Murder Carries a Torch (2000)

Seventh “Southern Sisters” mystery in which Mouse and Sister get tangled up with some folks from a religious snake-handling group on Chandler Mountain when their cousin’s wife apparently runs off with a preacher from that church. Luke turns to his cousins for help a few days after she leaves, and of course they stumble upon a dead body while looking for Virginia, Luke’s wife. A couple of days later, the preacher turns up dead in Virginia’s car a few hundred miles away, the victim of massive snake bite. Honestly, how do these ladies manage to find such strange situations to get tangled in? I don’t know, but I love ‘em! Entertaining and fun as always, and Sister is back in form as she find a potential new husband in the person of Virgil Stuckey, Sheriff of the county where the snake-handlers live. I did figure out half the mystery ahead of time, and enjoyed the whole package as always. ( )

Sister and Mouse, the Southern Sisters from Birmingham, are at it again,
finding dead bodies where they least expect it. This time, they are looking
for their cousin, Pukey Lukey's (so named from an unfortunate case of car
sickness when they were all kids) wife of forty one years, Virginia, who has
apparently left him for a preacher they hired to paint their house. Their
search leads them to a small mountain church where an odd group of
snake-handlers meet. Of course, they find a body, this time a beautiful
woman with a broken neck, laid out nicely on the front pew, but no Virginia.
The mismatched sisters (Mouse -- or Patricia Anne -- is a sensible petite
retired English teacher and Sister -- Mary Alice -- is the six feet tall,
flamboyant and impulsive three-time widow with dyed hair) are off and
running to find Virginia and get the other side of this strange story. When
Virginia's car is found in Tennessee with the dead body of the itinerate
preacher draped across the front seat, a victim of multiple snake bites, the
plot thickens and it becomes obvious that they have to find Virginia while
she's still alive. What in the world was she thinking to fall in with a
bunch of kooks like these snake-handlers?

These two sisters are what my mother always
called "as common as cornbread" (which means home folks) and I quickly felt
that I'd known these ladies for years. The book is written with humor and
not a whole lot of suspense, but it makes for a nice little cozy read and I
enjoyed it. I'll give it a 4, since I figured out whodunit before they did.
LOL ( )

Mouse and her husband, oh and Sister, have barely gotten back from Poland, when cousin Pukey Lukey enlists their help in finding his wife who has run off with a snake handling, house painting minister. Fighting jet lag, the sisters search for the missing wife turns up a couple of dead bodies and (cring) snakes.

I hope you will try this series. It is less about the mystery and more about the wonderfully fun and a bit crazy family. Enjoy ( )