Murder Can Wreck Your Reunion (Desiree Shapiro Mystery #4) [Mass Market Paperback]

Selma Eichler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1997

Private investigator Desiree Shapiro receives a frantic call from her niece, who is suspected of murdering a former sorority sister at a reunion, drawing Shapiro into her fourth treacherous--and hilarious--mystery.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 265 pages
• Publisher: Signet (January 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451185218
• ISBN-13: 978-0451185211
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #992,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reunions can be bad for your health, January 18, 2010

By 

- Kasia S. (New York City) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Murder Can Wreck Your Reunion (Desiree Shapiro Mystery #4) (Mass Market Paperback)

The moment I was done with book three ( Murder can stunt your growth) I simply had to get my hands on the next one and this was even more fun than the previous adventure! Desiree unearths a major discovery; the new case that centers around Raven, a dead sorority sister shockingly displays the discord between old college friends, one of them being her own niece, Ellen. When the ladies meet up after a long break to catch up and see what they are up to, one of the sisters shows up uninvited and ends up dead, having jumped from her balcony into an empty pool in the middle of the night. Raven had the audacity to show up after years of fighting with the girls but no one is more perplexed than her own brother, who hires Desiree to shine some light on an investigation that seems to point to Ellen being the guilty one. Desiree of course doubts that Ellen could have done something so horrible and sets out to interview all the sisters, to see which one liked Raven the least, trouble is once the old college stories start coming out, everyone is guilty, Raven was a corrupted, self centered person who's success centered around destroying other people's lives, and everyone who has death with her doesn't seem too saddened for hear untimely death. More shocking secrets reveal some answers for her behavior but in the end it's not enough to have kept her safe, someone has managed to have Raven jump, how and why is another question, but between old friends and dark secrets a murdered sits and waits for the wrong person to be accused so that they can get on with their life with some smug satisfaction of having gotten rid of an old enemy.

Gossip and good food permeates the whole novel, making the list of suspects long and complex, and reasons for committing the crime increase as Raven's nasty little antics come out into the open. The mystery was a fun and enjoyable one, and so good that I have all ready started reading the next one, sometimes it's hard to stop when the writing is so good, interesting and intriguing to the point where it lives beyond the pages. Both Desiree and Ellen have men in their lives that provide some comic relief, especially when it comes to Desiree and the trusty tub of ice cream is never far away. This was a real joy to read, I wish more books were this fun and cunning. And I really liked the ending, it was kind of wild, not the typical finish I'd expect, but good and punchy.

- Kasia S.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Murders that shouldn't have been investigated, September 27, 2001

By 

"kangarex" (Keokuk, IA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Murder Can Wreck Your Reunion (Desiree Shapiro Mystery #4) (Mass Market Paperback)

My single biggest difficulty with this book is that when all is said and done, everybody would have been a lot better off if our heroine, Desiree Shapiro, had simply left well enough alone, and NOT investigated. In fairness to the plotting, at each step of the way investigating looks like the reasonable thing to do. This makes it much easier to take than some mysteries where the investigator is finding out what happened for sheer nosiness. Desiree Shapiro is an interesting person, funny, self-deprecating, very ethical at the oddest times, and I will probably read more of this series. I just wish that I hadn't gotten to the end of the book, and decided that everyone would have been better off if Desiree had been in Timbuktu for the week.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good mind candy for a hot summer's day., July 20, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Murder Can Wreck Your Reunion (Desiree Shapiro Mystery #4) (Mass Market Paperback)

Desiree Shapiro was new to me and I found I enjoyed her humor and writing style. The plot was a little thin, but made up for in amusement. There are two kinds of books; those that you just want to curl up and read, and those that you can read while doing 4 other things. Desiree Shapiro is an excellent book to occupy your mind while exercising.