Red Hot (A Red Herring Mystery Book 3)

Author:  Dana Dratch
Genre:   Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781496716606
Kensington Publishing
304 Pages
(TBA); $6.99 Amazon
May 26, 2020

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Big sister Annie wants Alex to savor a little fun in the sun at her South Beach condo.  Redhead Alex just wants to escape complications at home, enjoy a little R&R and find an industrial-sized bottle of sunscreen.  But trouble is hot on her heels -- along with a few stray friends and relatives.

On the eve of the condo association's hotly contested election, everything in the luxury high-rise is going haywire.  But board president and social butterfly Leslie McQueen seems curiously absent amidst the chaos.  Along with a good chunk of the association's cash.

When several of Annie's friends are left holding the bag, Alex jumps in to help -- and discovers the tony condo tower offers no shortage of shady characters, murder, and mayhem.

But when her brother, Nick, arrives -- with their irrepressible grandmother, Baba, and Alex's pal Trip, in tow -- is the gang riding to the rescue?  Or plunging Alex into more hot water?

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Alex is now a freelance writer, and is trying to finish a story, but finds it difficult when her brother Nick is in the middle of having her kitchen redone into a professional kitchen.  So when she receives a phone call from her sister Annie, who owns a modeling agency and is a model herself, Alex is torn.  Annie is in Miami at her condo for an emergency board meeting, and wants Alex to keep her company.  With a little coaxing from her brother Nick, and her best friend Trip, an editor at the newspaper, she heads off with Nick's dog Lucy in tow to the airport.  After arriving in style on a private plane, she thinks it will be a chance to catch some sun and write her story - due to Nick's idea of making it about Lucy's visit to the city instead - Alex is going to have a nice vacation...or will she?

When she meets the board's president, Leslie McQueen, it's not a pleasant one.  She also learns that there isn't anyone who likes Leslie, and she begins to wonder why.  But when Leslie is found dead, more questions arise: was it an accident?  Or did someone finally have enough?  Where is the association's money?  And, with the help of the omnipresent Gabby, who seems to show up at opportune times for Alex, she discovers that Leslie was up to no good, and there's more at stake than just finding her killer...

This is the third book in the series and I have to say that I'm enjoying it more and more as I read each one.  Alex is quite a character: not quite sure of herself as a person, but she's willing to put everything out there to save someone or get a story.  She's intelligent and doesn't walk into situations that could get her put in jail (again), yet she's kind and trustworthy, and loyal to those she cares about.

And what she cares about right now is saving the people of the building, even though she doesn't know them well.  But she also needs to take Lucy out and about and get pictures for the newspaper while she's at it, and she can't understand why her sunscreen isn't helping and her skin is turning red and peeling, when her sister, who's using the same sunscreen, looks like the model she is.  Alex is personally miserable, but professionally on the job.

The mystery is one of the best that I've read in awhile, and the tale was thoroughly entertaining, peppered with characters that were humorous, especially when Baba showed up and Annie tried to turn her into a "Miami senior" and almost succeeded.  We also have the fact that Alex is struggling with her emotions for Ian Sterling, owner of the B&B across the street from her, but hopefully, she'll come around eventually.

What Alex discovers is truly despicable of Leslie, and gives us one more reason not to mourn the woman's death (not that we would have, anyway).  Yet there's enough action on the part of the three women (Alex, Annie, and Gabby) to keep us invested in the story and wanting more.  It's a sprightly narrative that's more fun than it should be.

When the ending comes and we finally learn the truth, it wasn't all that unexpected, but getting there was half the fun, and looking forward to the next in the series is the rest.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Red-Hot-Herring-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B07W6S6VQX/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3407027507

More on Dana Dratch's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/d/dana-dratch/