Here Comes the Homicide (A Wedding Crashers Mystery Book 3)

Author:    Erin Scroggins

Genre:     Mystery

Trade Paperback; Digital Book

ISBN #:    9781953826046

Helium Press

264 Pages

$12.99; $3.99 Amazon

July 16, 2021

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Two rival towns.  One decades-old feud.  A copper pig named Earl.  Can she pull off their dream wedding before bad blood turns deadly?

The citizens of Flat Falls love a good wedding, especially when it falls in the middle of their famed Founder's Day festival, affectionately known as the Roadkill Jubilee.  But when wedding planner Glory Wells unearths a skeleton and cracks open a family mystery that points the finger squarely at her deceased father, family fireworks threaten the happy couple's nuptials.

As Glory closes in on the killer, her investigation takes a personal turn.  Can she clear her father's name, avoid a team of matchmaking chickens, and bring two communities together before the bridal brawl puts a murderer on the road to revenge?

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Glory Wells owns Carolina Weddings, her bridal planning business.  Right now she's got the biggest contract ever - the bride is the daughter of the mayor, and the groom is the son of neighboring town Big River's best chef.  But when the bride disappears, it's up to Glory to find her -- which she does.  But all does not go well when Ruby gets in Glory's car and seems to see something that sets her off -- she pushes on Glory's gas pedal and slams into the town's statue, a pig named Big Earl.  But when Big Earl destroys Glory's car, it seems there's another surprise:  a skeleton in its base, and it turns out to be someone that can make her father look like a killer.

Now, Glory is determined to find out the truth, even if it means facing her ornery grandmother who wants nothing to do with her, and a nasty chef who thinks he owns the world.  But then another tragedy occurs, and time is running out on both the wedding and the murder investigation -- and Glory might just have known the killer all along...

This is the third book in the series and I loved it as much as the first two.  Glory is one of the strongest female protagonists I've seen in awhile, but also one of the most clumsiest, which turns out to be pretty funny.  Then there's the woman who raised her from age five when her parents were killed, her Aunt Beverlee, who's been married four times and always looking; loves gardening and cooking; and is more adventurous than anyone Glory knows...not to mention Matilda the chicken, whom Beverlee refers to as Glory's "sister."  It makes for an interesting book.

Also an interesting place I'd love to visit if I could meet all these people, especially during the Roadkill festival...which brings us back to the wedding planning and the murder.  The groom's father doesn't think anything is good enough and barks orders so much that Glory fights him against taking over the wedding planning; and then her grandmother actually speaks to her (which surprises her -- but that's another story); and she's just trying to keep the groom from absconding and the bride from calling everything off.  Just another day in the life of Glory Wells.

The mystery itself is extremely intriguing; we have old secrets and lies that are coming to the forefront and someone doesn't want any of them known -- someone who would rather kill than expose the past.  But Glory keeps digging, determined to find out the truth about her father and prove he wasn't a murderer; yet while all the evidence points to him, Glory is sure there's something else but she just can't find it.  Desperate and knowing she's on the right trail, she almost misses the clues in front of her because she's focused on something else, and it may be an eye-opening but life closing experience for her in the end...

When the killer is found we realize that insanity can rear its head at odd moments, and we never know what lives in the minds of others, or what they will do to protect themselves.  The book is funny, sad, action-packed, and filled with lively and likeable characters that I hope to visit with again.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Comes-Homicide-Wedding-Crashers-Mystery-ebook/dp/B08W1Y7MP3/ref

Goodreads:    https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4132758845

More on Erin Scroggins's Books:    https://www.amazon.com/Erin-Scoggins/e/B08K3QN665?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2&qid=1627151806&sr=8-2

Tying the Knot (A Wedding Crashers Mystery Book 2)

Author:  Erin Scroggins

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.

https://www.amazon.com/Tying-Knot-Erin-Scoggins/dp/1953826024/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3802370498

More on Erin Scroggins' Books:  https://www.amazon.com/Erin-Scoggins/e/B08K3QN665/ref

Engaged in Death (A Wedding Planner Mystery #1)

Author:  Stephanie Blackmoore
Genre:  Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781496704788
Kensington Publishing
304 Pages
$7.19; $5.99 Amazon
June 28, 2016

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After dumping her cheating fiancé and cancelling wedding, Mallory Shepard can't bear another disaster.  So when the former bride-to-be unexpectedly inherits Thistle Park, a ramshackle mansion in her ex's hometown of Port Quincy, it's a problem she can't afford - literally.  Abound with stray cats, peeling wallpaper, and nosy neighbors, Mallory is dying to sell it off - once she finally fixes up both the place and her messy life...

