It’s election time in Savannah, Georgia, and Judge Guillotine Gloria—aka Reagan Summerside’s mom—is neck and neck in the polls with Kip “Scummy” Seymour.  But the already dirty campaign is about to get downright filthy—with one candidate getting buried six feet under….

With her strong opinions and knack for getting into trouble, Reagan is not an ideal volunteer for her mother’s alderman campaign. Plus, she’d rather be running her consignment shop, the Prissy Fox, and eating doughnuts with her dog, Bruce Willis. But when her mother’s opponent, Kip, is found poisoned and her mother is pegged as a suspect, Reagan nominates herself as lead murder investigator.

Reagan is intent on finding Kip’s killer and clearing her mother’s good name, but she soon finds herself on the bad side of Kip’s enemies-turned-suspects. This time, no amount of costumes and makeup can keep her inconspicuous and out of danger. Because the closer Reagan gets to the truth, the hotter things get. (Goodreads)

Review:

A light cozy mystery with many laughs (“Hey, you’re the one who went and lost their butt.”) ….a delight to read.  I was pleased that I was kept guessing through to the end as to “who dunit”.  It was the right mix of mystery, comedic relief, and romance for this reader.

In the beginning I was not overly impressed with the names for the characters (I kept getting confused) …..Money-Honey, Marigold, Kip (vs his alternate name of Scumbucket), KiKi, Cazy….really?  But you know…by the time I was about a third of the way through the story, the names had grown on me.  I was used to the vernacular and really enjoying the mystery!

I also appreciated the tension between Reagan and Boone throughout the book.  There may be a past between them (I have not read the prior books in the series), but I quite enjoyed the undertones of the budding relationship.  It was, in my opinion, brought forth realistically with humorous; bad-luck scenario’s pushing it forward.

What I found good is that the unanswered questions (i.e. the whole story behind Reagan’s mother paying for Boone’s law school, not just the why but the motivation) did not detract from the end of the story, but was a good lead in for the next book(s) in the series.

I cannot wait to read the next in the series and will definitely go back and read book 1 and 2 of the series.