April Fool Dead

Annie Darling has thought up the absolute best promotion for the April 1st book-signing of Emma Clyde’s latest Marigold Rembrandt mystery. She’s papered the island of Broward’s Rock with flyers and is sure to have a huge turnout at her Death on Demand mystery bookstore. When she spots a skywriting plane spelling out the book title – WHODUNIT? – she assumes her wealthy husband, Max, has orchestrated the surprise. But it wasn’t Max, or anyone else Annie knows. And more distressing, Annie soon learns that someone has distributed fake flyers with clues to several local crimes and offering a $1000 prize for the first person to solve them. If this is someone’s idea of an April Fool’s joke, it’s not very funny. Annie has to show more put a stop to this; her business is at risk!

This is book # 13 in the Death on Demand series. I read the first one a couple of years ago and it was entertaining enough. I picked this one up because the cover art satisfied a challenge. I’m sorry I didn’t check the library’s shelves for other options, because this was really dreadful.

The mystery flyers are just a lot of noise and Hart keeps jumping from character to character giving different points of view. The murder doesn’t happen until page 150, and apparently only Annie is investigating because we hardly see a police officer Then there is the side story involving Max’s mother, Laurel – a bigger-than-life wealthy widow with way too much time on her hands – which is totally unnecessary. I never did figure out what all the divining rods were for.

I have a feeling that this series, like so many others, has more than run its course; the author seems to have run out of coherent ideas. In a nutshell – the characters aren’t developed; the plot is disorganized; clues are nonexistent; the writing is padded with descriptions that add nothing to the story or atmosphere. Oh, and the cover art has absolutely nothing to do with the story, as far as I can tell. Don’t waste your time. show less

Annie Darling is holding a book signing for local author Emma Clyde. Someone copies the flyers Annie is using to promote the book sgining and uses the fake flyers to accuse locals of crimes. Annie decides to find the culprit and clear her name. A good entry in the series without too many random mystery writers being dropped into the story. I did find the ending abrupt and not very suspensful.

Like an April Fool’s Day prank that falls flat, this was underwhelming.

I enjoyed this one more than the Death of the Party. Annie is hosting a Whodunit book signing for author Emma Clyde. However, someone else has made fliers that resemble hers that point suspicious fingers at various residents of the island. Annie and Max set out to find who has done this. Dead bodies begin appearing and something more sinister is afoot.

Entertaining cast of kooky characters and enough mystery to keep it interesting. The real star for me is that island- I'm adding it to my bucket list of places I must visit.

This was the first book I read in the class. It was an extremely quick read once I got in it. It was a tough book to get into because the begining was a bit sporadic. By the end though, I was very interested and it was hard to put the book down!

I didn't know this was a series but I am thrilled when I find a series. I can't wait to start from the beginning. great story