The Phantom of Oz (An Ivy Meadows Mystery Book 5)

Author:  Cindy Brown
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781635112955; 9781635112923
Henery Press
268 Pages
$31.95; $15.95; $$4.99 Amazon
January 30, 2018

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Creepy munchkins.  A mysterious phantom.  And a real Wicked Witch.  Are you ready for it?  Actress and part-time PI Ivy Meadows has been hired to uncover the cause of the creepy accidents that plague the roadshow The Wizard: A Space OZpera and find out who dropped a chandelier on the Wicked Witch of the East.  Was it the ghost who haunts the Grand Phoenican Theatre?  A "wicked witch" in the cast?  Or is it someone - or something - more sinister?  It's Ivy's most personal case so far.  Her best friend Candy, who's touring with the show, is caught in a downward spiral of self-destruction, and in is more danger than she knows.  To save her friend and the show, Ivy must answer even tougher questions.  Do spirits really exist?  What is real beauty?  What does friendship mean?  Ivy needs to learn the answers, and fast - before Candy reaches the point of no return.

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Ivy Meadows is an actress and part-time PI in Phoenix, Arizona.  One day she receives a call from her best friend Candy, who has moved to California to pursue her acting career.  It seems she's in Phoenix touring with a roadshow of The Wizard: A Space Ozpera - a sort of The Wizard of Oz in outer space.  While Ivy is excited that she's going to see Candy again, she's totally floored when she finally does.

Candy isn't the same voluptuous woman she parted with: she's now razor thin to the point of emaciation, with dingy hair and grey teeth.  In fact, it pretty much looks like Candy is doing some sort of drug and Ivy is sure she's killing herself.  But she won't talk about it, and she doesn't want to spend a lot of time with Ivy.

When Ivy visits the theater to watch rehearsal, she encounters a most unpleasant woman - Babette, who runs a reality show that 'discovers' new talent, and she thinks nothing of destroying others' dreams nor humiliating them in public.  There's also someone else in the theater, but unseen:  the ghost of a broken-hearted actress who killed herself after a tragic love, the Lady in White.  She's been disrupting rehearsal, causing accidents, and while not everyone believes in her, enough do that the accidents are causing problems with the play.  And Babette is making the most of it, using the media to tell everyone how the ghost is targeting her and trying to kill her.

But it's not until after a particular incident when Candy disappears that Ivy begins to seriously worry about her friend and if something's happened to her.  Surely it couldn't be a real ghost causing all these problems?  What if it's something - or someone - more sinister, and why would they want Candy out of the way?  But it's not until she receives a phone call from Arrestadt Giry - the director and Candy's boyfriend - wanting to hire her to locate her missing friend that she begins to worry in earnest. Then, when another tragedy befalls production and someone is murdered, Ivy is in a race against time to find and save Candy - but is it from an unseen force or herself?

I have to tell you that I absolutely love the Ivy Meadows mysteries.  They're smart, funny, suspenseful, and intelligently written.  Ivy is no flaky miss who stumbles around in investigations.  While she sometimes gets a slow start, she's on the ball: she asks questions, has a curious nature that propels her along, and doesn't walk head on into iffy situations (although she does sometimes go places I probably never would - like cobwebbed hallways).  She's sharp and cute, and even though she sometimes has a lapse of judgment where her personal life is concerned, her heart is always in the right place.

In this book, when Ivy goes to see Candy perform in The Wizard, she doesn't have a clue that things are about to change - not just Candy's physical and mental changes, but that her own life will change.  She winds up as a temporary cast member (which could lead to a permanent job) who's taken over Candy's role when she disappears.  While everyone is telling her Candy left on purpose Ivy's gut is telling her something else.  (As a side note, you can still get Moon Pies where I live - and in many different flavors).

It doesn't help that she develops a cold which can threaten her performances; her brother Cody has a secret that worries her - and she's keeping one from her boyfriend Matt; and her Uncle Bob is out of town on a romantic rendezvous with his girlfriend, so she's on her own, unless you count on the help of an unseen and possibly unworldly spirit.

