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HOW TO CRASH A KILLER BASH
by Penny Warner
Signet, August 2010
320 pages
$6.99
ISBN: 0451230973


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Presley Parker throws parties for a living. She is currently working on a murder mystery fundraiser for the deYoung Museum in San Francisco. This could be a lot of fun, even with Mary Lee Miller being her boss on this gig. The fun part is that Mary Lee is going to be the victim; this will require that she be silent and very still for much of the evening.

Presley is surprised when she overhears an argument between Mary Lee and her son Corbin. Corbin is dating Delicia, one of Presley's friends. When Mary Lee is found with a real dagger in her back, Delicia is arrested for the murder. Presley can't let that go uncontested.

Of course there are plenty of suspects. Apparently most of the people in the cast had issues with Mary Lee. Another problem, after narrowing down the suspect pool, is figuring out how the real dagger was used without setting off all the alarms. Then there's the not unusual problem that the real murderer is just fine with Delicia taking the rap. All of these are obstacles that Presley is determined to overcome.

KILLER BASH is amusing and well-written. Warner has a great cast of characters to work with. A list of this cast, with their corresponding characters in the play, would have been helpful. At times it was difficult to sort out whether the person being referred to was a real person or a character; the word play on famous detective's names was humorous, mostly. Another minor flaw was the presence of lots of small data dumps and minor repetitions. Other than that, Warner has a good second book in the PARTY PLANNING mystery series. There is plenty of potential for future parties, and future murders. Presley has a lot of friends, so lots of sources for help in future cases. The tips at the beginning of each chapter can help inspire readers to throw a bash of their own, preferably without a real dead body.

§ P.J. Coldren lives in northern lower Michigan where she reads and reviews widely across the mystery genre when she isn't working in her local hospital pharmacy.

Reviewed by P.J. Coldren, August 2010

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