Mystery Review    

Picture an older lady in tight shoes, running around in circles for the space of seven chapters, after finding a dead body.  She is scraped, bruised, muddied and finally lands in bed at 1:30 a.m. in the morning.  And that’s just the opening of this book! 

It’s not until Chapter Eight picks up that we once again meet Carrie McCrite, as we know and remember her from the first book in this series.  She is still the same old Carrie; confident in her own abilities, although shaken in her resolve; especially after finding a dead man’s body in a gift shop smack-dab in the middle of the Ozark Folk Center’s State Park, at the annual Arkansas State Park and Tourism Convention (which Carrier devoutly believes in.)   

She’s on her own at first here, however.  No friends or her darling Henry to back her up.  And there is plenty to worry about.  A famous singing group is involved in the murdered man’s death, as the female singer of the group is found close to the body.  Carrie can’t decide which is worse: finding the body or having this group involved in the murder; as they are her beau’s favorite singing group.  Poor Henry!  If the singing trio is implicated and all go to jail for the crime, Henry might have to settle for just CD’s from now on—no more live concerts. 

So, Carrier plunges in head-deep to both help solve the mystery of the man’s untimely demise and also assist the singing group-minus the husband and wife singers’ daughter—who, we are informed has been kidnapped.  Which way will Carrie turn first to start with the investigation?  How much can she confide in the backwoods police in the area?  And how about her friends and Henry, who converge on the center later?  Carrie is still haunted by what happened to come of her close circle of friends in her last ‘adventure.’ 

And so, we return to this second exploit in Nehring’s cozy series, Something to Die For mystery series.  Buckle up folks!  It’s going to be a bumpy ride!  But, if you get hungry along the way, the author gives us two of Carrie’s favorite recipes to try: for Peach or Apple Chunky in the last few pages of the book.  Yum-yum!

Robert L. Hall

Southern Scribe Reviews

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