Monday, April 4, 2016

REST IN PEACH by Susan Furlong



Publisher:     Berkley
Published:     April 5, 2016
ISBN:        978-0425278567
Genre:      Cozy Mystery
Format:     Print  
Obtained via:  Publisher
Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina  Ginalrmreviews@gmail.com

FOUR-1/2 HEARTS


Now that Nola Mae Harper has decided to stay in Cays Mill, Georgia and is moving forward with her shop called Peachy Keen she’s finding herself involved in some of the town’s projects.  Among those “projects” is the annual debutant cotillion and this year her best friend, Ginny’s daughter, is one of the debutantes.  For all how gentile southern ladies and particularly debutantes can be, their mothers are a whole other story.  In fact, some of them can be downright murderous.  And speaking of murderous, when Ginny is found standing overo the body of another debs mother, in no time flat the sheriff is sure she’s got her girl.  Not about to let her friend end up in a less than peachy situation Nola Mae soon finds herself on the path of a killer.  Can she pick out the killer before the killer plucks her?

I totally enjoyed book 1 of Susan Furlong’s George Peach Mysteries, PEACHES AND SCREAM and eagerly awaited book 2, REST IN PEACH.  Once again Ms. Furlong delivers a fun, fast-paced cozy mystery will great characters and quips at the head of each chapter on various debutant rules. Cays Mill comes to life on the pages and she certainly kept me guessing to the very end who done it.  I was pretty sure I had the killer a few times and was delightfully surprised when that character and why murder happened was revealed. 

The only thing that kept this book from being a 5 heart is the now, ever present love triangle.  I realize this is probably coming from the publishers to try to court new readers, particularly readers of romance, but the reason cozy readers read cozies is for the “Miss Marple/Jessica Fletcher” type mysteries…not romance.  At least Furlong hasn’t gone with the blatant pulling by two male characters that we’re seeing in most other cozies these days.  It’s not the author’s fault—but it does start to detract from the story.

Still, cozy fans will totally enjoy this series and if you are new to cozy mysteries, this is a super one to start with.  The first two books in the series are pretty much stand alones and there is just enough back story in REST IN PEACH to know what’s going on, but if you do not read book 1 you’re missing out on a fun read.


This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.

 

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