A Catered Fourth Of July-Isis Crawford

A Catered Fourth Of July

Isis Crawford

Kensington, Jun 24 2014, $24.00

ISBN 9780758274915

Residents of Longley, New York look forward to the Fourth of July shindig in spite of the summer Westchester heat; with many looking forward to the Revolutionary War reenactment of the Battle of Meadow Creek.  However, at the gala in Highland Park, performer Jack Devlin fires his musket; only it explodes and kills him.  Rick Evans accuses Marvin, who was responsible for checking all equipment including the weapons as Jack’s flintlock was obviously tampered by someone.

At the lethal enactment, owners of A Little Taste of Heaven Bernie and Libby Simmons fear that Police Chief Lucas will arrest the latter’s boyfriend Marvin for the murder.  When someone shoots at Marvin’s car, the cops ignore the attempted murder as their focus remains on him being the only suspect; leaving it to the Simmons sisters, their dad the retired police chief and Bernie’s boyfriend Brandon to investigate.

The latest Simmons sleuth sisters’ holiday mystery (see A Catered Christmas Cookie Exchange, A Catered Birthday Party and A Catered Halloween) is a wonderful lighthearted culinary cozy with a numerous people having a motive to kill the philandering victim.  Subgenre readers will appreciate this lighthearted July 4^th whodunit as the bickering siblings compete with reenactors, cops, Hilda, Wiccan and a horde who know Jack too well.

Harriet Klausner