Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781496721495
Kensington Publishing
352 Pages
$8.99; $7.99 Amazon
April 27, 2021
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At a murder mystery-themed wedding reception, on Georgia's picturesque Peach Cove Island, the bride is doing an awfully good job of playing dead...
Marygene Brown always figured she'd marry her childhood sweetheart, Alex Myers, not cater his wedding. But the Peach Diner could use the exposure. Most of the island is showing up -- although more for the role-playing murder game at the reception than for the widely loathed bridezilla, Lucy Carmichael. Marygene may have to smile through the festivities, but Mama doesn't have to hold her peace -- especially since only Marygene can hear her mother's ghost. Mama says she sees an aura of darkness around the wedding.
So when Marygene finds Lucy lying beside the wedding cake, buried in batter, with no pulse, it looks like Mama called it. This is no game. And when the bride's body simply vanishes, it's up to Marygene and her best friend Betsy (cousin to the groom and no fan of the bride) to solve a real-life mystery -- with a little help from Mama's sassy spirit...
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MaryGene Brown owns the Peach Diner, along with her sister and brother. Today they're catering the wedding of MaryGene's high-school sweetheart, Alex Myers, and his bride Lucy Carmichael. MaryGene isn't happy about the wedding, even though she doesn't love Alex anymore, not to mention she has a new beau of her own, Paul.
The strangest thing is the bride wanted to be part of a murder mystery at her reception, and while they're setting everything up, Marygene sees that Lucy, who's disliked by everyone except Alex and his mother, Regina, is playing the victim. When it's quickly discovered that she's not playing but has been killed, everyone is kept from the scene. But when her body disappears quickly after that, it's now a crime that needs to be solved quickly.
Alex is distraught and blaming everyone for hating Lucy; his mother is blaming family members; the town doesn't care; and Marygene's father, Eddie, the chief of police, is determined to figure everything out. But then there's a near-fatal accident, and Alex brings in help from outside, which only upsets the locals. With Marygene's mama's help, she plans on finding the truth...even if it puts her in danger once again...
This is the third book in the series, and I truly enjoyed it as much as the first two. I do love the interactions between Marygene and her family members, and I especially love the fact that her mama, who is an island spirit tied to Marygene, is keeping watch over her and helping her whenever she can. I l think that this aspect is much of the magic of the series, and it makes it more entertaining to read.
We also see that Marygene is going through changes in her life, and determined to overcome her past and learn from it. She's gaining inner strength, and is more confident in this book than the previous two. Her best friend, Betsy, is a real character -- she professes to be one type of person, but when she's caught up in the middle of a murder investigation, her true personality emerges, It's a trip to watch her go through the emotions. Soon Marygene also realizes that she might be a suspect in the murder, so she knows that she needs to clear herself by getting involved, but soon discovers that might not be so easy to do.
The action is practically non-stop, from Alex lashing out at everyone, the disappearance of a deceased bride, people who might not be who they claim to be, the addition of an Atlanta homicide detective that Marygene's locked horns with once before, and other events I will not list here in order not to ruin this book for others; I will say that this is probably the best book in the series so far and it kept me reading in one sitting (much to my dismay, as I realized I should have been doing a few house chores instead).
When the murderer was discovered, there were clues leading up to it, but you have to put them together much as Marygene did. Finding the murderer isn't enough; it's the reasons behind it that count, and they were motives as old as time. All in all, this is quite an engaging mystery drenched in southern charm and I hope to see the next in the series soon. Highly recommended.
More on Kate Young's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/y/kate-young/
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