Killer in Crinolines by Duffy Brown (Review, Guest Post, and BookGiveaway !!!!)

Genre:
Cozy Mystery

Format:
Paperback

Publisher:
Berkley Prime Crime Mystery

Release Date:
May 2013





It’s August in Georgia and things are heating up, but not just the weather! Tempers are flaring and the victim is Simon Ambrose who is found with a knife in his back – at his own wedding in his own wedding cake! Who could have done such a thing? Well, most of the town had a reason to want to see this man dead.

Reagan Summerside is desperately trying to make a success out of her consignment shop, The Prissy Fox, but she gets sidetracked when one of her friends, Chantilly Parker is accused of Simon’s murder. Not only is Reagan forced to take Chantilly’s UPS delivery runs so Chantilly doesn’t lose her job, but she throws herself into the investigation.

This is the second book in the “Consignment Shop Mystery” series and it’s as much fun as the first book. Reagan and her adorable auntie KiKi make me laugh. There is even some romance thrown in the mystery as Reagan finds herself more and more attracted to attorney Walker Boone. She just needs to find a way to get past the fact that Walker was her ex-husband’s attorney and helped him get a huge portion of Reagan’s money. Not something that’s easily forgivable.

There’s a huge cast of quirky and eccentric characters to keep readers laughing for hours on end. Basically, this is a story that gave me many hours of fun away from my real life. A true escapism of the best kind and Southern coziness at its finest! A most enjoyable read – mystery fans will love this one. It's the kind of book that makes a bad day good!

For reading challenges:

2013 ARC Reading Challenge

Where are you reading? challenge (Georgia)

Cruisin’ Thru the Cozies

FTC Disclosure: The author provided me with a copy of this book to review. This did not influence my thoughts and opinions in any way. All opinions expressed are my own.

Guest Blog

Hi Reagan Summerside here to talk weddings. The good, the bad and the deadly

You know that old saying, always the bridesmaid never the bride, well I’ve been both. The bride part didn’t take proven by the fact that I caught Hollis, my husband and the hound of Savannah, doing the horizontal hula with Cupcake right there in his office. That was some staff meeting, all right.

The last wedding I attended I came to deliver a bowtie to the groom as he misplaced his. The good part of that wedding was the cake was delicious. The deadly part was that the groom wound up dead in five tiers of icing and fondant, the ugly part was that my BFF, Chantilly, the groom’s ex got accused of the murder.

Round tables decked out in peach-tone wedding linens with white flower arrangements of roses and forget-me-nots dotted the room and Doreen-the-wedding-planner lay crumbled in a heap on the floor.

“Oh dear Lord!” I starting for Doreen but stopped in my tracks because Simon was there too. He was face down in his very own five-tiered wedding cake with a silver cake knife sticking out of his back.

Chantilly shouldn’t have been at the wedding in the first place of course but she and her UPS truck just sort of wound up there.

“You shouldn’t be here,” I said to Chantilly as she swiveled round in the driver’s seat of her UPS van. White icing and cake crumbs smeared her lips and a glob of raspberry filling dripped down her chin. A pink butter cream rose stuck to the front of her brown uniform blouse. “Dear God in heaven! You went and ate the wedding cake!”

“One slice,” she mumbled around a mouthful. “Who’s going to miss one little old slice? The freaking thing is five tiers high. It took three Cakery Bakery employees and the owner Delta Longford herself to lug it in. They even made GracieAnn Harlow stand on a ladder to get the bride and groom thing on top.”

Chantilly held up a chunk of mangled pastry. “This here should be my wedding cake, except for the pink roses. This should be my wedding day, my wedding colors of creamy-peach and blue-morning-rain. Simon is my man. We were engaged! How could he marry someone else!” Chantilly wailed, a tear sliding down her cheek and cutting a path across a white icing smear.

Hopefully none of the weddings you’ve attended were like this one with the groom dead as Lincoln right there in his own cake.

What do you think is the best part of a wedding? The cake? The first dance? The saying I Do?
Let me know and I’ll give away two Killer in Crinoline tote bags from the answers.

Hugs, Reagan

BOOK GIVEAWAY !!!!

Now you can win a copy of this book for your very own. Thanks to Berkley Publishing, I can offer a paperback copy of Killer in Crinolines to one lucky winner. Plus, thanks to author Duffy Brown, I can offer two Killer in Crinolines tote bags to a second and third place winner!

Just a few simple rules...

1) You must fill out the form at my sister blog, Socrates' Book Review Blog (including a valid email address).

2) US residents only.

3) For an extra entry: In the comments section, tell us your favorite part of a wedding.

4) For an extra entry: Follow this blog

5) For an extra entry: Follow me on Twitter

6) For an extra entry: Follow me on Goodreads

7) For an extra 2 entries: Post this giveaway on your blog.

8) For an extra 2 entries: Tweet about this giveaway.

The giveaway begins on May 9th (midnight est) and ends on May 16th (midnight est).

The winner will be notified by email and has 48 hours to respond, otherwise a new winner will be chosen.

Good luck!

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