Monday, October 6, 2008

Eggs in Purgatory-Laura Childs

Eggs in Purgatory
Laura Childs
Berkley, Dec 2008, $6.99
ISBN: 9780425224953

Kindred, Tennessee is a small peaceful town, a place where Suzanne, Toni and Petra enjoy their freedom although each lost their spouse; one to death, another to Alzheimer’s and the third to another woman. They bond over their respective loss and the friends open the Cackleberry Club café.

Suzanne’s lawyer Brian has some papers for her to sign regarding her late husband’s estate. When she steps out into the café’s parking lot she finds him murdered in his car. Not long afterward, she sees a pickup truck being followed by a SUV; she follows them observing the truck tip over while the SUV drives away. Resident Teddy Harlingen, who first noticed Brian dead in the car, is found dead too. Suzanne believes the deaths are linked and soon learns of a million dollar kickback deal in which late husband’s firm is being blamed. Refusing to accept the seemingly irrefutable evidence that her spouse committed a felonious deed, Suzanne investigates seeking the ties between three dead men while a fourth watches her every move.

Author of the Scrapbook and Tea Shop amateur sleuth series, Laura Childs launches a new “detective” series that her fans will relish. The first Cackleberry Club whodunit is filled with action, humor, intrigue, and recipes, but the heart and soul of the café mystery is the characters. The three female friends are there for one another like the Musketeers especially in time of crisis. The investigation is multilayered as the tie between the two homicides, Suzanne’s husband, and a church fire remains nebulous but intrepid Suzanne keeps peeling the onion.

Harriet Klausner

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