everything to. Equally astounded was Chloe, the young employee of Annie's who had fallen in love with the young artist. On the night of the big party to celebrate the opening of the gallery and the introduction of Boston Mackey, the most successful Low Country painter allied with the gallery, Virginia decides to announce her engagement. With half the island at attendance, murder intervenes and crashes the party. Young Chloe was seen leaving the scene and quickly becomes suspect #1 and Max is deputized to investigate, much to Annie's chagrin. While Max pursues the official line of questioning, Annie sets out to prove Chloe's innocence. Matters are not helped by Chloe's disappearance, and the existence of another witness who saw Chloe, but holds out on what exactly she saw. Gunshots are heard at the Neville home, the gun fished out of the fountain and once again the police are convinced that Chloe had pinched the gun then dropped it in her flight. With the entire town convinced of Chloe's guilt, Annie and Max set a dangerous trap for the murderer. Would the murderer dare to make another desparate move? Or would Chloe be hauled off to jail for a crime she did not commit, other than an utter lack of common sense and discernment.
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