Customer Reviews

A Tisket, a Tasket, a Fancy Stolen Casket (Callie Parrish Mysteries, No. 1)

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

 

 

It's another typical day for mortuary cosmetologist Callie Parrish. Today's body is local car salesman Bobby Saxon who drowned in a pool. At least that's the official story until Callie discovers a hypodermic needle in his neck. Suddenly, the funeral plans are on hold for an autopsy.

But things get even weirder that night. Callie is just closing down the funeral home when someone hits her over the head. When she wakes up, Bobby's fancy casket is missing. Was the thief after Bobby's body? Or was there some over motive for stealing the casket?

This is a book of mixed reactions. I mostly liked Callie and her "kindergarten swearing." But her constant discussions about her new inflatable bras made me uncomfortable. I didn't much care for her morally challenged best friend, either. It's not that I expect perfection from the characters, but at least a sense of morals from the heroes really helps.

The plot was entertaining, and the narration mostly charming. I did find Callie's stretching out of excuse or believe me and please got old in a hurry. The plot had several twists. I pegged the killer early on, but kept being distracted and forgetting about him or her. The book was surprisingly light for a novel set in a funeral home, but it never once made light of anyone's grief.

In the end, this isn't a bad debut, but I didn't love it either. I'm sure others will love the characters more then I did, which was the major stumbling block for me.

Author Fran Rizer has created a delightful sleuth with Callie Parrish, a mortuary cosmetologist at Middleton's, an established South Carolina mortuary. Callie now works for Otis and Odell Middleton, both real characters, after a short stint teaching kindergarten and a brief and unpleasant marriage.

Callie is called to come in early to help make arrangements for the viewing and funeral of popular Bobby Saxon, a local car salesman, drinker, and womanizer. His most recent wife, brash and bouncy Betty, is coming in to make the arrangements. Bobby was the age of Callie's older brothers, in his mid 40s, but his most recent wife was a school friend of Callie's, fifteen years younger.

While applying makeup and styling Bobby's hair, Callie discovers a needle broken off in Bobby's neck. The idiot coroner decided he would accept drowning as cause of death because Bobby was found floating face down in a swimming pool and was known to be a heavy drinker. Now an autopsy must be done! Bobby's fancy, but empty, casket is stolen, and Callie is hit on the head outside the mortuary.

The dreamy emergency room doctor, Dr. Don Walters, has decided that Callie is dateable, and after she is released with few stitches, he manages to arrange a date. Jane, Callie's best friend, despite being blind, is her "Watson" in figuring out motives and trying to solve the crimes. Then local bar owner, June Bug Corley, is found shot in his parking lot. Callie becomes a target; she receives nasty threatening phone calls and someone tries to break into her house. Are the two deaths connected?

Will Callie figure out who is behind the deaths, before she is killed? Will her new dog Big Boy, a Great Dane puppy, ever let her finish a date with Dr. Don?

Armchair Interviews says: This is the first of three books, and they promise to be as much fun as this one.

Fran Rizer's A TISKET, A TASKET, A FANCY STOLEN CASKET tells of mortuary cosmetologist Callie, who likes to end her day with a Moon Pie and a mystery novel. When a body turns up to have evidence of murder on it, Callie realizes someone out there has a vested interest in burying the crime evidence at the mortuary - and her investigation changes her life.

This was especially funny murder mystery to me, due to the fact of my having worked for a funeral parlor in my early twenties. I was in accounting but also had many funny and poignant tales to tell.

This book had me laughing out loud, reading passages out loud and just generally following each twist and turn as they came. I found I was not guessing the 'who done it,' as I was enjoying the ride in the Mustang too much.

The characters were amusing and well put together. I have lived near Beaufort, SC during my days in the USMC, and I had met persons that some of these characters reminded me of.

The murders were solid and well plotted. Believable and I liked the law enforcers too.

I am anxious to read the next book in the series.

A hypodermic broken off in the body of a family friend plunges Callie Parrish into her first mystery in this new series. Mortuary cosmetologist Callie's discovery of the needle changes the death from accidental to homicide and converts many of the funeral home visitors from mourners to suspects.

Jane, Callie's self-sufficient visually handicapped best friend, "sees" more than many sighted people. Her worries that Callie is putting herself in danger come true.

Rizer provides readers with an excellent feel for the coastal South Carolina small town setting and its appealing and entertaining characters. The story line is strong and entertaining.

The only problem is that the second of the series doesn't come out until March, 2008, and the reader will want to read more about Callie before then!

