Customer Reviews

Peaches And Screams: A Savannah Reid Mystery (Savannah Reid Mysteries)

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

 

 

Savannah Reid is back and in fine form. She has been called home to McGill Georgia to be in her sister's third wedding and is expected to wear the all time worst bridesmaid dress. Needless to say she is not really looking forward to going home. Of course once she gets there her younger brother is thrown in the slammer accused of murdering one Judge Patterson. Susannah learns that Judge Patterson had quite a few enemies and she is convinced her brother has been framed. She sets out to prove his innocence and his helped along the way by her L.A. detective friends Dirk and Tammy and a little help from her hometown old flame, deputy Tommy Stafford. I really enjoyed meeting Savannah's family. From her nine siblings, to the grandmother who raised them and even her mother the alcoholic. This is a wild ride from the moment Savannah steps off the plane to the last chapter. I loved it and look forward to McKevett's next book. If you like a good southern cozy this is the book for you.

Savannah Reid is back. Back home, that is. Back in McGill, Georgia for sister Marietta's 3rd trip down the aisle. Savannah's not too keen on wearing the dress Marietta picked out, but she is anxious to see her Gran again and catch up on all that been going on. Unfortunately, what's been going on is all the trouble brother Macon has been getting into. The latest, being arrested for murder, has put a serious crimp in the matrimonial festivities and all eyes turn to Savannah to make things right.

This is not cut and dried case. Seems the victim had quite an impressive list of those who hadn't minded seeing him gone. Who to finger? Just when it looks like it just might too much for Savannah to handle, her California cohorts--Dirk and Tammy--show up and with this trio on the path to justice, the murderer just doesn't stand a chance.

McKevett gives another entertaining mystery with enough red herrings to throw the reader off and a stellar cast of secondary characters. I was especially pleased to read more about Savannah's family members, especially her mother. We get to meet all the brothers and sisters, learn the particular quirks of each and share the special bond Savannah has with her grandmother.

I do hope the author doesn't relegate the Georgia Reids to the back burner when Savannah returns to California. They make a nice addition to an already outstanding mystery series.

This series continues to grow and get better. I loved Savannah's grandmother, and especially the pooch Beauregard. I will be looking forward to the next one in the series. I wish I could figure out who G.A. McKevett really is (supposedly a pseudonym for a famous writer).

Georgia's supposedly where the sweetest peaches grow, but when Savannah returns to Georgia for her sister's wedding, she finds also that the scent of orange blossoms can mask a deadly miasma of hatred and greed. Once again all the familoar characters in this long-running series return both to aid Savannah and to complicate her quest to trap a killer. I wonder if, when the identity of G. A. McKevett is revealed, we will all sigh in recognition or will it turn out to be someone we never heard of before, just someone who was good at copying the outwards signs of Sue Grafton and Marcia Muller's sprightly writing styles? My cousin has a theory and she's torn out big letters from the newspaper, like a ransom note, that spell out the letters of McKevett's name, and she keeps switching the letters back and forth on her old formica kitchen table, a cup of strong coffee close at hand, trying to find the anagram hat would reveal the "real name" of her favorite author. She says this is how she used to solve all the JUMBLE puzzles in the old Daily News.

We pass along the volumes of Savannah Reid's cases like old friends, me and her, savoring the intimate details of her life, almost as if she were a real person, and greater praise I can give to no author, pseudonymous or no.

I also don't understand where Macon came from. And I can't figure out the age differences. Savannah is in her early 40's, all the siblings seem to be in their 20's. Savannah has been in CA for 10-15 years. Is she 15-20 years older than most of the kids? I don't see how she helped raise them if she has been gone so long. Earlier stories have said that her mother shot out a baby about every year. I do enjoy the books, I just find the age of people hard to understand.

In two earlier books in this series, Savannah only has one brother, Waycliff and in Sugar and Spite, Macon was her father that she rarely saw growing up. When was Macon introduced as a younger brother? I really love these books, but this question was bothering me. Also, when did chief Bloss (or captain or whatever) disappear or appear and it turned into Hillquist and Jefferies?

I'm getting close to being current with this series... :-)

In Peaches And Screams, Savannah Reid heads back to Georgia to be a bridesmaid in another sister's wedding. But when she arrives, she finds that her youngest brother is being held for the murder of a town judge. She, like a good sister, doesn't believe he did it, but the signs are not encouraging. She starts her own investigation to see if she can clear her brother. Tammi and Dirk arrive from California to help her, and with their assistance she starts to piece together the puzzle of who dun it.

There is probably less action in this installment than in any other I've read so far. Much of the story that doesn't revolve around her investigation explores how her Grandmother is dealing with the lazy leeches that make up most of her siblings. By the end of the book, Savannah has gotten her to set some new ground rules to avoid being taken advantage of. She also has to deal with an old flame from her past, who just happens to be the head cop in the town.

While a good story, I was probably less enthralled with this one than any of the others. There just didn't seem to be that sense of urgency about it.

With a lush for a mother and a trucker for a father who was on the road more then he was home, Savannah Reid and her maternal grandmother raised the eight younger Reids. As soon as the last one was grown, Savannah moved from the backwater town of McGill in southern Georgia to San Carmelita, California where she joined the police force. After a few years, the feisty woman left the department and opened her own one-woman private detective agency.

Since business is slow, Savannah finds time to travel back to her hometown to be a bridesmaid for her sister Marietta who is getting married for the third time. On the day she arrives, her younger brother Macon is charged with killing the honorable Judge Patterson, a power in the county. Now while Savannah knows her brother is a thief and a liar, she also believes he is no killer. With some friends who fly in from California, Savannah leads an investigation where there are more suspects than mourners for the late departed judge.

G.A. McKevett has written another fine Savannah Reid mystery only this time the action takes place in the rural south instead of California. Readers receive an up close and personal look at how a small southern town operates. The secondary cast is colorful and eccentric, good for a few chuckles to relieve the rising tension as Savannah closes in on the perpetrator. PEACHES AND SCREAMS is a delightful regional mystery.

Harriet Klausner

McKevett has always produced great characters, especially her overweight detective, Savannah Reid, with her sharply contrasted group of Californian friends and vast Georgian family. But to be honest her writing contained weak spots and cliches and her plots were sometimes threadbare. This one has much better writing and an ingenious plot. I think it's her best. It's set in Georgia instead of her usual California. Savannah has to go home for her sister's third wedding and her good-for-nothing brother is accused of murder. Some of it is gooey and sloppy and sentimental, but to complain of schmaltz in McKevett is like complaining of sweetness in a chocolate eclair. If you want hard-boiled irony and deadpan sophistication don't shop here.
I couldn't give it five stars in a world that contains Sue Grafton and Janet Evanovich but it's fun.