Customer Reviews

How to Crash a Killer Bash: A Party-Planning Mystery

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Presley Parker has been hired to host a murder mystery party to raise money for the de Young museum. A few of the museum's staff are playing parts, and she's roped her friends and office mates into rounding out the cast. And the head of the museum's fund raising department, Mary Lee Miller, gets the honor of being the victim in the play.

The night of the event, everything's going well until Mary Lee is stabbed in the back by something other than a prop. Since Presley's friend and assistant Delicia had had a very public fight with Mary Lee the night before, she becomes the police's only suspect. When Delicia is taken to jail, Presley decides to find the real killer to free her friend. But with all the people Mary Lee had angered over the years, will Presley find the killer?

As with the first in the series, I found the set up very fun. The mystery progresses well with some nice clues and red herrings. I did feel the final act was a bit rough. Several things were sprung on us with too little explanation or Presley acted like it was a surprise when I sure thought she already knew it. Most of Presley's office mates don't have more than cameos here, although the suspects are entertaining enough to make us forget that. And love interest Brad continues to be an intriguing mystery.

This was another entertaining book for cozy fans. If you love to party, give the series a chance.

Note: I was sent an ARC of this book from a listserv I am on, but was not actually asked to review it anywhere.

RELEASE DATE AUGUST 3, 2010
OBSIDIAN MYSTERY

A Party Planning Mystery with Tips

This is the second book in this series following How To Host A Killer Party.

In this installment Presley Parker is hosting a Murder Mystery Party as a fundraiser for the de Young Museum in San Francisco. She has been hired by the museum's leading fundraiser and philanthropist, Mary Lee Miller. The murder weapon for the party is an exact albeit harmless replica of a dagger that is part of the museum's vast collection and Mary Lee Miller has volunteered to be the victim of the "murder". She has also demanded parts in the production for her son and other employees of the museum. The rest of the participants will be friends and co-workers of Presley who have helped her with parties in the past.

Trouble erupts during the dress rehearsal when Mary Lee confronts her son about his girlfriend, who is also Presley's friend and assistant, Delicia. After the argument Delicia is heard saying some not so nice things about her boyfriend's mother.

Guests start to arrive for the performance and to help solve the mystery in costume as their favorite sleuths, Sherlock Holmes, Nancy Drew, etc. The performers are introduced and the mystery party begins, everything is going as planned when a bloodcurdling scream is heard and Delicia comes out a door with blood on her hand, this is not in the script, the guests are supposed to find her over the body. Presley finally understands someone is really dead and to her shock it is Mary Lee Miller. As the real cops and EMTs arrive the guests all think it is part of the performance. Then it is announced the the murder is very real and everyone will be questioned, but very soon the officers hear about the comments Delicia made about Mary Lee and is she is arrested.

Presley knows Delicia wouldn't hurt a fly and knows that she has to uncover the real murderer because the cops already have their killer. Her investigation turns out to be nothing like a party and she must be careful or she will end up dead just like Mary Lee Miller.

I LOVED IT!!!!!

This story was just a lot of fun, quirky characters, a very believable plot, suspense, humor and even a little romantic tension. This book is the full package, everything you love about cozy mysteries is here, all wrapped up like a pretty party present. The Party Tips at the start of each chapter are just an added bonus. This definitely is a series to watch and I am excited to read about many more KILLER PARTIES!!

To find out more about this author visit fer website [...].


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Obsidion, a division of Penguin Publishing. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

On a whim, I picked up this mystery for something light and easy and fun to read.
Mission accomplished.
Presley Parker, an event planner,
just knows how to be at the right place, at the wrong time.
She is a magnet for murder.
This book is actually, her second book in her series.
I now have read both books and truly had a ball.
This mystery was full of surprises for me.
Her boyfriend,a crime scene cleaner, sounds adorable.
He is a "johnny- on- the-spot" for Presley when she needs him the most.
A good "clean" fun mystery.
More please.

Event planner Presley Parker is preparing for next big gig at Murder Myster Party at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park San Francisco. Tempers are running high between de Young's chief fundraiser Mary Lee Miller who can bring in millions with her reputation and Delicia Jackson, an actress in the murder play. Mary Lee wants the performer to stop dating her son Corbin; calling the woman a gold-digger. Carbin uses the actress to annoy his overbearing mother.

On the night of the event, Delicia goes to find the "murdered body" of Mary Lee; only she reappears drenched in blood. Mary Lee is dead and after the witnesses tells the police the public fight between the women in Corbin's life and Delicia saying she was going to kill Corbin's mother, the police arrest Delicia. Presley vows to find the real killer so her friend can get out of jail, but the culprit provides terrorist pressure to get her to back off on her investigation.

