Death on Demand (1987)

What a wonderful setting and main character! ( )

Interesting setting and premise, but heroine acted immaturely. Got tired of her putting herself in danger to one-up her boyfriend. ( )

I read a bunch of books by this author and then I stopped reading them. Don't remember why and I don't remember this book. This one was early in the series and probably one of the ones I liked enough to pick up later ones in the library. ( )

A "cozy mystery" and first in a series set in an island off South Carolina. Annie Laurance owns a mystery bookshop there, Death on Demand popular with a bunch of mystery writers who regularly meet there. Soon after one odious author among them threatens to tell their secrets, he's killed and Annie finds herself a suspect. She's helped by Max Darling, an old flame who comes to visit her from New York City. A lot of the fun of this book is all the references to classic mysteries and writers, but it wasn't enough to make me want to read more of the series. Mostly, that's because of Annie herself. She's more in the too-stupid-to-live category than the super-sleuth category and the police chief determined to suspect her denser than lead. I also thought the identity of the murderer rather obvious from the beginning, so as a whodunnit this didn't impress me, but it was a light, quick read featuring an appealing romance. ( )

An owner of a bookstore specializing in mystery books holds weekly Saturday evening meetings with the island's mystery writers. At one of these meetings,the power goes off, a thud and a scream ring out in the darkness. When the lights come on, one of their own is found dead on the floor, a poisoned dart in his throat.

The island's rather ineffective police chief wants to pin the murder on Annie, the owner of the bookstore. But she knows she didn't do it, and so does her boyfriend, Max. If the police aren't going to search too hard for the murderer, then they'll have to do something about it themselves.

And so their investigations begin. What did Elliot, the dead man have on all of those gathered at the meeting? He had said that he was going to be announcing all the nasty secrets of them all. Is that what caused his death? It does seem that none of the Saturday evening attendees had a spotless past. But which was it that was enough to kill? And what connection, if any, did this murder have to do with the murder of a vet just the night before, and a 3rd murder the day after? And was the accidental death of Annie's uncle really a murder?

Annie and Max are pressed for time trying to tie all these questions before the killer strikes again or before Annie is arrested for murders she did not commit.

Lots of references to titles of mystery books throughout. ( )