Customer Reviews

Murder of a Sleeping Beauty: A Scumble River Mystery

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Skye Denison, school psychologist at Scumble River High School, stumbles across the girl who is playing the lead role in the spring musical, Sleeping Beauty. The problem is that Sleeping Beauty won't wake up. Not even Prince Charming can save this princess. Her slumber is permanent. The question is; who gave Sleeping Beauty poison this time? Skye delves into an investigation on her own since her once romantic relationship with the chief of police, Wally Boyd, is a thing of the past. Skye learns that the dead girl, Lorelei Ingels, was entrenched in the world of beauty pageants. Could someone be jealous of her success? Or could there be another reason?

Skye is stonewalled by parents and students alike as she tries to find out who Lorelei really was. She appears to have been a popular student, but sometimes popularity comes with a price. Skye must find out if the price in this case was murder.

MURDER OF A SLEEPING BEAUTY is an enjoyable mystery. It moves along nicely and holds a reader's interest. It is well-plotted and well-written. I particularly like that the protagonist is "full-figured" and easy to relate to.

Denise Swanson has a winning series here. Scumble River is a place I'll visit again and again!

Skye Dennison is called to the gym of Scumble Creek High School by a student. She finds the star of the school play dead on a prop bed used for the production of Sleeping Beauty. Since Wally and Simon want nothing to do with her she is stuck investigating alone, and discovers that the perfect girl is not as perfect as she seemed and finds out a little about the seamier side of the beauty pageant circuit.

The Scumble Creek series is a really enjoyable one. The books are full of eccentric characters and real issues. The mysteries are not terribly difficult but are alot of fun to solve.

Denise Swanson manages, for a third time, to give us an entertaining, engaging, satisfying Scumble River mystery with the intrepid Skye Denison in the lead.
The beauty who had everything (or did she?) is found dead. Who would have wanted her that way? More and more people as the book progresses.
I have really enjoyed this series and I hope the talented Denise Swanson continues to bring us more and more. The third one is just out and already I can't wait for the fourth!

I enjoyed Murder Of A Sleeping Beauty so much that I felt the need to write a review as soon as I finished the last paragraph. This is the third Scumble River novel (although I believe there is a short story, which I haven't read) which features Skye, a school psychologist who came back to her hometown of Scumble River, Illinois after a humiliating break up with her ex-fiancee. This is particularly excrutiating for Skye because she had a few choice words for Scumble River and its residents when she made her graduation speech several years ago, and the residents of Scumble River have long memories. There are a few romantic possibilities for Skye in Scumble River, but they are not without their difficulties, to say the least. The greatest thing about Skye, her family and the other Scumble River residents is that they are not perfect. This leads to humor, pain, embarrassment and a lot of interest for the reader. I live in the midwest and I can relate to the characters of Scumble River, and I can honestly say that while they are often a little over the top for the sake of humor, they aren't completely out of the ballpark.
The first book of the series (Murder of a Small-Town Honey) really caught my attention, but it carried the duty (and the pleasure) of setting up the Scumble River background and letting the readers get to know Skye, her family, and the various characters of Scumble River. The book was wonderful and I would recommend reading it first, but then I try to always read the first book in a series before any of the others. I didn't like the second book, Murder Of a Sweet Old Lady, nearly as well as the first book. As a school psychologist, Skye sometimes has to come in contact with unhappy parents, and since she has the unfortunate habit of stumbling over dead bodies, she often ends up dealing with unhappy suspects. In the second book she was occasionally threatened or physically assaulted (albeit in a mild way) by male parents or suspects, yet didn't report it to the police. I thought that was completely out of character for Skye, who is a very assertive heroine. Thankfully, the third book completely restored my faith in the series. It seemed to me that the characters and the town of Scumble River just completely came together in this book, and I felt that I knew the characters without having to work to understand why they would react in a certain way, or without having to work out who the character was and how they were related to Skye. The book deals with the timely issue of the media and the image of perfection we are faced with constantly as we watch television and read magazines, and the consequences that expectation of perfection can have on children (and adults, as well), yet it doesn't have a preachy tone at all. I look forward to many more Scumble River books. Denise Swanson's Scumble River series has now joined my short list of cozy series that I will buy without even reading a review...

This was a good book, but again, my favorite book so far is the first one (Murder of a Small-Town Honey), and I haven't read the fourth one yet, so there's hope yet.

During my reading of this book, I felt that Skye didn't really understand teenagers, or was for some reason bias towards those in the book. (Yes, yes, I'm a teen myself!) Anyhow, the storyline, again, didn't intrest me that much. Justin and that girl who's name I can't remember, were more likable in this book than Skye herself. Also, one more thing, through out the book, Skye was asking for too many things! I know it's her job to help the children, but I was annoyed how she would always try to find the principal to request he do something.

Overall, it was good, but I was annoyed by it. The one thing I'm gald about in this book, is that the author didn't kill off the murderer at the end! (It was a nice change!)

