Customer Reviews

Let There Be Suspects (Ministry Is Murder Mystery)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Aggie Sloan-Wilcox knows that as a minister's wife, she can't get involved in too many scandals. That's why she's trying to put that whole finding a naked body on the front porch thing behind her. As part of that effort, she's hosting a Christmas open house for everyone in the congregation.

Things won't be as easy for her as she had hoped, however. Her free spirited mother, Junie, has planned a family reunion without consulting Aggie. Everyone is scheduled to arrive in time for the party. Still, Aggie is delighted to see her sisters, Sid and Vel and figures Junie's eccentricities won't be too much of a problem. However, Junie shows up with a bit of a surprise, their foster sister Ginger.

Ginger has a way of making enemies wherever she goes. She manipulative and controlling while appearing sweet on the outside. Junie has never seen this, but Sid was Ginger's victim one too many times during childhood, and their old rivalry leaps to life immediately, making the church's new punch bowl a causality.

Things only get worse when Ginger is murdered on Christmas Eve and her body left at the town's nativity scene. Sid doesn't have an alibi, so naturally, she becomes the chief suspect. Aggie can't stand by and let Sid take the fall, so she begins looking into Ginger's past. This turns up more new suspects then Aggie could ever hope to eliminate. Can she sort through them to find the killer before Sid goes to jail?

While I enjoyed the first entry in this series, I absolutely loved this one. Aggie and her family are very real people who leap off the page and into your hearts. The plot moves forward quickly and had me confused until the end. The sub-plots involving Aggie's daughters didn't slow things down and added to the fun.

The next book in this series can't get here fast enough for me. I highly recommend this mystery for cozy fans.

Family drama can be difficult in the best of times and downright deadly when combined with any holiday season, including Christmas.

In Emerald Springs, Ohio, Aggie Sloan-Wilcox (a minister's wife) is preparing for the arrival her half-sisters Sid and Vel and her flamboyant and free-spirited mother, Junie Bluebird, who has a big surprise for her daughters. And that surprise is Ginger, their manipulative, personality-disordered foster sister. Let the games begin. The game of murder, that is.

Ginger turns up dead, Sid is the prime suspect and Aggie must find the murderer in order to save her beloved sister. But with so many suspects (since Ginger 'ticked' off most everyone she'd ever met), it might be impossible.

This is the first Emilie Richards novel I've read and it won't be the last. I love her sharp, quirky voice, her rich and crazy characters and I love that she's mixed murder and mayhem with the church. It turns out religion and murder can make compatible bedfellows.

Armchair Interviews says: Let There Be Suspects is a delicious Christmas romp into the murderous minds of those that live and visit Emerald Springs, Ohio. You'll want more of Emilie Richards.

Just finished this second in Richard's new Ministry is Murder series. I am a cozy mystery addict, but this series is already my favorite of all times. Emilie packs unique characters in a page-turning plot and manages to make me belly laugh along the way. Absolutely delightful. I didn't want this book to end, and I can't wait until the next one in the series.

I confess...I love this series! I found the first book to be less than great because the main character, Aggie, seemed just too-too... too perfect. However, all that is gone in the second book of the Ministry is Murder series, and I LOVED this one! Though the murder didn't happen until after page 90, I thoroughly enjoyed the build up and the family dysfunction! It was great fun, and very realistic. I found myself immediately wanting to read the next one in the series, Beware False Profits, but I don't have it yet. I am eager to read it, and that is always a good sign for a series, in my book! Great fun, interesting characters, good mystery, and satisfying ending -- all the ingredients for a good cozy mystery are find right within the pages of Let There Be Suspects.

If you are not familiar with the writing of Emilie Richards get on board with Let There Be Suspects. It's funny and heartwarming and so well written I'm sure you'll be an immediate fan. This is the second in the Ministry is Murder series where mildmannered Aggie Sloan-Wilcox deals with the everyday life of being a Minister's wife raising a family, dealing with relatives and busybody paritioners and oh yes solves murder in her spare time.
Be prepared to laugh out loud while you read this book.

