Customer Reviews

Murder in the Hamptons, A "Wic

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This is a romance novel with a murder mystery added in. The romance part dominates the story. The main setting is a beachfront estate in the Hamptons owned by a family with moderately old money - not an old family in terms of the Mayflower, or a nouveau riche family, but one with money several generations old; long enough to breed good manners. The main story takes place during a weekend house party which includes a lot of name dropping status seekers trying to be in the right place with the right people. To quote an expression I remember, "You can put a saddle on a cart horse, but..." The author, like some other authors, has apparently included her personal fantasies in the story. The graphic sexual content gives the novel an R rating or, in the alternate system, an AO rating for adults only.

Maggie Harding, an interior decorator, has accompanied her friend Lucy to the party. Lucy works for a PR firm and had made arrangements for the party, the purpose being to screen a new film starring the man engaged to the house owner's daughter. The Friday night dinner turns into a disaster, more like a redneck affair than a chic social gathering. This is interpersed with Maggie's discovery of an old acquaintance at the party, the male half of a weekend affair several years earlier in Florida; Tyler Brody, someone she had hoped never to see again. Action switches to the bedroom and a long scene on the renewal of the affair.

On page 80, the story introduces the murder mystery when Maggie is awakened to the screams of a woman house guest who has just found the dead body of a male house guest on the back lawn. The action from that point switches back and forth between the murder investigation, and activity between Maggie and Ty, who can't seem to keep their pants on when the victim's body is barely cold. Ty seems to have a one track mind, and Maggie offers little resistance.

It was my personal opinion that the heavy sexual content detracted from the murder mystery, to the point of being a little unrealistic, i.e., the main characters seem to have a cold attitude towards the victim, even though they help solve the case.

Manhattan designer Maggie Harding accompanies her friend Lucy at a Hollywood stars gala at Paige Redmond's Hampton Estate. However, her stomach turns upside down when she sees Tyler at the event. Five years following her boyfriend "Terrible Tom" ending their relationship via voice mail she met Tyler in the Keys; they exchanged first names and had three incredible one-night-stands before Maggie fled in the morning light. Tyler has looked for her ever since.

Maggie hopes to sneak away as she fears how deep Tyler touched her then and how much she wants him now. Tyler plans to never let her go as he knows she is the one. She tries to slip back to Manhattan, but a corpse on the lawn has led to the proverbial don't leave town by the police. While Maggie concludes she must uncover the killer to escape from Tyler, he mounts a campaign to win her heart.

This is a fun amateur sleuth romance starring a likable hero who knows who he wants for life and a confused chick lit like individual who sees solving the case as her escape from her heart. Converging on Maggie, the two subplots keep the reader entertained as Tyler pursues a running away Maggie while she chases after the killer. MURDER IN THE HAMPTONS is a fine tale.

Harriet Klausner

Ms. Garvey is an author that shows very good promise with her first full length novel. What she lacked in depth and development I'm sure she will gain with future efforts.

Maggie Harding is a planner from the word go. There is a reason why day planners have been created. The concept of "fly by the seat of you pants" is beyond her realm of thinking. Who does that??? The fact that she did something totally out of character five years earlier was not setting a precedence...no, it was a fluke thing. So when she shows up in the Hamptons with her friend Lucy, who just so happens to be in charge of a comeback party in the form of PR for an actor that has just left rehab. Oh, and the fact that her three day stand from five years earlier also seems to be in attendance should matter not at all...right!!! Maggie though can't get past the fact that Tyler still brings out the wild woman in her and when she tries to put distance between herself and temptation, Tyler won't stay away from her! Oh, but that's not the worst, the worst is when they wake up the next morning only to find Mr. Comback, Drew is found dead on the lawn, and now Maggie is trapped with the rest of "Hollywood" as well as Tyler on the grounds of Spindrift until the murder is caught. It's going to be a long weekend. Especially when Maggie starts acting impulsive and dayplanners are the last thing on her mind when it comes to Yummy Tyler!

The storyline seemed a bit simple and Maggie was an unusual character. Tyler on the other hand was quite fun and this balanced out the "conflict" between them. This read put me in the mind of "Clue" the board game and at times I admit to doing some "eye rolling" as the plot plodded along. Still, this was a decent debut effort and Ms. Garvey is probably an author that you will want to keep on your radar in the future.

Official Reviewer for Romance Designs

Maggie Harding is a rather uptight young woman who craves control and likes rules and boundaries. She rarely does anything crazy or spontaneous but she did so in a big way five years ago. She spent a wild weekend in a Key West hotel room with a gorgeous and very sexy man. They did not exchange last names and she snuck out like the coward she is while he was sleeping. Fun as it was, thank God she'll never see him again! And she's determined to never lose control like that again. Now she has agreed to accompany a girlfriend to a weekend houseparty in the Hamptons. The occasion is the launch of a former teen idol's comeback after a stint in rehab. The house is full of "beautiful people" who are really quite ugly. Jealous co-stars, nasty producers, agents and so-called friends. And one tall, dark and gorgeous man that is all too familiar. Oh no! It's him!

Tyler Brody did a double-take when he saw her. He never forgot that wonderful weekend in the Keys with that beautiful, fun-loving woman. And now here she was being introduced to him by their hostess. Unfortunately, she seems nothing like the woman he remembers. She seems uptight, nervous - what happened to her? He was extremely disappointed when he woke up alone five years ago, sorry that there was no way for him to find her. But Tyler is a live-for-the-moment kind of guy. He's spontaneous, free spirited and he does what he wants, when he wants. And right now he wants to rekindle the romance with Maggie.

The weekend is off to a bumpy start with Tyler pursuing Maggie and Maggie trying to avoid Tyler. Not to mention the tension of the assembled company. So much sniping and drinking making the atmosphere extremely uncomfortable, especially for outsiders like Maggie and Tyler (who's reason for being invited I never really got). Maggie's resolve begins to crumble fast under Tyler's dogged pursuit and her own attraction to him. Soon they are lovers again though Maggie still has her concerns about the kind of man Tyler is. But there's little time to worry about that when one of the guests is found dead on the lawn and the police place them all under house arrest until the crime is solved. Great. So much for avoiding him or even leaving early! Maggie decides she needs to find the murderer soon before she loses her heart to a man who's likely to take off again as soon as the mood strikes him. So Maggie begins doing some amateur sleuthing and, because he wants to be near her, Tyler tags along and together they set out to find out which of the guests is a murderer.

I loved Tyler. What a terrific guy! I couldn't understand why she fought her attraction to him so hard and that's my biggest problem with the book. The lady doth protest too much that he was somehow wrong for her. As for the murder mystery, I found that on a certain level I didn't care who done it. There were a few too many suspects and they were all so unlikable that I really didn't care about any of them. And I was really bummed that she killed off a fairly nice character when there were so many hateful people who deserved it more! The only other thing that I didn't like was the slightly chick lit feel to the book - I don't care for chick lit.

My issues aside, I think this is a promising debut and I would read more from this author.

If a poorly written, tedious novel ridden with copy editing mistakes is your idea of fun, this is your book. A snorer.