I found the book to start a little slow, but once it picked up it was quite intriguing and kept me reading in one sitting.  Ivy is not only an extremely likable person, she surrounds herself with others who are also likable but quirky.  I think this is what makes the series so much fun to read.  Everyone has a little bit of strangeness in them, and it makes them human somehow.

When we finally come to the end and the killer is discovered it is put together extremely well, believable and satisfying.  Ms. Brown has written another suspenseful tale full of humor and enough twists and turns to keep one interested throughout.  This is the fifth book in the series but can be read as a stand alone, and I look forward to the next in the series.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Phantom-Oz-Ivy-Meadows-Mystery/dp/1635112923/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2269970434

More on Cindy Brown's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/cindy-brown/

Ivy Get Your Gun (An Ivy Meadows Mystery Book 4)

Author:  Cindy Brown
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Trade Paperback; Digital Ebook
ISBN #:  9781635112108;  9781635112078
Henery Press Publishing
234 Pages
$28.06; $15.95; $4.99 Amazon

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There's a new sheriff in town -- and she can sing!  When Gold Bug Gulch's actor-gunslinger Mongo winds up shot for real, actress and part-time PI Ivy Meadows goes undercover as the ingénue in the tourist town's melodrama.  Unfortunately, she's distracted by a pack of marauding Chihuahuas, a problematic love life, auditions for Annie Get Your Gun, and a personal mission:  to show people the real Annie Oakley.  What's more, the no-good, yellow-bellied varmint who killed Mongo isn't finished with the Gulch -- or with Ivy.  Will our heroine prove she can get a man with a gun - before the killer gets her?

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Ivy Meadows, an actress and part-time PI who lives in Arizona, is hoping for the lead role in Annie Get Your Gun.  But while she's waiting, she receives a frantic call from her fellow actress and friend Marge, who wants to hire her to find Lassie, Marge's pug, who has disappeared into the desert with a pack of Chihuahuas.  Knowing the desert is dangerous for small animals, Ivy agrees.  But then Marge tells her that Arnie, her husband, has discovered he's a father, and Arnie has invested tons of money in a ghost town named Gold Bug Gulch, run by Arnie's son Nathan.

Marge is afraid Nathan is taking advantage of Arnie, and not be his son at all, and wants Ivy to go undercover in the Gulch as an actress in their little melodrama for the tourists, in order to learn more about Nathan.  How can she say no?

But on her first day, one of the town's actors is killed by a real bullet, and now Ivy wants to know if it was an accident or intentional.  While she's in the town, she not only meets interesting characters, she's in the middle of several "accidents" that all seem to be intent on closing down the Gulch.  But with a host of suspects, it won't be easy to sift through them, and if she doesn't figure it out soon, she could find herself in a role she won't be happy to play - permanently dead.

Once again, Ms. Brown has written an engaging mystery that will keep you reading right through to the end.  She peppers the book with interesting characters who may or may not be who they claim to be; interspersed with humorous situations, dangerous ones, and a new talent that Ivy - nor anyone else - knew she had.

While she's still trying to circumvent her boyfriend Matt's insistence that they tell people they're a couple, she doesn't want to lose him but realizes that with him leaving the group home her brother Cody is in, she's going to have to make a decision soon.  And no one is more shocked than herself when her father visits and she discovers a few things about him that she never knew.  To top it off, she learns more about sharpshooter Annie Oakley than the 1950 film shows, and proceeds to educate others, even incorporating it into the daily "melodrama."

With a full plate indeed - auditioning for a stage role, working in the Gulch, searching for a lost pug, investigating both Nathan and a murder - Ivy's life is nothing more than normal (for her), and it is very enjoyable indeed to watch her navigate through the pitfalls and surprises that await her around every corner, as she tries to remain unobtrusive, but manages to create havoc wherever she goes.

