DRIZZLED WITH DEATH
Jessie Crockett
October 4, 2013
4 stars
Move over Janet Evanovich, her comes Jessie Crockett. A
murder with more suspects than you shake a stick at, all with different
motives, a van filled with exotic animals who are set free and a charming
little town in New England all adds up to one of the funniest cozy mysteries
that I have read in a long time.
We start out getting to know Dani (although we never find
out her mysterious full first name) Greene who has lied to her family so she can
stay home and enjoy some quiet from her family’s full throttle holiday plans.
She heads to her sugar shack, the headquarters for her growing maple syrup
business. But she is startled by spotting a mountain lion on the porch. The
trouble is the police and the game and fish warden believe she had an
hallucination.
Graham Paterson, the game and fish warden, answers the call
but finds no evidence of the mountain lion and is convinced Dani has been
drinking or hallucinating. The next
morning finds him, however, at the Sap Bucket Brigade Pancake-Eating Contest
where he intends to inform the town of the exotic animals on the loose but
never gets the chance when the most hated woman in town, Alanza Speedwell lands
face first in her stack of pancakes.
In between interviewing suspects to clear her own name,
Graham teasingly calls Dani the exotic whisperer when the animals run amok and
she ends up finding them each and every time.
Ms. Crockett has deftly woven a hysterical tale with twists
and turns but is character driven rather than plot driven. The Greene family is
fascinating and deals with the everyday strife that every family faces. The
reader can feel Dani’s frustration and worry that someone she has known all of
her life is a cold-blooded murderer.
I purchased this book for enjoyment.
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