Turns out, Thistle Park has its charms.  But the honeymoon phase is abruptly cut short when an unwanted visitor is found dead on the front lawn.  Enlisting the help of her sister Rachel, Mallory vows to unveil the killer before she herself becomes married to the suspect list...

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Mallory Shepard and her fiancé Keith are both attorneys planning their wedding.  Unfortunately, what was supposed to be fairly simple is now over-the-top thanks his interfering social-climbing mother Helene, who has hijacked it.  After leaving the country club where the reception is to be, she thinks they're going to visit his grandmother Sylvia, the only member of the family she truly likes and who adores her, but Keith has other plans: he takes her to a vacant plot of land that Helene has purchased in Port Quincy, an hour away from Pittsburgh, where both she and Keith work, to build them a home.  Naturally, she's becoming more and more upset by the way things are turning out.

But when they get home there's a call from the nursing home that Sylvia lives in stating she's passed away, and Mallory is more than saddened that they didn't visit her that day.  To make things even more depressing, she opens a manila envelope that has come in the mail and inside are pictures of Keith and a young woman from his office - doing things he only should be doing with Mallory.

She immediately leaves and holes up in a motel room, not returning calls and not leaving until her younger sister Rachel shows up at the place, forcing her to reenter life again.  In doing so, she realizes she needs to return phone calls, especially many left by Sylvia's attorney.  When she finally goes to see the man, Garrett Davies, she discovers that Sylvia has deeded her home to her - free and clear.  Stunned, Rachel and Mallory go to the home in an old stately area of Port Quincy.

While the house is dilapidated, Rachel sees possibilities, and Mallory sees a headache that she'll need to get rid of.  But what she doesn't expect is the man who shows up on her doorstep wanting to buy the house - now.  He wants the land to frack, and Mallory knows that Sylvia was totally against that, and tells him no, getting into a confrontation before sending him on his way.  But just when she thinks things can't get any worse, the next morning Rachel wakes her telling her that the man is dead on their front lawn.

Though Mallory insists she's going to stay out of the investigation and allow the police to handle things, it becomes difficult when it's obvious someone wants her out of the way.  Now she's involved in trying to keep her head above water financially, and altogether trying to keep the rest of her from being killed...

This is the first in a new series and I found it delightful.  While there were a couple of things that bothered me, I didn't allow it to spoil my enjoyment of the book.  I may as well list them and get it out of the way.  I felt that for an attorney - even a corporate one - Mallory had very little backbone.  She couldn't make decisions and allowed her younger sister to run roughshod over her.  She even allowed Helene to take over her wedding, though she was paying for it.  I would have told her if she wanted the wedding her way, then she could pay for it.

I also didn't care for how selfish and self-centered Rachel was.  She seemed more of a spoiled child than an adult who could come in and take charge of the situation.  Below are spoilers (one to a crucial point of the book), but they grated on me a bit:

I didn't like the way Mallory was just fired from the firm. She was let go because A CLIENT didn't like her? Is that what this firm does? Releases attorneys if a client decides they dislike them? Or is Helene the only client they have? Because it didn't make sense to me why they'd do this, especially since she was doing well at the firm. I really felt that she had a lawsuit of her own for unlawful termination, which I would have liked to see her pursue. She didn't even stand up for herself and demand that she be given the reason why she was being fired. I also didn't like the fact that Rachel just gave out a key to the house - which isn't her home, but Mallory's, so she had no right to do so without asking. It makes you wonder what else Rachel's going to pull in the future. Move someone in? Sell off the furniture? I do realize it had something to do with the ending, but it could have been done differently, in my opinion.

Anyway, aside from those two things, I think the mystery was written well.  I felt there was enough intrigue to keep the story interesting, and there was a surprise to the ending, which made it all the more pleasurable to read.  Just when you think you've put it all together (and pretty much have), there was something else coming.  All in all, a very satisfying ending to a decent mystery.

