Sex and Death on the Beach: A Florida Beach Mystery by Elaine Viets

Reviewed by Jeanne

The Florodora is a very exclusive apartment complex in Peerless Point, Florida.  You can’t just buy your way in, or win a spot because of celebrity.

No, you have to be a genuine Florida Man.  Or Florida Woman.

You know, the ones who make improbable headlines usually involving alcohol or alligators or both, and ill-advised run-ins with the law. It makes for a very colorful mix of characters who form a close-knit family.

Norah inherited the Florodora from her grandmother, a true Florida Woman who was a former showgirl,  married rich, and became a widow at 17.  And as a true Florida Woman, Grandma was stubborn and had a bit of a temper. She refused to sell out to developers who wanted to raze the old Florodora and put in more cookie-cutter condos, and Norah is following her lead, despite the Florodora needing a lot of maintenance, especially around the pool.

While the pool area is being excavated yet again, the first body turns up. Unfortunately, it’s someone Norah recognizes—Sammie Lant, an adult film star who Norah had loudly and angrily refused to rent an apartment to, and not because of her occupation.  That would have been acceptable.  No, it was because Sammie filmed herself having sex on the beach with a college football player and posted the video to promote her new movie, costing the young man his scholarship. Norah is justifiably outraged.

The argument lands Norah in the police crosshairs as a person of interest, but that’s nothing compared to what happens when the next body is found.

That body belonged to someone who disappeared a long time ago and who was directly responsible for the deaths of Norah’s parents.

Now Norah has to not only clear her name; she has to clear Grandma’s as well.

Not to mention save the Florodora.

Viets is a veteran mystery author who has written several different mystery series.  I read her because I like her sense of humor, which can be sharp but never mean.  I also like the plots, and I love the characters who tend to be more free-spirited than not. Norah herself, while sometimes serving as the adult on the premises, is also a Florida Woman which means she has a temper and may take ill-advised actions in the best of causes.

This is the first in a new series and I look forward to Beach Blonde Betrayal, due out this month.

And I really hope to see a photo of the pool with its “Twenties bathing beauty” mosaic.

Art of Murder by Elaine Viets

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Helen Hawthorne has held a lot of dead end jobs in her time—it’s a long story, but involves an ex-husband who wanted alimony—but she’s settled into being a private eye. This time around, she was just touring a wonderful historic home when a woman in an art group dies suddenly.  It appears to be natural causes at first, but Helen one of the woman’s friends insists Annabelle must have been poisoned and hires Helen to investigate.  Helen goes undercover as an aspiring artist to try to discover who had motive, means, and opportunity. 

Meanwhile, Helen’s new husband Phil has a case of his own, involving a thief who targets upper floor condos and who may have murdered one of the residents.

Viets has done several series, but the Dead End Jobs series in one of my favorites. As Helen takes on new temporary positions, I learn about what it takes to be a salesperson, telemarketer, etc.  And yes, Viets really did work all of these odd jobs in real life, so she knows her subjects!

I also thoroughly enjoy the south Florida setting and the strong supporting cast who all live at an older apartment building with a spritely landlady.  I love mysteries, but I also like well-developed characters who change and grow as a series progresses.  I may have figured out whodunit before the end of the book, but the journey was a pleasure—helped along, I have to say, by Phil’s hare-brained scheme to catch a thief which had me giggling as I walked on the treadmill. The mix of interesting characters, well-considered plots, good locations, and a dollop of humor is just up my alley.

Sadly, this was the last in this series so I would advise starting with an earlier book. In order:

Shop Till You Drop

Murder Between the Covers

Dying to Call You

Killer Blonde

Just Murdered

Murder Unleashed

Murder with Reservations

Clubbed to Death

Killer Cuts

Half-Price Homicide

Pumped for Murder

Final Sail

Board Stiff

Catnapped!

Checked Out

The Art of Murder

Viets is the author of several different series, so be sure to check them out!

