Genre: Mystery
Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781953826022
Helium Press
258 Pages
$12.99; $3.99 Amazon
January 18, 2021
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Glory Wells is back in Flat Falls and ready to turn her fledgling wedding planning business into a smashing success. Her first job? To create a dream wedding for a new reality show that takes disgraced celebrities from trashy tabloid fodder to "I do" divas.
But when a finalist gets killed by a sabotaged chandelier on set, police focus their investigation on Glory's best friend, who had more than a few reasons to want the celbri-groom dead.
With a demanding producer turning the television nuptials into an epic spectacle, a cast of prima donnas with eye-popping secrets, and a killer ready for an on-camera encore, will Glory's debut be her last starring role?
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Glory Wells returned home to her small southern town after her husband ruined her life and left her penniless. She's using her skills as a former event planner to become a wedding planner, and has landed a cushy gig for a new reality show, planning an elaborate wedding for the winning couple.
But when she learns that one of the would-be grooms has a history with her neighbor Josie, who's on house arrest for an embezzlement she didn't do, it becomes a problem. But it soon becomes a bigger problem when he's murdered, and the police focus on Josie as the killer. Now it's up to Glory, her landlady Scoots, and Glory's over-the-top grandmother Beverlee to figure out who killed the man and why. Unfortunately, Glory also has to deal with the fact that the show producer hired another wedding planner to help Glory -- her high school nightmare, Maggie. Between figuring out how to keep two brides happy, keep Maggie from driving her crazy, and keep her friend out of prison, Glory might need a reality show of her own...
I can (proudly) say that I've never seen one reality show. Not a single one. I don't watch network television, so that helps, but I'm just not interested in watching other peoples' drama play out in front of me. Saying that, I did enjoy the book. If this is what reality shows are even remotely like, I've made the right choices.
The book starts with the film crew in the small town of Flat Falls, filming the final episodes in an unused warehouse, while they set the stage with 'make-believe' scenes. It's Glory's job to coordinate a spectacular wedding for the winning couple, and she can't tell anyone anything about the show. But soon Glory notices that what's going on behind the scenes is causing more havoc than anyone suspected. When one of the grooms is killed, it's at first thought to be accidental until the police look closer. But when he's murdered, her friend Josie comes under suspicion because she had the best motive.
I won't tell you why or how, since this is a new book and I really don't want to give too much away. I will tell you that what follows is an olio of situations that all seem to fall back onto one person. But, and this is a big but, you need to follow the clues, and closely. It's easy to get lost in the humor and seriousness of the situation (both at the same time) and poor Glory isn't having an easy time of it. The producer can't get her name right, Maggie is taking over the wedding, Josie's in big trouble, and Beverlee is is more concerned with her chicken Matilda than anything else.
Just when Glory thinks she's got it all figured out, another event occurs that skewers her ideas, and she's back to the drawing board. When it all starts to come together, Glory's life could not only be in danger, but that of another person as well. It's an unlikely source that helps her, and a very interesting climax that is rather funny while being sad at the same time.
When it all comes to a head and we discover he murderer, it does come as rather a surprise; no one knows what drives a person to murder, what pushes them over the edge; and perhaps we never will. All in all, this was a very good book and kept me reading in one sitting. Recommended.
More on Erin Scroggins' Books: https://www.amazon.com/Erin-Scoggins/e/B08K3QN665/ref
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