Bubbles, Roses, and Rump

Another great Wendy Winkworth story! I love the humor, quick quips and snappiness of the main character, Wendy. The author does a great job describing life in the early-mid 60’s. The voices are fun with distinct voices of characters. The antagonist is “hidden” from the reader until near the end. What a scumbag he ends up being.
Good suspense and well written conversations in the entire book. I just really like this author and the characters in these Winkworth books. It’s a quick listen. Not too complex to ‘read’ as an audiobook, but intricate enough to make it interesting!

This is the second entry in the Wendy Winkworth Mystery Series. If this were a movie, I could see Marilyn Monroe playing the lead roll. I picture Wendy Winkworth as a classic dame from a film noir except this story takes place in the rural midwest instead of one of the classic big cities and there is a great deal more humor and a few pratfalls. This is a robust mystery with a variety of different leads, red herrings, and secondary story lines. All the classic character types are present, to some extent, in the novel. Characters were well written and believable, as were the settings. Tension builds to the end with the final surprise ending and a mostly satisfactory ending ensues. I listened to the audio version and the narrator did a show more very good job of portraying all the characters and helping to build suspense. Would recommend to those who enjoy classic detective fiction, PI dames, and female protagonists. show less

25-year-old Wendy Winkworth decides to take a break from her PI business and visit her brother in Bern, Illinois. During her visit, she's hired by a teacher to find out if his ex-con mother is going to show up and ruin his chances of marrying the love of his life and the richest girl in town. She also is dealing with other issues involving her brother and the local sheriff.

The story had a lot of twist and turns, and the author did a good job of utilizing red herrings to keep me guessing to the very end. However, the main character was not someone I found all that likeable. For someone who is supposed to be in her mid 20's and who owns a PI business, she seemed rather immature. She repeatedly made risky mistakes throughout the story, and show more I found it irritating that she did not learn from those mistakes. This detracted from the story for me. The narrator did a good job narrating this book. show less