Murder,
Mayhem and a Fine Man
An Amanda Bell
Brown Mystery
Claudia Mair Burney
Howard Publishing (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1-4165-5194-8 (1416551948)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-5194-2 (9781416551942)
Publication Date: January 2008
List Price: $12.99
Synopsis (from the publisher): Amanda Bell Brown knows that life as a forensic psychologist isn't quite as cool as it looks on prime-time TV. But when she turns thirty-five with no husband or baby on the horizon, she decides she's gotta get out and paint the town -- in her drop-dead red birthday dress. Instead, she finds herself at the scene of a crime -- and she just may know who the killer is. She needs to spill her guts, but not on the handsome lead detective's alligator shoes -- especially if she wants him to ask her out. A complicated murder investigation unearths not just a killer but a closet full of skeletons Amanda thought were long gone. Murder, mayhem, and a fine man are wreaking havoc on her birthday, but will her sleuthing leave her alive to see past thirty-five?
Review:
Claudia Mair Burney's debut mystery introduces Amanda Bell Brown, a
35-year-old forensic psychologist in Murder, Mayhem and a Fine Man.
The book reviewed is a reissued, and
certainly updated, edition of a book of the same title published in
2006 by Navpress Publishing in which Amanda Bell Brown is turning 40,
not 35 as in this version.
Dr. Amanda Bell Brown lives by the words she heard from her late
beloved Christian great-grandmother. On her 35th birthday, Amanda
(known as Bell to friends and family) accompanies her sister, Carly, a
medical examiner, to a crime scene where two men were found dead. There
Amanda meets, and immediately falls in love with, a certain Lt. Jazz
Brown (no relation), the police detective investigating the crime. When
Amanda enters the house of the victims, she remembers she has been in
there before under dire, devastating circumstances that she thought she
had forgotten. She realizes she knows, rather knew, one of the dead men
from those horrible days when they belonged to a cult and lived with a
man everyone called “Father.” When Amanda tells
Jazz she knew one of the men, he immediately asks her to work with him
in finding the person or persons who killed the men.
Murder, Mayhem and
a Fine Man is sort of an odd mixture of chick lit, comedy,
and Christian mystery, but it works (more or less). The "more" part is
the murder and mayhem. The plot is credible and Bell is a likeable
amateur sleuth. The Biblical quotations that are used throughout the
story are appropriate and a terrific addition. And the touch of comedy
here and there helps keep the story light and entertaining. The "less"
part is the relationship between Bell and Jazz. The attraction between
them at times seems forced and there was really no chemistry between
the two. In many ways, this budding love story detracts from the murder
mystery which is by far the stronger element here.
However, what unites everything here is the engaging character of Bell.
She is a refreshing addition to the cast of today's amateur sleuths.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Murder, Mayhem and a Fine Man and to Simon & Schuster for providing an a copy of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
Murder, Mayhem
and a Fine Man
Navpress (Trade paperback), 2006
ISBN-10: 1-57683-978-8 (1576839788)
Death, Deceit and Some Smooth Jazz
Navpress (Trade paperback), 2007
ISBN-10: 1-57683-979-6 (1576839796)
Omnimystery keywords for Murder, Mayhem and a Fine Man
...
Location(s) referenced: Michigan.