Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Light-Hearted Cozy, September 3, 2009
This review is from: Murder Takes the Cake (Sullivan Investigations Mystery) (Paperback)
Murder Takes the Cake (reunites Mac Sullivan, a retired cop trying to start a PI business, with Rachel Brenner, a 40-something divorcee and funeral make-up artist, in Washington, DC. When Rachel discovers that the inventory of coffins at the funeral home doesn't match the invoices, she asks Mac to look into the discrepancy quietly since her boss is stressed out about his daughter's upcoming wedding to the son of a snooty New England socialite family. Mac fears that the request is just a ploy on Rachel's part to pin down his intentions about their sort-of relationship, but he needs a case to keep JJ, his young punk assistant, and Edger, his walker-bound researcher, from driving him crazy. Then the bride ambushes Mac, swears someone is trying to kill her, and hires him to catch her would-be killer. Everyone assumes this is just another case of pre-wedding jitters, but Mac worries that she might really be in danger. Whiskey, Mac's junk-food addicted Irish wolfhound adds yet another source of fun in this light-hearted and fast-paced cozy.
http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/D_Authors/David_Evelyn.html
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
amusing cozy, April 29, 2009
This review is from: Murder Takes the Cake (Sullivan Investigations Mystery) (Paperback)
Murder Takes the Cake
Evelyn David
Echelon, May 1 2009, $13.99
ISBN: 1590806182
One week before Thanksgiving DC private investigator Mac Sullivan, a loner except for Whiskey the dog, finds his world upside down since Sullivan and Company has "grown". First, his business is in trouble needing paying customers not just bartering clients. Second, his assistant twenty-two years old Juliana "JJ" Jarrett and his elderly ailing researcher Edger are driving him crazy. Finally there is divorcee single mom Rachel Brenner who works at a funeral home and whom he is attracted to and believes she reciprocates his feelings, but he has no idea how to act on a date.
Now his about to marry goddaughter, Boston reporter Bridget O'Herlihy, visits him asking for his help as she swears someone is trying to kill her. Although he doubts this is the case, he takes the threat seriously and sends his team out on assignments. Soon the corpses pile up while the groom and his family insist she is being a drama queen; at a time her dad Jeff wonders who stole caskets from his funeral home. Mac, JJ, Edger, Rachel and Whiskey keep digging looking for the ties that bound everyone involved.
The second Murder Takes (see MURDER OFF THE BOOKS) is an amusing cozy starring an ensemble cast of eccentrics. The story line is fast-paced while containing two mysteries tied to death (corpses and coffins are like peanut butter and jelly), a maybe romance, enemy canine-feline, an out of control wedding plan, and junk cars. The characters make for a fun lighthearted frolic as Evelyn David proves in deed MURDER TAKES THE CAKE.
Harriet Klausner
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Worth reading just to sort out all the characters, April 12, 2009
This review is from: Murder Takes the Cake (Sullivan Investigations Mystery) (Paperback)
Evelyn David is actually a partnership between Marian Edelman Borden and Rhonda Dossett. Marian is an author of ten non-fiction books and hails from New York. Rhonda lives in Oklahoma and is the coal administrator for the state. The most interesting facet of their relationship is that they have never met in person. MURDER TAKES THE CAKE is the follow-up to their first effort, MURDER OFF THE BOOKS. Both books feature Whiskey, an Irish wolfhound.
Rachel Brenner leads an interesting life. After her divorce from a meandering husband, she landed a job in a funeral home. Mac Sullivan runs a private detective agency. What do they have in common? Rachel and Mac have an uneasy relationship bound by their past experiences. But after Rachel discovers the inventory at the funeral home doesn't jibe with their invoices, she inveigles Mac to look into the problem. Hilariously, the skittish Mac thinks she's trying to pin him down regarding their relationship:
"'What?' Mac was confused. Somehow he'd misread the whole situation. Maybe she wasn't breaking up with him. Can you even break up with someone you really haven't dated yet?
'The missing caskets? Did Jeff already tell you about them? There's about $20,000 worth that we can't find. Jeff is talking about running some kind of sting operation to catch the thieves.'"
Tales about mid-life detectives scream out for laughter, and the Evelyn David team complies with aplomb. They add a wedding between Mac's goddaughter and a spoiled little rich kid who has the sensitivity of a hockey puck to keep the plot lively. Characters abound, from the endearing Rachel and Mac to the confused teenager who is brought into line by Mac's office manager, JJ. Whiskey, Mac's Irish wolfhound and Snickers, Rachel's cat, also fit into the mix and promise to have many future exploits.
MURDER TAKES THE CAKE is light-hearted fun, with a little mystery; a little romance; a little family dysfunction; and several out-of-the-ordinary adventures thrown in to make it a fun-filled whodunit. It's worth reading just to sort out all the characters.
Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
