Customer Reviews

Guns and Roses: A Modern Mystery Set in Colonial Willamsburg

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If she thinks like a police officer, talks like a police officer, and acts like a police officer, logically one would conclude she must be a police officer. Not! Roxanne Prescott is a former San Antonio police officer. She grew disenchanted with her job, especially after a perpetrator gunned down her partner. Now she earns a living as a tour guide for a California travel agency.

Her first solo trip is guiding wealthy patrons on the "History and Gardens of Virginia Tour." However, her former occupation's skills are needed on this "Guns and Roses" tour as someone makes life difficult for the participants. It starts with childish pranks that turn criminal with the abduction of a child. Roxanne thinks the unknown assailant has a deadly agenda that she plans to stop.

GUNS AND ROSES is the opening installment of a fascinating new mystery series. Taffy Cannon provides the audience with a refreshing and likable lead character who is at the crossroads of her life. Roxanne begins to understand that she can take herself out of the police force, but she cannot take the police force out of herself. The mystery is loaded with viable suspects that will keep the reader switching their decision as to which one is the actual killer. The audience will desire a quick release of the next tale in what looks to be a winning series.

Harriet Klausner

Ex-cop Roxanne Prescott is not quite prepared for her first assignment leading a tour for her aunt's company alone. But when her aunt gets sick, she accepts the Battlefields and Gardens of Virginia tour, which she dubs Guns and Roses. Things turn disastrous right from the start with one prank after another. Everyone from the new millionaires to the newly weds falls victim. But when the tour reaches Williamsburg, things turn deadly.

Taffy Cannon has written a wonderful book in what I hope will be a new series. The plot was quite tangled, and only near the end did I get any inkling what was going on. The characters were fun, and while some might have been a little stereotypical, they served their purpose well. The story brought Williamsburg to life, and I can't wait to visit. It was also interesting to see some of the behind the scenes working of a town devoted to tourists. The author switches view point characters on a regular basis, which adds another layer to this mystery.

I recommend this enjoyable mystery to anyone who likes a good puzzle.

Taffy Cannon knows how to weave characters, dialogue and story to create this mystery-lover's feeling of satisfaction. If you enjoyed her last books or if you have yet to discover Taffy, do not buy another mystery until you get this.

Roxanne Prescott is a shell-shocked ex-cop from Austin who fled to California after her partner was killed.

With time on her hands, she decides to try her had at being a tour guide. Her aunt, Maureen O'Malley, owns Irish Eyes Travel agency. When O'Malley comes down with chicken pox three days before the 'Guns and Roses' tour of colonial America departs, Roxanne joins O'Malley's staff.

The trip through history is not without its own peril. A woman slips and breaks her ankle at a cocktail party. Salt and sugar are swapped from their respectful holders, causing much consternation to the surprised guests. Late night phone calls make people cranky. And that's before they ever make it to their final destination, Williamsburg.

Roxanne is at a loss to explain the pranks, but her investigative skills are a blessing when the ultimate prank goes seriously awry.

I like Roxanne and the concept of a mystery series based on a travel agency.

This is my second Taffy Cannon book, but it won't be my last.

Enjoy!

Roxanne Prescott is an ex-cop now working as a tour guide for her aunt's firm, Irish Eyes Travel. Her first assignment: lead a group on a tour of Historic Virginia. Sounds easy, right? Well, someone is trying to sabotage the group through a series of increasingly malicious pranks. Of course, eventually it leads to murder, and Roxanne needs to help solve the case and save her aunt's business. All of the characters are nicely developed, and the book is the next best thing to taking a trip to Colonial Williamsburg. This is a very enjoyable read, and I recommend it very highly!

Taffy Cannon, auhtor of the Nan Robinson series, has created a delighful new character, former cop and current tour guide Roxanne Prescott. Roxanne is filling in as guide for a Virginia gardens and history tour (known by the participants as "guns and roses") and is prepared for a variety of travel related problems. She isn't prepared for a series of increasingly serious accidents and incidents which plague her diverse group of clients. She finds herself needing all her police skills to catch a cleaver criminal. Taffy Cannon has done a fine job of creating an interesting story, well rounded characters and a fine sense of the places the problem plagued tour visit. And her description of an adult with a case of the chicken pox made me (almost) itch with the memory!

I have read all of this author's books I've been able to find,

most of them bought used. I picked up another travel mystery, this one by Emily Toll, and when I looked on the copyright page, the name listed was Taffy Cannon. Has anyone else noticed this? I'm now on the second book in the Toll series, and it looks like they are all set in California--I anticipate enjoying each of them.

I WAS HOPING FOR A GREAT COZY MYSTERY SET IN HISTORICAL COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG, VA. THIS BOOK WAS SUCH A DISAPPOINTMENT. THE PRANKS WERE DISGUSTING, THE LANGUAGE VULGAR, SEXUAL CONTENT, NOT NECESSARY. IT'S ALWAYS FUN TO WANT TO REVISIT THE CHARACTERS FROM A BOOK I'VE READ. THERE WAS NOT ONE CHARACTER IN THIS BOOK I WOULD WANT TO REVISIT. I GUESS THE WRITING WAS GOOD - BUT DEFINITELY NOT MY TASTE IN A COZY MYSTERY. I DON'T THINK I'LL BE READING ANYMORE OF TAFFY CANNON'S BOOKS IN THE FUTURE. GIVE ME DOROTHY CANNELL, KATE KINGSBURY, CAROLYN HART AND MANY OTHERS AND I'LL BE HAPPY.
SINCERELY
DONNA DAVIS

This is not my favorite Taffy Cannon book. But since it's the only one still in print it will be your favorite. (Actually I believe some of Cannon's earlier works are being re-released on the strength of Guns and Roses).This mystery is a genuine page turner. Taffy Cannon has landed on a premise with promise. And you are there at the inception of what I guess will be a most successful string of travelogue mysteries for this witty and engagingly wry observer of the human condition. The nice absurdities in Cannon's suspects play against the prim and proper setting of Williamsburg's most staid plantation estates. Even the smallest of slights are humorously portrayed as an affront to our civilized dignity - as though we had any. This mystery is an easy going read with delightfully wicked asides tossed in like well aimed daggers. Lay the groundwork and read Guns and Roses. Because heroine Roxanne Prescott is set to evolve into one tough tour guide. You'd like to be able to say you were on the bus first!

Last year, when my first mystery novel was in its initial release, I had the honor of making a joint appearance with Taffy Cannon. GUNS AND ROSES was also in its initial release, and I read this novel in preparation for our appearance. I felt then, and still feel today, that GUNS AND ROSES marks a remarkable debut for Ms. Cannon's new series. Roxanne, her travel guide sleuth who happens to be a former cop, is a winner. Irish Eyes Travel can eventually feature mysteries set anywhere in the world. In this series debut, Roxanne is confronted with crimes (including murder) as she leads a tour group through colonial sites in Virginia. I thoroughly enjoyed her story, and I've recommended the book to a number mystery readers groups to whom I've spoken. I'm quite pleased GUNS AND ROSES has been nominated for a number of awards including Mystery Readers International's Macavity Award for Best Novel.