I do like the idea of them opening a B&B; there are a lot of possibilities for future books, which I look forward to reading.  Also included are a few recipes in the back which sound delicious.  Recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Engaged-Death-Wedding-Planner-Mystery/dp/1496704789/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2698661275

More on Stephanie Blackmoore's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/stephanie-blackmoore/

Diamond Rings Are Deadly Things

Author:  Rachelle J. Christensen
Genre:  Mystery
 

Four Stars

Adrielle Pyper knows how to plan a wedding.  But when her biggest client and best friend is murdered three days before the wedding, Adri's world falls apart.  She moves to the posh resort town of Sun Valley, Idaho, and starts from scratch.  Thanks to her impeccable taste and unique style, Adri lands two celebrity clients and her business is headed for success, until someone vandalizes the specialty wedding dresses she imported.  It is a race to uncover the secret hidden within the yards of satin and lace before Adri becomes the next victim.

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Adrielle (Adri) Pyper has a burgeoning wedding planner business, due to the fact that her two newest clients are ex-soap star Sylvia Rockport and Natalie Berlin, who is marrying movie star Brock Grafton.  Adrielle met Natalie through her partner and co-worker, Lorea Zubiondo, who is Natalie's best friend.  Sylvia is Brock's ex-girlfriend, and wanted to use the same wedding planner in the hopes of outdoing Natalie and possibly finding out information on her wedding plans.

The catch is that Sylvia is the epitome of bridezilla.  She throws tantrums, screams, and decides that nothing is exactly the way she wants.  So when Adri and Lorea receive a shipment of wedding dresses they had specially made, Sylvia's dress is certainly among them, but not her alternate choice.  After filing a complaint with the company that sold, and the one that delivered, them, they realize that there is a need for some fast talking to keep Sylvia happy.

Regardless of the fast footwork of Adri, she has more than one thing to be concerned about:  trying to plan two weddings at the same time, and handle the attentions of her new boyfriend, Dallas - well, while Adri is reluctant to call him that, Dallas is well on his way to falling in love with her.  And if that weren't enough, the new lawyer in town, whom Adri refers to as "the hottie," appears to be taking an interest in her also.  The problem in that: he specializes in divorces, pre-nups, and, rumor has it, has a penchant for talking couples out of getting married, if he can.  A dilemma indeed.

The reason Adri moved to Idaho is because when she started her business, her first client was also her best friend, Briette.  Briette was brutally murdered three days before her wedding, and the killer was never caught.  Because of this, Adri has been gun-shy about dating, and doesn't want to get involved with anyone, despite the fact that one of the men is persistent and patient, a fact she can't miss.

When some of the wedding dresses, along with her office safe, are stolen, Adri is at a loss to understand why.  That is, until one night when she is meticulously taking the hem down of the dress which is currently too short for Natalie.  A small package falls out - filled with various uncut diamonds.  Since the police have confiscated the rest of the wedding dresses, and Adri refuses to let that happen to Natalie's dress, she hides the diamonds and decides to call the police later.  Which may be the worst mistake she ever makes.

When photos of herself appear on her doorstep and it seems she is being stalked, she realizes that she will have to tell Tony, (a local detective who is also her brother's best friend) what is happening, but not before she extracts a promise that he won't take the dress.  Almost too late, everything becomes totally clear, and Adri has to keep her wits about her if she is to stay alive.

While I really enjoyed the book, I thought that Adri could have saved herself some trouble and given up the diamonds earlier instead of hiding them.  When she finally extracts a promise from Tony to allow her to keep the gown, after explaining why, I thought that if she had told him the reason earlier he would probably still agree with her and go along.

I also didn't like the fact that she rescued a tuxedo kitten (whom she named "Tux"); but because she occasionally brought wedding dresses home kept him on the patio as an outdoor cat (He's a kitten, and you leave him alone on an outdoor patio?).  And in one scene where she spent the night somewhere else, she forgot to feed him.  I don't believe in outdoor cats, as they are prone to shorter lifespans.  If she couldn't keep him as an indoor pet, she should have found him a home with someone who could.  It would have made more sense to confine the dresses to one room, and train him to stay out of that room - I know from experience it can be done. 

Aside from this, I really liked the book. The plot is good, even the subplots, as they are woven into the story nicely.  There are even some nice wedding ideas at the beginning of every chapter, for those who might be interested.  Recommended.

http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Rings-Are-Deadly-Things/dp/1609078616/

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1024631098