Penny Warner has created a wonderful heroine in perilous Presley Parker, reminiscent of the Perils of Pauline plus Peter Parker. The protagonist leaps from one calamity onto another disaster and another; defying Einstein's definition of insanity. Two cars she drove need repair work due to her proclivity for driving head first into trouble. Someone has killed three people at work and her mother tends to get lost suffering from rhe early stages of Alzheimer's. She remains resolute and determined, but most critical believable as an amateur sleuth. With plenty of action on her investigation and several poignant moments, readers will enjoy the perils of Presley Parker.

Harriet Klausner

Another great addition to the "Killer" series. One of the few authors of this genre who can keep your attention until the very end! Highly recommended.

I loved it. The San Francisco setting, a museum murder, a fun main character; all together made a deadly combination of fun. Her plot is filled with intrigue to keep you reading page after page. Her characters are so hilarious that I found myself laughing out loud many times. Well done. Can't wait to read the other ones from Penny's Series!
Susan Violante, author of Innocent War

Posted at [...]

How to Crash a Killer Bash is the sequel to How to Host a Killer Party. The protagonist, Presley, is still organizing parties, and this time, she's hosting a Murder Mystery party. Everything is going great, until Mary Lee Miller, the hostess, is found dead, and Delicia, Presley's best friend, is a suspect.

Of course she knows she didn't do it....but who? Nobody seems to like Mary Lee Miller at all...

Presley is still the same funny girl. What I most like about her is that she's independent, and doesn't get scared easily. But her main problem is that she is compulsive, and sometimes doesn't know when to stop.

I still enjoyed reading about her, but I wished sometimes wasn't so repetitive about her disorders. She tends to use them as an excuse for her actions.

Anyway, I absolutely loved Brad. He wasn't a suspect, and he helped Presley more this time. And finally, he started to make some moves with her. Besides, we get to know more about him, but he's still mysterious. And sexy.

I liked that we get see more of the other characters - as Presley friends, her mother, her cats, and even the super sexy but annoying detective - but still, the main character was Brad. I was really glad, because in the first book I wanted more of him, and in this book, my wishes were granted.

The mystery was more complex this time, because there were lots of suspects and none of them seemed to have a motive (at first). There were many clues that didn't mean anything, and others that meant more; and some nice twists. I had a couple of suspects in my mind, but didn't discover the killer until the end. I wished Presley wouldn't have been so naive sometimes, because she was barely telling the killer every important detail.

Overall, I really enjoyed it....even more than the first one. I love this series and I can't wait to read the next book, How to Survive a Killer Seance, which is going to be released March, 2011.

Penny Warner's second outing with her new series of party- planning mysteries was a party not to be forgotten anytime soon. We catch up with Presley Parker at a famous art museum during their murder-mystery charity gala that she's organized. Things were running fairly smoothly until the gala's host, Mary Lee Miller, is found dead during the event. Presley's best friend Delicia is soon arrested because of an earlier argument she had with the victim and is the prime suspect.

Now, Presley must depend on her sharp organizing skills and abnormal psychology background to help her railroaded friend from being put on trail for a murder she did not commit.

The pacing and intricately woven plot were spot on and kept me entertained throughout. The museum back drop was not only interesting but clearly well researched. While I did solve the murder quite early on (I blame it on my viewing a recent episode of Bones in assisting me with picking out the murderer), I wasn't 100% sure of my suspect choice almost until the end.

I also enjoyed the secondary plots (Presley's mom & her Alzheimer's), the romantic tension (Brad the crime scene cleaner & his mysteriousness) and humor, all add to this cozy. I can't wait till the next installment!

As head of her own event planning company, Presley Parker is hired to stage a murder mystery party for San Francisco's elite art patrons. Naturally, murder complicates the process and Presley's best friend is arrested as the killer. In order to get Dee out of jail by finding the real killer, Presley and her hottie friend Brad, the crime scene cleaner, follow dangerous and slightly questionable paths in their hunt for clues.
This cozy mystery invites the reader to enjoy the San Francisco setting.....Presley lives on Treasure Island and the deYoung Museum really exists in Golden Gate Park. While I was a fan of her first mystery series set in the Gold Rush Country, this new series provides delicious romantic moments as well as humor and wit and an intriguing backstory involving Presley's mother. Demonstrating Warner's enormous amount of research about museums and antiquities, the plot takes twists and turns as our heroine charms as well as bulldozes her way to a nearly fatal and surprising solution to a crime the police could not solve on their own. I love all of Penny Warner's mysteries and wait impatiently for the next one every time I read the latest. Definitely five-star fun.