Thursday, September 12, 2019

Lowcountry Boomerang (A Liz Talbot Mystery #8)

Author:  Susan M. Boyer
Genre:   Mystery/Suspense

Hardcover; Trade Paperback; [Audio CD]; Digital Book
ISBN #:9781635115468; 9781635115437; [9781515951964]
Henery Press Publishing [Tantor Audio]
256 Pages
$31.95; $15.95; $$24.99; $6.99 Amazon
September 3, 2019

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Private Investigators Liz Talbot and Nate Andrews are all set to enjoy some quality time on the beach.  That's until they get the news about Darius.  Darius DeAndre Baker, star of the hit TV show, Main Street USA, has had enough of the Hollywood high life.  After ten years of visiting everyone else's hometown, he returns to his own -- Stella Maris, South Carolina.

But the moving trucks have barely unloaded with Trina Lynn Causby, Darius's high school girlfriend, turns up dead, and the entire town reels as Darius is arrested.

Despite the mounting evidence against him, Liz and Nate believe Darius is innocent.  They dig through a scandalously long list of suspects, including Darius's three ex-wives -- who have all arrived in Stella Maris -- and his love child with Trina Lynn.

But Trina Lynn led a complicated life.  She had at least one stalker and two suitors -- one with a jealous wife who recently made a deliciously outrageous scene when Trina Lynn turned up at a charity ball.

As the danger mounts, Liz and Nate race to find a killer and clear Darius's name -- and keep him alive.

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Liz Talbot is having breakfast with her friend and owner of The Cracked Pot, Moon Unit.  Moon, who is the girlfriend of Police Detective Sonny Ravenel of the Charleston police.  Moon tells her that she thinks Sonny wants Liz to know something, but she won't break a confidence and Liz has to "guess" it out of her.

It turns out that a local news anchor, Trina Lynn Causby, was recently murdered, and that the police are getting ready to arrest Darius Baker for the crime.  Darius is a recently retired television star, and has come home to the place he grew up, just wanting peace and quiet.  Sonny doesn't believe that Darius is guilty, but won't say who's pushing for his conviction.  When Liz's ghostly guardian angel Colleen (another story for another time) tells her that she needs to get to Darius's home pronto, she goes.

While she's trying to convince him that the police have him in their sights, he refuses to believe it.  That is, until they show up at the door and actually do arrest him.  Now Liz and her husband Nate Andrews, both Private Investigators, have been hired by Darius to find out who's framing him and why.  But unless they can find out and soon, Liz and Nate might not live to to solve another case...

This book is brimming with intrigue, suspense, and red herrings, and Liz and Nate are definitely kept busy throughout trying to get to the truth.  In this book, contact with Sonny is kept to a minimum - as in not at all - and Colleen is MIA for much of the book.  In this, most of the attention is focused on the couple trying to clear their client's name and find out who, and why, he's being set up.  It's a convoluted tale that brings into play three (crazy) ex-wives, witnesses who might know more than they do, and lots and lots of food.  Glorious food.

But the best part (aside from finding the killer, of course) are the humorous exchanges between Liz's Mamma and Daddy.  Her Daddy is sick, and milking it for all it's worth.  Her Mamma is trying to stay sane.  And there is a particularly hilarious chapter that involves all the siblings, her Daddy, Mamma, a didgeridoo, Chumley the Basset Hound, and pluff mud (a nasty, brown miasma).  That one chapter alone is worth the entire book.

When Liz and Nate get closer to the finding the truth, it puts them both in danger, but since they don't yet know who the killer is, they have no idea what to look for.  It's a precarious situation - and without the help of either Sonny or Colleen (who is protecting Darius while he's in jail) - it makes it harder for them to solve the case.  When Liz finally does figure it out, due to a an unexpected clue, it makes for an interesting conclusion, and one we couldn't have seen coming if it were right in front of us.

This is the eighth book in the series, and I must say that they just keep getting better.  I've come to enjoy spending time with Liz and Nate, and I've become fond of her parents (even more so now after the pluff mud incident, as I will forever refer to it).  She's intelligent, resourceful, brave, attractive, loyal, and the type of person I'd like to have around in a sticky situation. She can think on her feet, put things together quickly, and follow the clues to the right destination.  It's a delightful combination that makes for a very good mystery indeed.

Rarely do you come across an author who can make you laugh while keeping you following clues in a mystery, without missing a beat.  Ms. Boyer is one such of those authors, and her books should be read by anyone who wants a tale they can sink their teeth into without it going into the 'overly cutesy' territory.  I loved this book and look forward to the next in the series.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Lowcountry-Boomerang-Liz-Talbot-Mystery/dp/1635115434/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2974998569

More on Susan M. Boyer's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/susan-m-boyer/

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