|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
Annie Darling and her husband, Max, live on the South Carolina sea isle of Broward Island. Unfortunately, Broward Island has seen its share of unsolved murders, solved murders, and mysteries during the years. A woman is pushed off her boat while taking in some sea air during a party and a man killed by a hit and run accident are just a couple of the many strange things that have happened recently on the island. Death on Demand, Annie廣 bookstore, is about to celebrate April Fool廣 Day by having a book signing with Emma Clyde for her newest book WHODUNIT. Annie has thought of a great contest to get book lovers to come to the store to buy the book and meet Emma. She has printed flyers with clues of other famous mysteries. All the winner has to do is figure out the name of the mystery books with their authors and the winner will receive a free autographed copy of WHODUNIT. Everyone is excited about the book signing until some fake flyers go out. They look just like Annie廣 but instead of giving clues about Annie廣 book list it gives clues about some of the unsolved mysteries of the island and makes accusations of who commited the crimes. Annie has to clear her name and the name of Death on Demand and prove to her neighbors that she didn廠 distribute the flyers around town. To make matters worse, more people are soon murdered and Annie is determined to help solve those crimes. In her investigation of the murders, Annie has discovered that the local high school is the focal point and she starts interviewing teachers and students alike. Once again, Carolyn Hart takes us to Broward Island where we meet all the wonderful people that live there. The most colorful of all is Max廣 mother Laurel who gets herself involved in this story by helping the police discover a local drug ring, which puts her life in danger. The Death on Demand series are great books for all mystery lovers. In every book Annie displays pictures on the walls in her store that describes a specific mystery book. The first person that enters the shop and can correctly identify the book wins a free mystery hardback from the shelves. Carolyn Hart takes great care in describing the pictures so the readers can also try to figure out which book is depicted. It廣 wonderfully obvious that Ms. Hart is a great lover of good mysteries herself. APRIL FOOL DEAD is a nice little mystery. We follow Annie, Max, Laurel, Emma, and all the others as they try to figure out who the murderer is and solve some of the past crimes of the island that are obviously related to the recent deaths. We weed out the suspects along with the rest of the islanders. The best part of the Death on Demand series is that it is written so the reader can try to figure out the ending along with the characters. We know what the characters know when they know it; so all the clues are laid out in front of us. The author doesn廠 let on to who the culprit is until the end of the book. Carolyn Hart廣 books are always fun to read. And I ask you, what mystery book lover wouldn廠 love to own a store just like Death on Demand on a stormy, mysterious island like Broward?
Reviewed by Sharon Katz, April 2002
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
| 
