Cathy C. (cathyskye) -
Helpful Score: 1
First Line: Magnolia Plantation wasn't really a Southern plantation, the guests milling about the wide verandahs and lush green lawn weren't really extras from Gone with the Wind, and that wasn't Scarlett O'Hara descending the curved staircase but my auntie KiKi in a green flouncy dress with enough crinolines to cover all of Savannah.
Reagan Summerside should be devoting her time to her consignment shop, The Prissy Fox. Instead, she's raced to Magnolia Plantation on an errand of mercy, delivering a black bow tie so the wedding can get started. Since Reagan's luck is no better than mine, she manages to trip over a dead body. The groom has had a fatal encounter with a cake knife and now lies draped over his own wedding cake.
Unfortunately Reagan's best friend, UPS driver Chantilly Parker, is the prime suspect, since the groom jilted her to wed rich Waynetta Waverly. Chantilly even had plans to crash the wedding in her UPS truck. But even though Chantilly has both motive, means and attitude, Reagan knows her friend didn't commit murder and sets out to prove it. Little does she know that she's going to have two shadows throughout her sleuthing: her eccentric Auntie KiKi and Walker Boone, the lawyer Reagan loves to hate.
I enjoyed the first book in this series, Iced Chiffon, and I'm happy to say that the seeds author Duffy Brown planted in that first book have flowered beautifully in this second installment. The plot is filled with red herrings and humor, and I have to admit that I was enjoying myself so much that I forgot to put the clues together until just before the reveal. But the plot isn't the best part of Killer in Crinolines.
No, the prize for that would definitely go to Duffy Brown's cast of characters. From Reagan Summerside, a woman who can get more miles out of a huge yellow Target purse than anyone else I know, to her auntie KiKi, former roadie for Cher, dance instructor, and head gossip tweeter on the local kudzu vine, to Reagan's emotional best friend Chantilly, and on down to a pair of professional mourners, this is one group of characters to fall in love with and to laugh with. I think I had a big smile on my face almost the entire time I was reading.
Duffy Brown also has a light touch. This book is Pure-D Southern with a capital S without drowning in the vernacular speech that can turn some readers away. If you're looking for a cozy series that's light and fun, one with sparks of romance, a cast of characters you want to sit and gossip on the front porch with, and enough humor to keep you smiling for days, I have a recommendation for you: Duffy Brown's Consignment Shop mysteries!
Reagan Summerside should be devoting her time to her consignment shop, The Prissy Fox. Instead, she's raced to Magnolia Plantation on an errand of mercy, delivering a black bow tie so the wedding can get started. Since Reagan's luck is no better than mine, she manages to trip over a dead body. The groom has had a fatal encounter with a cake knife and now lies draped over his own wedding cake.
Unfortunately Reagan's best friend, UPS driver Chantilly Parker, is the prime suspect, since the groom jilted her to wed rich Waynetta Waverly. Chantilly even had plans to crash the wedding in her UPS truck. But even though Chantilly has both motive, means and attitude, Reagan knows her friend didn't commit murder and sets out to prove it. Little does she know that she's going to have two shadows throughout her sleuthing: her eccentric Auntie KiKi and Walker Boone, the lawyer Reagan loves to hate.
I enjoyed the first book in this series, Iced Chiffon, and I'm happy to say that the seeds author Duffy Brown planted in that first book have flowered beautifully in this second installment. The plot is filled with red herrings and humor, and I have to admit that I was enjoying myself so much that I forgot to put the clues together until just before the reveal. But the plot isn't the best part of Killer in Crinolines.
No, the prize for that would definitely go to Duffy Brown's cast of characters. From Reagan Summerside, a woman who can get more miles out of a huge yellow Target purse than anyone else I know, to her auntie KiKi, former roadie for Cher, dance instructor, and head gossip tweeter on the local kudzu vine, to Reagan's emotional best friend Chantilly, and on down to a pair of professional mourners, this is one group of characters to fall in love with and to laugh with. I think I had a big smile on my face almost the entire time I was reading.
Duffy Brown also has a light touch. This book is Pure-D Southern with a capital S without drowning in the vernacular speech that can turn some readers away. If you're looking for a cozy series that's light and fun, one with sparks of romance, a cast of characters you want to sit and gossip on the front porch with, and enough humor to keep you smiling for days, I have a recommendation for you: Duffy Brown's Consignment Shop mysteries!
Without a doubt my favorite cozy series due to the laugh out loud antics of the characters in the books. Now the long wait until the next in the series.
I love the characters in this book series. They are individualistic, quirky and charming. The plots flow with lovely doses of humor through-out.
Kathleen K. (katydid597) -
Enjoyed Iced Chiffon (the first book in this series) so much that I read Killer right after. I like this 2nd book even more than the first, and the first was great. In this installment of Reagan's life, she finds herself trying to save Chantilly, her UPS driver and friend, from a murder charge. Chantilly's ex-fiance Simon had ditched her for Waynetta, a daughter of one of the richest men in Savannah. Needless to say, Chantilly wasn't happy and showed her displeasure by re-enacting Lady Godiva's ride at Waynetta and Simon's engagement party.
When she also crashed the wedding (in her UPS truck no less) she became the prime murder suspect when the groom was discovered face down in the wedding cake impaled by the cake knife, ouch!!
Reagan, who really should know better (but I'm glad she doesn't) immediately decides to find the real killer. Since Simon turned out to be a real cad in more ways than the romance department, Reagan has a whole passel of suspects.
Walker Boone, her ex-husband's conniving attorney, also figures quite prominently in this 2nd book, and Reagan is beginning to suspect his motives for wanting to keep her in the land of the living.
Throw in the 17th Street gang (lovable (?) mobsters) and Reagan's wacky Auntie KiKi, the next door neighbors the Abbott sisters (the new leaders of Twitter central, gossips supreme), and Reagan has her hands full while trying to stay alive to prove Chantilly's innocence.
I love the Southern setting (we moved to TN from "up North") and think that author Duffy Brown has really hit the mark with her characterizations. I'm waiting for a good "Bless your Heart" to join "Aren't you just precious". Now I want to visit Savannah and see how accurate everything is.
Oh, by the way, she had me entirely in the dark when it came to the murderer's identity. NEVER suspected!!
If you like fast paced mysteries with a smidgen of romance and a few good murders, give the Consignment Shop Mysteries a try.
When she also crashed the wedding (in her UPS truck no less) she became the prime murder suspect when the groom was discovered face down in the wedding cake impaled by the cake knife, ouch!!
Reagan, who really should know better (but I'm glad she doesn't) immediately decides to find the real killer. Since Simon turned out to be a real cad in more ways than the romance department, Reagan has a whole passel of suspects.
Walker Boone, her ex-husband's conniving attorney, also figures quite prominently in this 2nd book, and Reagan is beginning to suspect his motives for wanting to keep her in the land of the living.
Throw in the 17th Street gang (lovable (?) mobsters) and Reagan's wacky Auntie KiKi, the next door neighbors the Abbott sisters (the new leaders of Twitter central, gossips supreme), and Reagan has her hands full while trying to stay alive to prove Chantilly's innocence.
I love the Southern setting (we moved to TN from "up North") and think that author Duffy Brown has really hit the mark with her characterizations. I'm waiting for a good "Bless your Heart" to join "Aren't you just precious". Now I want to visit Savannah and see how accurate everything is.
Oh, by the way, she had me entirely in the dark when it came to the murderer's identity. NEVER suspected!!
If you like fast paced mysteries with a smidgen of romance and a few good murders, give the Consignment Shop Mysteries a try.
