Monday, August 4, 2014

Beach Bags And Burglaries-Dorothy Howell

Beach Bags And Burglaries
Dorothy Howell
Kensington, Jul 29 2014, $24.00
ISBN: 9780758294944

Event planner and Holt’s Department Store employee Haley Randolph wins a seven-day all expenses paid vacation at exclusive Rowan Resort off the California coast.  Ecstatic, she briefly wonders about her sudden run of luck as this is her second Holt contest reward while also refusing to dwell on her ex-boyfriend Ty Cameron, whose family runs the chain.  She invites her BFFs (Marcie, Bella and Sandy) to join her.  

However, the quartet’s mingling with the ultra-rich and famous is interrupted when Haley searching for a Sea Vixen beach bag instead trips over the corpse of maid Jaslyn Gordon.  Though ruled an accident, Haley believes someone killed the maid; her theory is affirmed when she recognizes FBI agent Luke Warner at the resort though the Fed insists he is here for a wedding only.  In spite of not losing sight of what matters (obtaining a Sea Vixen) and knowing the danger of confronting a dangerous criminal (see Evening Bags And Executions, Tote Bags and Toe Tags, and Slay Bells and Satchels), Haley investigates.

The seventh Haley Randolph “Handbags and Homicide” amateur sleuth is a fun lighthearted whodunit.  The jocular storyline amuses the audience as the heroine struggles to keep her priorities in order with the search for the Sea Vixen superseding the search for the killer.


Harriet Klausner

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