Accessory to Murder by Elaine Viets

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Josie Marcus is a mystery shopper. While that sounds glamorous—who wouldn’t love to get paid to shop or eat?—the reality is quite different.  Not only is there a mountain of paperwork to do, but the shopping can be very limited and as for the eating. . . well, let’s just say that Josie carries a purse full of antacids.  There’s also the problem of being honest in a review, especially when your boss’s relative is a surly shop clerk.  You could end up with the worst jobs ever, including some for which there are no antacids strong enough.

That’s exactly the situation Josie finds herself in after visiting an upscale shop where the only thing she can afford to buy is a scarf ring and the clerk is rude and insulting. Her report lands her in fast food purgatory, having to sample Gristle, er, Greta Burgers—all twenty-four locations.

As if that weren’t stomach-churning enough, Josie’s best friend Alyce’s husband Jake is accused of murdering an up and coming designer in a mall parking lot.  In fact, it’s the very mall Josie went to for the mystery shopper gig.  Something doesn’t set right with Josie and it’s not just the awful Greta Burgers.  Besides, friends like Alyce are few and far between, and Josie is determined to help clear Jake—even if he can’t be bothered to remember Josie’s name.

Elaine Viets is the author of several series.  I’ve read and enjoyed several, but people kept mentioned the Josie Marcus series as a favorite, even though the last book came out over a decade ago.  I picked up Accessory to Murder and found it to be delightful.  Josie is a struggling single mother whose mystery shopper gig allows her to almost pay the bills while giving her time flexibility.  Josie can be both cynical and naïve, which had me rooting for her all the way.  Her daughter is at the age where she thinks her mom is lame, while Josie’s mother disapproves of the way Josie does just about everything.  I like Viets’ sense of humor and the little tips she throws in on various subjects. 

I’ll definitely be reading more in this series while I wait for Viets’ new book to come out this June.  It’s the first in the new Florida Beach series.

A Scarlet Death by Elaine Viets

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Angela Richman is a death investigator for Chouteau County, which means she is one of the first called to the scene when a body is found. Angela helps determine if the demise is natural or if foul play is suspected.  When she’s called to the death scene of prominent local citizen Selwyn Skipton, she finds the seventy year old lying on satin sheets in an enormous bed in an apartment decorated with paintings of nude women. Given that the body has a necktie wrapped tightly around its neck and a red A stapled (yes, stapled) to the chest, it’s pretty obvious this is a crime scene.

As Angela and Detective Jace Budewitz try to piece together what happened to the late philanthropist, they discover a secret life which may just have gotten him killed.  Meanwhile, Angela is faced with a real life decision that suddenly becomes more complicated when someone she loves is in danger.

While I had read other books by Elaine Viets, I had not read any others in this series.  I hesitated at starting with the eighth book in the series, but found I had no trouble in immediately getting into both the plot and the characters.  This is a bit darker than my usual cozy mysteries, but while the crime scene descriptions can be a bit graphic they aren’t gratuitous; the reader gets important pieces of the puzzle from the descriptons. I particularly liked seeing how the various professionals work together to process a crime scene.  More than one crime takes place during the book, and I was impressed at the way Viets manages to juggle the different situations.  As a reader, I had no trouble following the individual cases and I found the characters interesting. Angela herself is likeable, but most of all I appreciated her competence and strength. She’s a thorough investigator, tough but not too jaded.

The ending was very satisfying.  I’ll be recommending this series to others, though I will probably have them start at the beginning!

Books in this series are:

Brains Storm

Fire and Ashes

A Star is Dead

Death Grip

Life Without Parole

Late for His Own Funeral

The Dead of Night

A Scarlet Death

Murder Between the Covers: A Dead End Job Mystery by Elaine Viets

 

Murder Between the Covers:  

Dead End Job Mystery by Elaine Viets

Reviewed by Jeanne

Helen Hawthorne had it all: great job, lovely home, money, status, and a cheating husband. It was the latter that got her into trouble and caused her to lose everything else.  Now she’s on the run, keeping a low profile, and working low-paying jobs where she can be paid in cash in order to avoid being found by aforementioned cheating husband.  Currently she’s working at a bookstore, Page Turners, named after its founder—Page Turner-- and run by his namesake.  Unfortunately, this Page Turner is a real scummy character so it’s not a total surprise when he turns up dead.

