Connie Shelton

This is very much a cozy mystery, so if you don't like them, skip it.

I found it very engrossing and readable! Sam, our heroine, is a complex character in her 50s (yay!) who has been scrambling for years and was just about to buy her own bakery- her dream!- when her daughter absconded with her savings. This made me groan, because in far too many cozies, the female protagonists are complete doormats. It made me groan even more when the wayward daughter- in her 30s, by the way- shows up and of show more COURSE Sam offers her housing and support. Argh!

BUT! The daughter is not purely a lazy layabout; in fact, she gets a job, plus helps Sam with some of her own work.

This may have had something to do with a magical box that Sam was given when she was pursuing her other career: doing clean-up work on foreclosed properties. This is a fascinating twist and a great way to get Sam to completely naturally get involved in other people's business! And in another property, she finds not only a grave but a mural in a closet, apparently painted by one of the greats...

The characters are all individual and well-drawn. The plot was not especially twisty, but it did keep me guessing, although if I'd been more clever I may have guessed better! Sam's love interest is well-handled, as are her other relationships.

And I loved the atmosphere!

I will definitely be reading more in this series! show less

OK, so everyone has their ‘guilty reading pleasure’ and mine is Connie Shelton’s CompetitionCanBeMurderCharlie Parker mystery series. I’m a courtroom drama, police procedural man (think Harry Bosch, 87th Precinct) but something about this series struck my fancy many years ago. I thought they’d been discontinued in the early 2000s but found out Shelton’s been writing them continuously, the last one being published in 2012 (14 in the series, so far). Good for me….I have a few to show more catch up on.

I started catching up with number 8, Competition Can Be Murder. Towards the middle of the book, I realized I had read it, but really didn’t remember much.

Let me set the background. Charlie Parker (a CPA turned sleuth) and her brother run a private detective business in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her parents died when she was a teenager. The closest thing she has to a mother is her octogenarian next door neighbor (think the female version of Henry in Sue Granfton’s Kinsey Millhone series). She loves her dog, Rusty (I don’t remember the breed). In book 2, Vacations Can Be Murder, she meets Drake Langston, a helicopter pilot in Hawaii. They marry and move back to New Mexico. Between book 2 and 8, Charlie gets her helicopter pilot’s license. So, now you’re caught up.

In Competition Can Be Murder, Charlie and Drake head to Scotland to help out one of Drake’s pilot friends, Brian. Brian’s mother is not well and he must leave his business to be with her. The business, shuttling workers to and from oil rigs in the North Sea, is taking business away from boat operators, who are unionized. The pilots are not. Will the unions take matters into their own hands?

Additionally, Charlie and Drake are renting a cottage on the grounds of Dunworthy, owned by the Dunbars, an extremely old Scottish clan. One day Robert and Sarah Dunbar find their grandson, Richie, is missing when they receive a ransom note. Charlie made the mistake of saying she was in the sleuthing business and gets embroiled in finding Richie.

What do I like about this easy going series? I like the characters. Charlie and Drake truly love each other. There’s a relationship between them…the kind that married couples have. I don’t recall another series like this. Of course, I love the fact they have a dog, especially one named Rusty, which was the name of my first dog. There’s enough action to please most readers. I don’t remember any endings that come out of nowhere. If you can say that a mystery is an ‘enjoyable’ read, then this is the series.

Next is Balloons Can Be Murder, which there is a chance I’ve also read but since my memory is like a sieve, I’m sure I won’t remember until I’m half way through. show less

Series: Charlie Parker Mysteries 18.5
Publication Date: 3/23/20
Number of Pages: 114

I am so glad to have had another fast-paced, interesting, and exciting Charlie Parker Mystery to read. I was disappointed that Drake didn’t get more page time, but what he had was quality stuff. Charlie’s free-spirited Aunt Louisa, who conducts ghost tours in Bury St. Edmunds, England, is there to entertain us in Drake’s absence.

Our adventure all began with a message in a fortune cookie – “A Close show more Relative Needs Your Help.” Charlie normally doesn’t pay any attention to those messages, but this one is so different from the standard messages about coming into a fortune – well – she just can’t get it out of her mind. She calls her brothers and they are all hale and hardy and not in need of her help. Drake is right there with her and he doesn’t need her help. Who else is left? Ahhh – when she gets home, she has a phone message from her Aunt Louisa in England. Could it be Aunt Louisa who needs her help? After speaking with her aunt, who says she definitely doesn’t need any help, Charlie still decides to go for a visit – because it will be fun even if her aunt doesn’t need help.

Charlie and Louisa have several fun-filled days in London before heading on to Louisa’s home in Bury St. Edmunds. Louisa has to get back to work, so Charlie has days free to explore the picturesque little town. She explores until a skeleton is found during an excavation at a quaint little tea shop where Charlie is enjoying a break. Ever curious, Charlie can’t let the mystery rest. There is nothing to identify the body – nothing – how did the poor man come to be where he was? Where is his family? Who is he? Was he there because of an accident or foul means?

Charlie tells herself she’s only digging into it because the police are otherwise occupied and this case is at the bottom of their list. Then, she finds the clues that surely identify the body – and – that person has ties to her Aunt Louisa. Charlie is sure she has to solve the case and find who murdered the man before she leaves England or Aunt Louisa could become the prime suspect. However, Aunt Louisa isn’t exactly forthcoming about the man nor their relationship. Oh! My!

It seems nobody wants to talk about the man who was found. He was an American, a drifter, a ne’er-do-well, a womanizer, a – well a great many other things. Can Charlie find the clues to solve this thirty-year-old case?

I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery, even though the solution just sort of popped out of thin air. show less

Finished on audio this morning while waiting on a dr appt. It’s a good 2nd book, though set in Kawaii instead of NM (the main character is on vacation). It’s a little dated, and I don’t love the reader (she doesn’t pull off 30-something well — she sounds a bit older & it makes it a little awkward at times), but I’m definitely getting the third book anyway!