Customer Reviews

Murder of a Pink Elephant (Scumble River Mysteries, Book 6)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

School psychologist Skye Denison has lined up her older brother Vince's bank "Pink Elephant" to play at the Scumble River High School's Valentine dance. While attending a band rehearsal before the dance, Skye becomes worried because the band members seem to be fighting amongst themselves. During the Valentine dance, a fire breaks out in the gymnasium where the dance is being held. After the fire is brought under control, a charred body is found by the stage. The victim turns out to be one of the members of the band, and the local police chief seems to be focussing on Vince as his prime murder suspect. With her proven track record in solving the town's mysteries, naturally Skye tries to solve the murder in order to clear her brother.

There have been quite a few strange occurrences in Scumble River of late, with the school fire being just the latest of them. Skye begins to suspect that some of the high school students may be taking drugs, which could account for their bizarre actions. So in addition to looking for a murderer, Skye finds herself searching for a meth lab as well. Also, a slick promoter named Moss Gibson has rolled into town to try to build a new amusement park, and Mr. Gibson is trying to get the local residents to sell their farmland to him. There's lots going on in Scumble River!

This series is really enjoyable in the way it depicts small town life, where everybody knows everybody else. One of the funny storylines in this book is how Skye and her new boyfried Simon must sneak around the town to keep their relationship out of the gossip mill.

All the different storylines are well tied together at the end, but certainly kept me guessing about the murderer's identity.

Here's another fun little lite cozy murder mystery featuring Skye Dennison and her friends and family. This time, it appears Scumble River and the surrounding communities in Illinois' Heartland are being visited by the plagues of Egypt: Fire, Flood, Famine, - and the death of the lead singer in Skye's brother Vince's band, the Band Formerly Known As Plastic Santa, now Pink Elephant. In keeping with the Band Motif, the chapter names are apt and fitting from Our Generation - like "Fire and Rain" and "That'll Be The Day."

Author Denise Swanson, herself a School Psychologist in Illinois, was paying attention in writing class when the teacher told them to "Write what you know!" The results work. The reader need not read all the books in this series in order - Swanson artfully gives new readers the background and returning readers a refresher course - but why miss all the fun back down on the farm? The plot and pace are perky. The style's breezy. If you live in small town, or used to, you KNOW some of these characters!
/TundraVision, <- that's my Amazon reviewer name, it's been that for a long, long time, & it will remain my Amazon reviewer name!

When Sky Dennison graduated school, she left Scumble River before the ink on her diploma was dry. After she lost her job, her boyfriend dumped her and she didn't have enough money to pay the rent, she returned home. Her uncle got her the position of school psychologist and after almost three years Sky realizes she likes living and working in her hometown, being close to friends, family and her lover Simon.

The high school sponsors a dance for the students and hire Pink Elephant, a band that includes Sky's brother Vince, to play at the event. She notices that two members are at each other's throat but her brother won't tell her why. At the night of the dance, a fire alarm evacuates the building; when Skye looks to see if anyone is in the building, she trips over the dead body of a band member. Vince is a prime suspect so Sky once again tries to track down a murderer so that she can exonerate his brother.

Although Scumble River is a small community, it has many of the problems of a big city including students taking hard drugs. While trying to find a killer, Sky always wants to find the methamphetamine lab so the sheriff can close it down and arrest the dealer. The heroine is tough when it comes to her students and her family, going the extra mile to get them out of trouble yet with Simon all she can think of is "Give me give me good lovin". MURDER OF A PINK ELEPHANT is an upbeat amateur sleuth mystery that takes place in a quirky town with zany characters.

Harriet Klausner

Skye Denison is a school psychologist who has returned to her small hometown in Illinois. Her brother Vince plays with a rock band called Pink Elephant which performs at a school dance where Skye works. It's obvious that some of the band members are not getting along and when one of them is killed in a mysterious fire, the police chief begins to suspect Vince. Skye begins an investigation to find the true killer and she uncovers a lot of unsavory situations in Scumble River. First of all, the teenagers begin to act in an unreasonable manner which makes Skye suspect they are on drugs. Secondly, a developer has come to town and he is trying to buy up people's land in order to build an amusement park. Skye's friend Wally, the chief of police is acting in a strange manner and seems to be trying to elude his ex-wife Darleen who is pursuing him in an aggressive manner. Author Swanson manages to keep all of these subplots going and then neatly ties them together at the end. The characters in this series are developing nicely and it looks as if Skye's love life will continue to be a hot topic in future books.

Scumble River #6. Another fun romp with Skye Denison, the school psychologist. This one entails her brother Vince's Band and the very strange actions of the school children. Simon (the undertaker) and his mother (Bunny) refurbish the bowling alley. There are mayoral debates between the gym teacher and the chief of police.

The characters in this series have become so unlikable...especially Skye. Talk about priorities out-of-place, she balks repeatedly about climbing a ladder to the roof of the school to help save a kid on drugs who believes he can fly yet supposedly has no fear facing possible murders single handedly. To quote her arrogance, "It would be a busy day. After she solved the murder for Wally, she had three meetings to attend and a psychological evaluation to complete."

