Sandra (mycatscanread) - reviewed on 12/19/2013 + 174 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

The Christmas theme of this book is what interested me in reading it at this particular time, but there isn't much in the book about Christmas, but this is one hilarious cozy mystery. Brandy Borne and her mother, Vivian, have a stall in the flea market mall in the small town of Serenity on the Mississippi River. While there looking for some things to buy and resell, they see Vivian's friend, Walter Yeager, who is being taken for a ride by another dealer who is trying to buy a copy of "Tarzan of the Apes" at a price much lower than it is worth. The man is talked out of buying it and Walter finishes up the day and goes home to his mobile home. He has a surprise in the form of a British granddaughter, a goth girl, whose name is Chaz, and she is staying with him. Although she's a bit different, Brandy and Vivian like her. When Chaz, the granddaughter goes out, she returns to a dead grandfather who has been poisoned and the valuable Tarzan book is gone. Police immediately suspect Chaz, but Brandy and Vivian believe she is not the one who killed Walter and took the book and set out to find the real criminal.

The book is narrated mostly by Brandy who also has some scenes with her sister, Peggy Sue, but a few chapters are devoted to Vivian's narration in the first person because Vivian's opinion of her own importance is such that she cannot be ignoredso she gets her own chapters. Vivian is a very funny character, as is Brandy. The two of them together do not give one a relaxed feeling of a serene mother and daughter doing antiques. Rather it is a scatter-brained hilarious fly-by-the-seat-of-their pants story that had me laughing all the way through. The homicide does get solved, but with a lot of twists and turns and "stay out of it" reprimands from the police to Brandy and her mother.

The cover says it all because I can imagine the Christmas tree on the floor because their little dog has pulled it over and eaten the decorations, glowing from the inside from the tinsel. That's about how Brandy's life goes at home with her mother.

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