This is a book that is fun to read; both whimsical and, at times, suspenseful; when we discover who the murderer is, as we know we will, it comes as a surprise; and although there are a few clues scattered about, it is hidden well enough to give us plenty of red herrings to follow.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Ivy-Get-Your-Meadows-Mystery/dp/1635112079/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2051459900

More on Cindy Brown's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/cindy-brown/

The Sound of Murder (An Ivy Meadows Mystery #2)

Author:  Cindy Brown
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Paperback; Ebook
ISBN #:  9781493390045; 9781493390014
Henery Press
256 Pages
$31.95; $15.95; $2.99 Amazon
October 6, 2015

Five Stars

All Ivy Meadows wants is to be an actor.  And a private investigator.  Plus she'd really like a pair of clean underwear, a place to stay since her apartment caught fire, and to overcome her fear of singing in public.  Minor inconveniences aside, Ivy might be on a roll.  She's just landed her first real PI case, a seeming suicide in a retirement community.  Not only that, but a big New York producer is coming to Arizona to see Ivy in the world premiere of The Sound of Cabaret (singing nuns AND Berlin burlesque).

But all is not raindrops on roses.  A creep in a convertible is tailing Ivy, a local posse member is way to interested in her investigation, and something is seriously wrong with one of her castmates.  And that suicide -- could it be murder?  As the curtain rises, Ivy finds herself smack in the sights of a serial killer.

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Ivy Meadows (nee Olive Ziegwart) begins her day by telling her Uncle Bob she's just managed to set her apartment on fire, leaving her temporarily homeless.  While trying to juggle two jobs - working for her uncle in his P.I. business and act in the local dinner theatre - she is given a great (what she thinks) offer by her friend Marge:  temporarily move into the senior community Sunnydale and house sit for Marge's friend Bernice while she is out of town.  Accepting with alacrity, Ivy thinks everything will be hunky-dory from here on in.  But, as Ivy should already know, nothing in her life is ever that easy...

She's just started seeing the cute firefighter that helped put out the fire.  She has a semi-starring role in the new play, The Sound of Cabaret, which is a conglomeration of The Sound of Music-meets-Cabaret.  She has a beautiful home where she can temporarily live...and a pool to clean, which terrifies her, since she's afraid of water.  Her car keeps combusting at random moments.  Ivy has to sing in front of an audience, and she has a serious case of stage fright.  And, of course, there's the issue of Charlie, the dead guy across the street who committed suicide, but his daughter doesn't think so, and wants to hire Ivy to find out the truth.

After she convinces her uncle to let her accept the case (because he thinks the man did commit suicide merely because he was old and recently lost his beloved wife), Ivy begins her investigation.  But then Marge takes a nasty fall in her garage and has to be hospitalized, leaving Ivy to move into Marge's to stay with her pug Lassie - which also means Ivy has to go next door to Bernice's to water the plants every day - and now she has two pools to contend with - but seems to have an answer to that one at least, since her fellow actor Roger agrees to clean the pools for the occasional home-cooked meal.

Still, Ivy soon realizes things aren't adding up the way they should, and she's convinced Charlie didn't kill himself.  She also thinks Bob's friend Hank may have had something to do with the murder.  Ivy's life has certainly become complicated, and finding out the truth this time might actually force her to confront her own demons...

Ivy wants to have two careers - be a private investigator and an actress, and sometimes has trouble balancing them, not always realizing that in order to achieve a dream that combines two careers, something's always got to give.  She manages to keep it all together - just barely - while trying to multi-task, and it's almost too late when she finally manages to put everything together.  When we finally get to the end, Ivy's disbelief mirrors our own at the reasons why and the callousness of it all.