It's almost Christmas, and Aggie Sloan-Wilcox's mom, Junie, and sisters, Sid and Vel, arrive for a holiday family reunion. Only Junie arrives with their former foster sister Ginger. Ginger and Sid get along like vinegar and water. Ginger is very manipulative and controlling while coming off as sweet to those who don't know her so well. Unfortunately Junie has always seen the sweet side of her. Sid has been Ginger's victim too many times to see the sweet side.

Sid and Ginger's rivalry surfaces immediately, and when Ginger turns up dead, Sid is the logical suspect. Aggie knows Sid couldn't have killed her, so she sets out to find the real murderer before the police arrest Sid. Can she do so without putting herself or her family in danger? And without putting her husband's position in jeopardy?

Aggie is a fun character. The fact that she is a pastor's wife really adds to her sleuthing. Her family and all their quirks really adds to the story. Often families get lost in the story as the mother sleuths. Not so in this series. And the sub-plots don't detract from the story at all. In fact they enhance it and make it a well crafted mystery with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing to the end. I highly recommend this book and the whole series.

In her second Aggie Sloan-Wilcox cozy, Richards introduces us to her heroine's quirky family: one older sister, one younger, one foster, and a delightful original of a mother, Junie Bluebird, a "reckless...free-spirited," much-married crafter (and very possible former Deadhead). It's Christmastime in Emerald Springs, and somehow Aggie has ended up hosting a family reunion at the parsonage. What nobody really expected was that besides her mother, her two blood (half-) sisters, and the less-than-savory boyfriend of younger Sid, foster sister Ginger--who made Sid's life hell when they were girls--would turn up, equipped with geeky but charming husband, and start all the old rivalries cooking again. Then Ginger is found dead, and Aggie, despite her promises to hunky Detective Roussos, can't resist getting involved in the investigation--after all, Sid's the prime suspect.

Richards paces her mystery skillfully and provides plenty of distracting red herrings, though she ought to give better attention to her "is"es and "was"es (Aggie, who narrates, doesn't always seem sure whether to speak of something as past or ongoing). But the real stars of the story are Junie and daughters Vel and Sid, each a distinct and wonderful individual, all of whom, as things turn out, will apparently have bigger parts in future volumes of the series. This is a splendid small-town cozy that definitely upholds the promise of its predecessor.

The product arrived in a well packed package. The product was very good condition. Delivered was with in the forecast arrival time.

Let There Be Suspects is my first introduction to this author's mystery books, but the second book in this Ministry is Murder series.

Heroine Aggie Sloan-Wilcox is a minister's wife. Apparently, in the preceding book, she was involved in a murder investigation, so she's in a bit of hot water with at least some members of her husband's congregation. Her sisters are in town for Christmas, as is her mother Junie, whose free-spirit ways endear her to her family, but might cause a few raised eyebrows.

Still, Aggie's dealing with everything well, until her mother's "surprise" arrives: Ginger, their manipulative erstwhile foster sister. Ginger is immediately up to her old ways, but Junie seems oblivious... until Ginger is discovered, murdered, at the outdoor nativity scene, and Aggie's sister Sid is the prime suspect.

The characters are entertaining and vivid, and the resolution of the mystery was logical and satisfying. The setting was realistic, as were the family dynamics. Aggie's family is neither too good to be true nor so quirky that they're cartoonish. I particularly appreciated the portrayal of the small neighborhood church, as a nice change from the judgmental hypocrisy that shows up all too often.

I'm not sure how Aggie will fare over a longer series--it's a small town, and that's always tricky in a mystery series--you start thinking the town's a death trap. But for now, it's a fun, light read, and a nicely seasonal one.

I am soooo pleased that Emilie Richards has written this series of novels. I thoroughly enjoyed this Christmas mystery. It was a good mystery plus full of chuckles.