The surprise is that a friend of Helen’s is picked up for the murder.  Even if it may blow her cover, Helen is determined to prove her friend innocent.

This is the second in Viets’ Dead-End Job Mystery series.  I’d read one other and liked it, but I have to say this one is even better.  I enjoyed the Fort Lauderdale setting and I loved the cast of characters.  I’d like to hang out with some of them at the run-down apartment building and meet Thumbs, Helen’s cat. I also like that Helen has a sense of humor and a sharp eye for details.  I have to say too that it’s refreshing to have a heroine who isn’t so tied up in her own troubles—and Helen has more than her share—that she spends all her time bemoaning her fate.  Helen is compassionate, but no patsy, and she’s a staunch friend.  I like that in a person.

Most of all, I appreciate the details that show up in the various jobs.  Elaine Viets worked jobs like these so she knows all the nitty gritty details behind each one, from telemarketer to working at a bridal salon to clerking at a hotel.  It’s like having a peek behind the curtain. 

I’ll definitely be reading more in this series.

These don’t need to be read in order, but there are some life changes that take place for some of the characters.

The books in the series are:

Shop Till You Drop

Murder Between the Covers

Dying to Call You

Just Murdered

Murder Unleashed

Murder with Reservations

Clubbed to Death

Killer Cuts

Half-Price Homicide

Pumped for Murder

Final Sail

Board Stiff

Catnapped!

Checked Out

The Art of Murder

Checked Out by Elaine Viets

Reviewed by Jeanne

Private investigator Helen Hawthrone has been hired to shelve books at her local library.  Actually, that’s just a cover: she’s actually searching for a small watercolor painting thought to have been in a book that was part of a donation to the library, one among hundreds and hundreds of books.  The painting is actually a John Singer Sargent original and worth up to a million dollars, which is why Helen isn’t the only one searching.  There’s also the matter of the library ghost.  . . .

Meanwhile, Helen’s investigator partner and husband, Phil, is busy posing as a gardener at a local estate.   A valuable necklace and a golf cart have gone missing, and the family is sure one of the servants is to blame.

This was my first foray into the Dead-End Job Mystery series.  A friend had recommended it, assuring me there were cats.  Cats are my fall-back, in case I don’t care for plot or characters.  In this instance, while the cats were welcome, they weren’t the only reason to enjoy the books.  Helen and Phil are an adorable couple, very much in love, but also smart and competent. They put me in mind of Nick and Nora Charles or Jennifer and Jonathan Hart: romantic banter but the partners are equal, and there’s a real mystery (or two) to solve.   There’s a selection of returning supporting characters, my favorite being Margery Flax, their landlord and friend who presides over her tenants like an eccentric aunt.

The suspects and motives were well defined, and I like the methodical and professional way that the two investigators go about their business.  That was something I didn’t realize I’d missed while reading a slew of cozies: people who have a plan, instead of characters more or less waiting around for a clue to show up.  

 The part that I enjoyed most was the background setting.  Her descriptions of how a library works ring true:  for example, the eternal debate whether to shelve series alphabetically by title or numerically, by series order.  It’s a small thing, but it tells me that Viets has done her research and gives me confidence in areas I don’t know well, such as how one would get rid of a hot golf cart.  I even looked up Sargent’s watercolor alligators and highly recommend others do the same: they are indeed lovely.

Another point in the book’s favor was the shrewdly observed social commentary.  There are the usual class distinctions, but with a Florida twist that includes the “old families” vs. residents vs. seasonal residents.  The problem of homelessness comes up as well and is considered in an even-handed manner.

This particular book even had a bonus cat, in addition to the series regulars. Paris is the library cat whose proposed ouster causes a ruckus similar to ones I’ve heard about from other libraries. (Browser the library cat was one of the more recent ones.)

I will definitely be reading more in this series.