Demise in Denim
A Consignment Shop Mystery #4
By Duffy Brown
ISBN# 9780425274705
Author’s Website: duffybrown.com
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Jeanie
Synopsis:
It’s springtime in Savannah, Georgia, in the newest Consignment Shop Mystery from the national bestselling author of Pearls and Poison. The azaleas and magnolias are in bloom—and Walker Boone is on the run. . .
When Reagan Summerside turned the first floor of her old Victorian home into a consignment shop, she never imagined she’d be harboring a fugitive in her attic. But after a dead man is found in a bathtub and local lawyer Walker Boone is accused of doing the dirty deed, she suddenly has a new houseguest.
Having the lawyer who took her to the cleaners in her divorce settlement—and who has been getting under her skin ever since—in close proximity is enough to drive Reagan to distraction. For the sake of her sanity—and Walker’s freedom—they need to put their heads together to find out who is trying to get the lawyer out of the picture . . .(From Goodreads)
Review:
Duffy Brown’s newest fast-paced Consignment Shop Mystery roars into town with thoroughly fascinating characters and a mystery with curves and twists that gives even Walker Boone’s red ‘57 Chevy a run for its investments! Reagan Summerside, in or immediately following the novella Dead Man Walker, became custodian of Boone’s cherished Chevy when he escapes on Princess, her new pink scooter. We open to the posse of the city’s finest men in uniform chasing Reagan, thinking she is Boone. And, when finding her driving, they are greatly irritated and certain that she is abetting a murder suspect.
Conway Adkins, who attorney Walker Boone had just learned is the daddy who walked out on him and his mother when he was a baby, was found murdered in his bathtub. Unfortunately for Walker, the murder weapon was his own gun. Surely there must be better suspects?
Walker Boone had been Reagan’s ex-husband’s divorce attorney, and he seemed to be under foot every time she least expected him. Does his annoying presence mean that he might have a thing for her – especially when she can’t move but what someone brings her a message from him? Can she find the one who really killed Conway before anyone else is murdered? In spite of the past, she knows he isn’t a murderer. She just wants him…out of her way. Or does she?
Reagan gets to meet a few of the less admirable men who are movers and shakers in the world of developing the nearby Tybee Post Theater building and property, as well as other properties about town. Reagan and Kiki get their exercise trying to outrun fire, bullets, and gators as the clues multiply.
Reagan is a funny, admirable heroine, a business owner with Southern charm and hospitality who reinvented who she is as a business woman after her divorce. She has been willing to go without many comforts of home in order to keep her home, is hard-working yet able to let her hair down and have fun. She also has that Southern backbone, not willing to let anyone take advantage of her (again) or her friends. She and her dog, BW, pass many a long evening together – many of them with her fun Auntie Kiki and Uncle Putter, who live next door. Auntie Kiki is a real kick; she is way too much fun as a genteel Southern lady who had a blast in her past younger days. Among the interesting folks in the neighborhood is a killer, though neither Reagan nor this reader were able to figure out the “who” or “why” until…well, until.
Demise in Denim is the 4th novel in the Consignment Shop Mystery series, following the novella mentioned earlier. It would be a good idea to read the novella, Dead Man Walker, before starting this mystery since the events of each are closely related; this could otherwise be read as a stand-alone mystery as the author seamlessly weaves in sufficient colorful background to enjoy the wild ride of her plot. And a great, wild trip it is, with a killer and motive that I had tried on for size and discarded early on. Oopsie.
No doubt about it, this is a witty, worthy, well-written mystery! I would love to find out where Duffy Brown gets some of her ideas from as she lets the deck seemingly be stacked against her heroine before writing her smoothly out of one scrape and into another. Overall, I highly recommend Demise in Denim; cozy mystery lovers can’t go wrong with Duffy Brown!
Thanks so much for the great review of Demise in Denim. So glad you had fun with Reagan and the Savannah regulars.