I really loved this book.  The locations were expressive and realistic; Ivy is a bundle of energy and has a good heart, even though she's forgetful at times.  She wants things to work out for others, but sometimes forgets to take care of herself.  The characters are written singularly well, with their own eccentricities and characteristics.  Ms. Brown has a knack for creating people out of paper and bringing them to life on the page, mixing mystery with humor, which makes for a very good book indeed.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/SOUND-MURDER-Cindy-Brown/dp/1943390045/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1663888253

More on Cindy Brown's books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/cindy-brown/                                 

Oliver Twisted (An Ivy Meadows Mystery #3)

Author:  Cindy Brown
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Paperback; Ebook
ISBN #:  9781635110449; 9781635110418
Henery Press
280 Pages
$31.95; $15.95; $4.99 Amazon
June 21, 2016

Five Stars

Thieves.  Murder.  And an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet!  When Ivy Meadows lands a gig with the book-themed cruise line Get Lit!, she thinks she's died and gone to Broadway.  Not only has she snagged a starring role in a musical production of Oliver Twist, she's making bank helping her PI uncle investigate a string of onboard thefts, all while sailing to Hawaii on the S. S. David Copperfield.  But Ivy is cruising for disaster.  Her acting contract somehow skipped the part about aerial dancing forty feet above the stage, her Uncle Bob is seriously sidetracked by a suspicious blonde, and - oh yeah - there's a corpse in her closet.  Forget catching crooks.  Ivy's going to have a Dickens of a time just surviving.

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Ivy Meadows is on a cruise ship, ready to perform in a seagoing version of Oliver Twist.  But she's not there as just a performer - both she and her Uncle Bob are undercover (he as a wealthy rancher) in order to discover who is stealing items from passengers traveling on the Get Lit! cruise line.  If they do solve the mystery of the thefts, they'll each receive a healthy bonus which will put a nice amount in Ivy's bank account.

But it doesn't bode well when Ivy enters her small stateroom and finds the body of her roommate stuffed in the small closet.  Nor when she's forced into another stateroom with a performer who hates her and doesn't try to hide it.  It also doesn't help that she's still not fond of the water, a precocious child actor is doing his best to cause problems (including pickpocketing tourists), a Russian performer is trying to get her in the sack, she has to perform forty feet above the stage (without a net) and her uncle is apparently hooked but good on an attractive blonde who may not be who she claims she is.  There's also the fact that her brother Cody has disappeared, and Ivy, stuck on the boat, can't do anything about it, especially with the spotty cell reception.

So how is she going to find out who the guilty parties are?  Along with those mentioned above, there's also Jonas, the director of the play, who brought along his stepfather Theo Pushwright, who has no problem proselytizing his beliefs to anyone who will listen, and selling his book, Positively Powerful, and his ghostwriter, Madalina; not to mention it could also involve any one of the crew members.  Eventually Ivy even has nagging suspicions about her friend and fellow actor Timothy, who got her the job in the first place.

With no dearth of suspects, and no real clues to go on, Ivy and Bob have their work cut out for them.  But it's even tougher when Ivy is supposed to remain in character - as Nancy, a character from Oliver who is murdered by her boyfriend - at any and all hours, to 'work the ship,' so to speak.  It isn't until there's a second death that Ivy starts to put the pieces together, but discovers she still may not have it right, and gets help from an unlikely source...

This is the third book in the Ivy Meadows series, and just as much fun as the first two.  Ms. Brown grabs us with the first few paragraphs and keeps our attention throughout the book, wanting not only to know who committed murder, but also the outcome of the many subplots, which includes Ivy's predilection for originally 'picking the wrong horse'.  Ivy is an endearing character, and even though she has flaws like anyone else, her love of both her brother and her uncle show us that her heart is always right where it's supposed to be.  She somehow manages to juggle both her careers (as an actress and a private investigator) and still come through shining in the end.

When we finally find out who the murderer is, and why they did it, it is rather sad, but we still feel justified in the action.  And there is a very funny scene toward the end involving Oliver (don't peek!) that makes it all worthwhile.  Ms. Brown manages to create delightful characters, humorous situations, and even somewhat likable killers, which makes for a very good book indeed.  Highly recommended. 

https://www.amazon.com/Oliver-Twisted-Cindy-Brown/dp/1635110440/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1664892629

More on Cindy Brown's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/cindy-brown/