Customer Reviews

How to Party with a Killer Vampire: A Party-Planning Mystery

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Presley Parker's party planning business is doing pretty well. Her latest gig is a wrap party for a vampire movie, which is to be held in a cemetery.

The day before the party, as Presley is setting up, she meets some young adults who practice parkour. She warns them that they're trespassing, but they don't seem to care.

The next morning, they learn that one of them, known as "Spidey" is dead. At first it's assumed that he had fallen while running, but it's soon determined that he was murdered. The suspect list is long: any of the movie's cast and crew, some paparazzi, and the cemetery's creepy caretaker, Otto.

As usual, Presley doesn't think that the police are working quickly enough to find the killer, and puts herself in jeopardy by investigating on her own.

Presley is a charming protagonist, if a bit headstrong. Like many amateur sleuths, she walks into dangerous situations quite certain that she'll be able to defend herself. Often she's right, but occasionally she's wrong.

This is a light, quick read; occasionally funny but not at all frightening, despite the title.

Each chapter begins with a hint for planning the perfect vampire-themed party, and there are more ideas in an appendix.

The book concludes with a chapter of the next, as yet untitled Party-Planning Mystery, due in September of 2012.

Presley Parker's latest gig is for her Treasure Island neighbor. Filmmaker Lucas Cruz has just wrapped production on a vampire spoof, and he's hired Presley to go all out at a party in a graveyard. The day before, she and her crew are setting up when the old caretaker appears and threatens that someone will die if they don't all leave. He just sounds crazy, until the bodies appear. Now, Presley has to find the connection between the deaths and her party before another victim appears.

This is now the fourth book in the series, and I enjoyed it as much as the previous entries. The plot starts strong and ends well. It does seem to bog down a little somewhere in the middle, but Presley and her friends were engaging enough to keep me turning pages. I liked how several relationships evolved in this book, and I'm looking forward to seeing where they go in the future. I figured out the killer about a chapter before Parker did. Maybe it was because the book was almost over, but I still feel she was a bit too dumb for that chapter. But she redeemed herself in the end with some great thinking.

This is a fun addition to the cozy series. Whether you start here or have been reading the series all along, you'll enjoy this book.

This series is a fun, action filled cozy murder series. This book revolves around a wrap party for a new film directed by a fellow Treasure Island renter, CeeGee films. Our Event Planner, Presley had her reservations about holding a party in a cemetery, but, upon research she finds this is more common than she knew.

Colma, CA is known for having around 1,600 living residents and over one million dead residents. This is a true fact. To me, having lived in the next door town of Daly City, back in the days, made the book all the more realistic.

Vampires all over and a new radical sport, Parkour, give Presley shivers as she prepares for her biggest event yet. Graveyard caretakers that spout chilly warnings and just the unkept appearance of the graveyard, itself, makes Presley wonder about this party.

Then, there is a scream...

This was a fun, scary, action packed, and serious murder romp. I loved it.

I love cozy mysteries, and the Party Planning Mystery series is one of my favorites.

This time, Presley Parker is organizing a vampire party at a cemetery to promote the new Hollywood movie. It's going to be fantastic, with hot actors and awesome special effects, except that a dead body is found the night before the party.

Presley is such a fun character. She's independent and has a need to resolve every mystery, specially the ones that involves her parties. She wants to discovers who is responsible for this death, and of course she has the help of Detective Luke and her boyfriend, Brad.

I loved to read more of Brad. He's a very realistic boyfriend, even with his weird job. But I wanted to read more of Presley's friends from her company, it was a shame they didn't appear very much, but maybe in the next books?

Also, I didn't know who was the killer. It did surprised me in the end, which isn't easy to do.

I really like the party tips every book in this series has. This one, of course, has tips to your vampire party, which would be cool if you are organizing a Breaking Dawn party...

Overall, How to Party with a Killer Vampire didn't disappointed me. It was easy to read and fun, and I highly recommend this series.

Penny Warner has added another delightful book to her party-planning mystery series. She weaves history, location, and, in this case, an unusual activity called parkour together to educate as well as entertain the reader. The information is delivered by a wonderful cast of characters who are fun to return to in each story. It's a fast-paced read with many twists, turns, and a lot of suspense. I highly recommend it.

We are back on Treasure Island, home of Presley Parker's event planning business. Her newest event is a wrap party for a vampire parody movie being produced by Lucas Cruz. He has requested the extravagant affair be held in an actual graveyard. Nothing is too daunting for Presley, she will decorate and accessorize and turn the usually solemn place into the perfect Killer Party venue.

She never planned on adding to the number of dead bodies in the cemetery. But even before the party can even get started a body is found. With her company's reputation at "stake" she has no choice but to investigate. She has to work fast and also be careful not to get "bit" by the killer herself.

MY THOUGHTS
I learned a lot from this book. First don't invite vampires and werewolves to the same party they don't get along.

Seriously this book is fang-tastic delight!!

Penny Warner is an expert in party planning and cozy mystery novels. She wraps together the perfect amounts of mystery, a wild setting, crazy characters plus the characters we love, with a good dose of humor and a little romance that keeps us coming back for more. She even throws in real party tips as a bonus.

This edition will have you planning your next Halloween party at the local cemetery with all the guests dressing up as Dracula, Edward from Twilight or Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Except for a couple of dead bodies, some deep dark secrets, and the paparazzi the party was awesome.

Presley is a busy woman, juggling several balls in the air, include finding murders, but she can always find time for her mother. Her mother's memories of the past are vast but the she struggles with more current ones. Presley never gets upset, she is so patient with her mom and will listen to the same stories she has heard time and again with hardly a sigh. That is why I love this character. Real, down to earth and caring. She is definitely the treasure of Treasure Island. I highly recommend this book and the entire series. They are fun and entertaining. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Obsidian. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. 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."

The enjoyment of this series has worn off.. It's just the same old plot over and over..It was so not worth the time I spent reading it.. I only skipped to the ending to see if she would put a spin on it to challenge my theory on, "who had done it".. Sorry to say I had figured it out way too soon.. I wouldn't read her next book if I received it for free.. I wouldn't even order it from the library..Don't waste your money on her books.. Especially since there are so many other great books on Amazon to be enjoyed..

Party planner Presley Parker lives in a condo and has an office on San Francisco's Treasure Island. Also working there is CeeGee Studios' movie producer-director Lucas Cruz. He hires Presley to plan a "wrap party" at Lawndale Cemetery signifying the end of his latest film Revenge of the Killer Vampires. The night before the gala, three extras (Spidey, Trace and Lark) make a noisy exit practicing the sport of Parkour that her don't call him boyfriend Brad knows even the shoes to wear. The trio is upset that they were not invited to the event so plan to get even for this affront.

The next morning, Presley discovers Spidey is dead. The police initially assume it was an accident as the he practiced dangerous gymnastics. However, later they realize he was murdered. The night of the party has paparazzi Bodie Chase crashing the festivity, but was escorted out. Later he is found dead in open grave in the pet section of the graveyard, Presley, who has solved murder cases (see How To Survive A Killer Séance) and former cop Brad a crime scene cleaner investigate as they believe the two homicides are connected, but lack a linking motive and too many suspects.

The latest Party-Planning Mystery is a cleverly constructed whodunit with false leads, red herrings, and twists that hook readers who like the lead sleuths struggle to determine the identity of the killer. The perils of Presley makes her endearing as she goes from one fright to another, which keeps fans on the edge of their seat wondering what next at "Peaceful Kingdoms". Penny Warner provides a superb murder mystery.

Harriet Klausner