The story itself had some interest but the bad guys were so blatantly obvious from the beginning that it spoiled the plot.

For a light mystery this series has been very enjoyable. The killer isn't someone from out of town but a well known resident. I like that in these books. She makes her characters real down to earth.

I love this series and look foward to more of them in the future.
These are enjoyable books and easy reads.
Keeps your attention and they are like old friends visiting

Skye Denison, school psychologist thought she had trouble with her job, but she actually had it easy compared to her brother Vince.

Normally a hairdresser, Vince and his band, formerly known as the Plastic Santa's have renamed themselves as the Pink Elephants and are playing at the Valentine Dance at the high school. That is if he and his band can stop beating each other up.

Things get really hot when a fire breaks out at the high school and Logan Wolf, lead singer winds up dead.

Skye is determined not to get involved in the investigation, but when Sheriff Wally seems to have Vince in his sights again as the murder suspect, Skye decides she has to act.

Could Logan's murder have anything to do with the rumors of drugs in the school? Or maybe it had something to do with Logan refusing to sell Moss Green his farmland so Moss could put up Pig In A Poke - his amusement park.

Wally isn't too pleased with her investigations, he's running for mayor and he's hassled at every press conference about the fact that he can't solve a crime and has to rely on a citizen to do the investigating.

Even after several attempts on her life, Skye continues her search until she comes face to face with the murderer.

Highlights:

Skye's family. Her parents and godfather Charlie and brother Vince are very close and obviously adore Skye.

Sheriff Wally. I've like him since the first book, he doesn't mind Skye investigating usually, but doesn't like the fact that she takes unnecessary risks.

Justin And Frannie, two somewhat geeky high school students who work on the school paper and do a lot of undercover investigation. They come across a lot of clues that they then pass on to Skey.

May's cement goose that she dresses up on her front lawn.

Lowlights:

Skye - I'm beginning to wonder if there is something wrong with this woman. She surprised at her brother censure of Logan sleeping with a groupie, after all Vince has quite a reputation. Skye obvioiusly doesn't think there is a difference between the single Vince being with someone and the married Logan being with someone.

Skye gets into trouble several times when she should have given some information to Wally, he didn't answer her phone calls and when she went to the station she realized his ex-wife Darleen was intercepting the messages, so next time when she really needs to tell him something and he doesn't call her back, does she go to his house and tell him? Of course not, she'll do it in the morning, afterall what could happen before then? Justin and Frannie show more intelligence in their investigating than she does.

Bunny - the mother of Simon (Skye's boring boyfriend). Fortunately, she is only in a few pages of the book. I cannot stand this character, Skye finds her refreshing after having to put up with her overbearing mother. I suppose she would have liked it if her mother ran out on her and her father, came back several times and ran off again, the last time twenty years ago when she not only ran off but took all the money out of her husband's savings account. That's the kind of mother Bunny was to Simon.

As I said in my earlier review of this series. Skye picked the wrong boyfriend. Simon, local funeral parlor owner and coroner is ok, but there are absolutely no sparks between Skye and him.

Skye seems so flaky at times that I would wonder about her abilities at her job in helping troubled kids.

This is a strange series where I find that everyone but the heroine, her boyfriend and his mother are so wonderful you want to continue reading about them. The mystery itself is very good. A lot of clues but no cheating on the ending, although I suspected who the killer was but wasn't confirmed until the end.

It's not too late to dump Simon and his mother.

Skye Denison is a school psychologist in Scumble River. Her brother's band has just changed its name from Plastic Santa to Pink Elephant. It's changed its sound from soft rock and roll to a sound so loud it made her ears almost bleed. They practice in Vince's hair salon.

The band plays at the Valentine's Day dance at the local high school. When a fire breaks out, Skye works hard to make sure everyone is out safely. Then Logan Wolfe, a band member, is found dead after the fire. There had been tension in the band recently. Heather , a groupie, wants to sign with the band. She wants it so bad, she slept with each band member hoping it would help. It didn't. But once Logan, their lead signer, is dead, Heather is added to the band. Could she have killed Logan to get in?

Police Chief Wally Boyd is running for town mayor. His ex-wife, Darleen, has returned and is hoping to become "Mrs. Mayor." Unfortunately she is very jealous of Skye and causes much trouble. There isn't anything for her to be jealous about, but she still is.

Vince becomes Wally's number one suspect in Logan's death. Skye knows she must protect her brother and help find the real killer.

Simon, her boyfriend and the coroner and funeral home owner, has recently purchased the bowling alley. His mother arrived in town not long ago and after time and some discussions, he bought it so she could run it. The renovations are done and they have their open house.

Many strange occurrences happen in town and in neighboring towns with many youth. It comes to Skye's attention that an influx of drugs has hit the area. She is trying to find the methamphetamine lab and shut it down.

This is another in a string of great books in this series. I love Skye and all the other characters. They all blend together to make a wonderful small-town atmosphere. Her family is always in the middle of things. Since her mother is a dispatcher, she often knows what's happening before Skye. This makes it hard for Skye to do her sleuthing.

I highly recommend this book.