I thought this was a good start to a new series about a mortuary, the characters were fun, the story interesting but I took exception with Callie's friend Jane. Maybe it's just me but I wouldn't find being embarassed by my best friend while shopping would make me want to spend time with her.

It was good to see how Callie's family interacted with her, the only girl amongst a family of older brothers. It will be interesting to see where the story goes with Callie and the doctor.

An undertaker's employee as amateur sleuth is a good idea: lots of opportunity to run across deaths that need looking into. The first person speech patterns of Buh-leeve and Puh-lease on every other sentence are so annoying it distracts from what is otherwise a decent cozy.

In "A Tisket, A Tasket, A Fancy Stolen Casket," mystery author Fran Rizer delivers the perfect blend of Southern regionalism and mystery. Her small towns are Faulknerian in scope but O'Connorish in the grotesque characters that inhabit them. One such character is the sleuth, mortuary cosmetologist Calamine Parrish, who could have turned into a typical cozy mystery sleuth were it not for her Southern dialect, spunky qualities, and morbid humor and the book's broad setting which extends across several small towns. Expect much gallows humor as Parrish works in a mortuary and often makes jokes about the jargon and events within it.

At the beginning of the novel, Parrish discovers a hypodermic needle that leads her to investigate small town characters that have stepped out of a Carson McCullers' novel. Here are the small town used car salesman, the money-grubbing widow, the over-alls wearing rube, and a host of other provincial miscreants that drive Parrish to fish for the typical red herrings.

Atypical is one of Parrish's friends, a blind woman, Jane, who has an unconventional job and behaves in unconventional ways. One is relieved that Rizer has defied the stereo-type of the disabled as non-independent. Parrish's friend earns money for herself and likes to do a lot of things on her own. However, one could take pause at the stereo-type of the disabled as scammers of businesses when Parrish's friend causes a ruckus over alleged discriminatory mistreatment at a store just to obtain some free clothing.

Political correctness aside, Rizer has delivered a first novel that crosses genres well. Her book could easily be placed amongst Southern literature because of the characterization and the settings or mysteries because of the plot itself. Those who enjoy Southern literature, Southern regionalism, gallows humor, and mysteries will be pleased.

Ron Baxley, Jr. is English/Reading Facilitator for the Newberry and Laurens campuses of Piedmont Technical College and author of "Extra! Extra-terrestrial!" (now available on Amazon.com) and "Extra! Extra-terrestrial 2!" and "Cycling the Moon" (both available by mid-2008 from Writing Room Publishing).

I could not warm up to protagonist Calamine Parrish in this, the first of the series. Too many of her mannerisms grated on me, and finally, everything I disliked about her was summed up on her statement on p 228: "I gave him my most petulant little girl look." The character is 32 years old! Yet there's a great deal of immaturity in her approach to love and life that goes beyond the desire of her all-male family to infantilize her. A lot of her courtship behavior is what you'd expect from a seventh-grader. And I deeply dislike the casual way she got a Great Dane with less care than she'd shop for a loaf of bread, and didn't bother giving him a real name. "Big Boy" does not qualify. (Speaking of names, the backstory to Calamine's is goofy but sweet; I liked it.)

Kudos to author Fran Rizer for including a character with a disability as Callie's sidekick; kudos also, but reluctantly, for making the individual a criminal. Okay, I don't want a plaster saint, but was it really necessary for her character flaw to be based on the disability itself? Ow -- that feeds into the worst negative stereotypes of people with disabilities as fakers and scam artists. At least Callie's response is appropriate. And I really like the way Rizer provides dignity and kindness to Callie's unusual occupation.

I've read the first three books now and am pleased that the third concludes with a mature resolution of one of Calamine's silliest quirks. I will probably read the fourth, but I prefer the "Judge Deborah Knott" series by Margaret Maron, which began with Bootlegger's Daughter (Deborah Knott Mysteries, No. 1). Similar setup: single woman, all-male family, living down South, but with a more sympathetic lead character and smoother writing overall.

Summary: two stars for now, but by Book 3, both the author and Callie are getting better.

If you are looking for a new BFF or a mate with a twisted sense of humor and can take a punch, then maybe Callie Parrish is your gal. She works in a mortuary as a cosmetologist and seems to have trouble follow her everywhere she goes. Murder and mayhem abound in this enjoyable tale involving a girl, her puppy and her bra.
Rizer's plot twists are worth overlooking the slightly overdone southern euphemisms. I am curious to see how this series progresses and characters develop.
All in all, this book is an enjoyable well thought out cozy.