-Ater

There are moments in everyone's life when every mistake you've ever made either comes back to haunt you, or else conspires to ensure that you have a very bad couple of days. For Skye Dennison, the school psychologist for Scrumble River, the period covering the murder-investigation of Scrumble River High School beauty, Lorelei Ingels, proves to be exactly such a moment. Since returning home (reluctantly) after having been fired from her first job and being dumped by her rather obnoxious fiance, Skye has managed to find a way to fit in again in her small home town, and to live down her infamous high school valedictorian speech (in which she stated that all the denizens of Scrumble River had small mundane minds). It's not all good news however: her job is a hard and thankless one, where she seems to be doing the work of at least six people, and where she gets very little help or support from school administrators. Add to that the unpleasant fact that Skye has managed to alienate the affections of the two men she has some romantic feelings for, and you have some idea of what Skye's life is like right now!

As "Murder of a Sleeping Beauty" opens, Skye is summoned to the school gym by a hysterical teenager who claims that, "Sleeping Beauty is dead." Inside the gym, Skye finds Lorelei Ingels (popular head cheerleader, Sleeping Beauty in the school's upcoming musical, and regular beauty pageant contestant) onstage seemingly asleep. Except of course that she's not breathing, and that she happens to be a lovely shade of grey-blue. It looks as if Lorelei may have over dosed on something. Afraid that the school may be blamed for Lorelei's death, Skye's godfather (who happens to be president of the school board) asks Skye to investigate. This, Skye is only all too willing to do, but investigating this murder will not be easy going, esp with the sheriff acting really hostile towards her (he's still angry at her for having betrayed his trust in a previous Scrumble River mystery, "Murder of a Sweet Old Lady"). But Skye is nothing if not determined to discover why Lorelei Ingels is dead; why the Ingels family is not cooperating with the police; and why Lorelei isn't even being mourned by her friends.

"Murder of a Sleeping Beauty" is a really fun read. Denise Swanson does a marvelous job of both imbuing the book with that small town atmospheric feel, and of maintaining a light tongue in cheek sarcasm with which she observes the general ineptness of the school administrators, as well as all the string pulling that goes on behind the scenes in small town politics. The Scrumble River mystery series is not a completely light hearted 'cozy' read, but it is an absorbing and compelling one. It is rather fast paced and is filled with character-types that are quirky and recognizable to all of us. I was well and truly hooked. All in all a really worthwhile read.

Sleeping Beauty is found dead on the stage at the high school. Lorelei Ingels is to be Sleeping Beauty in a play, but she's dead.

Skye has to deal with the morning students and help Chief of Police Walter Boyd discover the murderer. This isn't easy. Wally is upset with Skye. Skye had a crush on Wally when she was 15 and he was 23. They never dated. Recently he felt she betrayed his trust. This was made even worse because his wife, Darlene, betrayed his trust by leaving with another man.

Since Wally is so upset, Skye has to get information for this case through her mom, a police dispatcher, and Simon Reid, coroner and former boyfriend -- not a great situation either.

Lorelei and her sister, as well as Lorelei's best friend are in beauty pageants. The parents are so in to this that there are stories abounding that Mrs. Ingels and Lorelei pulled many pranks so that the competition would be out. Of course, none of the pranks could be proven to have been done by them. Skye takes her 2 nieces to a couple pageants to see things first hand.

This book has many twists. The people are very believable and the book has a true small town flavor. I always look forward to the next book in this series. Can't wait to find out about Skye's next adventures and more about her love life, which is always in flux.

Skye Denison, school psychologist at Scumble River High School, stumbles across the girl who is playing the lead role in the spring musical, Sleeping Beauty. The problem is that Sleeping Beauty won't wake up. Not even Prince Charming can save this princess. Her slumber is permanent. The question is; who gave Sleeping Beauty poison this time? Skye delves into an investigation on her own since her once romantic relationship with the chief of police, Wally Boyd, is a thing of the past. Skye learns that the dead girl, Lorelei Ingels, was entrenched in the world of beauty pageants. Could someone be jealous of her success? Or could there be another reason?

Skye is stonewalled by parents and students alike as she tries to find out who Lorelei really was. She appears to have been a popular student, but sometimes popularity comes with a price. Skye must find out if the price in this case was murder.

MURDER OF A SLEEPING BEAUTY is an enjoyable mystery. It moves along nicely and holds a reader's interest. It is well-plotted and well-written. I particularly like that the protagonist is "full-figured" and easy to relate to.

Denise Swanson has a winning series here. Scumble River is a place I'll visit again and again!

Readers will soon be engaged by the characters in this small town. The clever heroine counsels kids and combs for clues with much aplomb. Who could be the murderer? Perfect reading for a sunny spring day or a cozy night beside a warm fire. Reminded me of the Hamish Macbeth books, too.

Another cozy Scumble River mystery. Skye is grabbed by a student to check out the lead of "Sleeping Beauty" on the stage after school. Naturally, the lead is dead - Lorelei Ingels. Many suspects and many false leads later, the murderer is discovered. A fun rainy day read.