Hit or Missus
A Peri Minneopa Mystery by Gayle Carline
Review: Orange County private investigator Peri Minneopa's latest assignment, a simple case of "I wonder how she spends her days" musing from a suspicious husband, may be tied into the death of one of her neighbors, in Hit or Missus, the second mystery in this series by Gayle Carline.
Peri's boyfriend, Skip Carlton, a detective with the Placentia Police Department, is called to investigate a body found in Peri's neighborhood. The woman was elderly, and apparently died of a heart attack while watching television. The coroner sees nothing amiss, but Skip notes that the woman's husband died just a few weeks earlier, also of a heart attack, also watching television. Though it is not improbable that the two deaths are unrelated, Skip decides to look into the matter further before signing off on the case. Separately, Peri is hired by a wealthy land developer to follow his wife ... which in and of itself would be routine. Except that his name pops up in Skip's investigation, leading Peri -- and later Skip -- to conclude there may be a relationship between them, and it is likely to be anything but routine.
Hit or Missus might be classified as a combi-mystery, one that blends several subgenres into one book. It's part straight PI investigation and whodunit, part chick lit (Manolos are mentioned at least once), and part cozy (a cat plays a prominent role, opening and closing the book, but not solving the mystery ... though he does offer a key clue to Peri in the form of a crumbled piece of paper). It's a little overplotted -- there's enough material here for two books -- and the ending may have readers wondering why this case didn't warrant more attention from the authorities sooner. Still, Peri is an appealing sleuth, a 50-something woman whose life experience as a house cleaner provides her with an eye for detail and gives her an edge when it comes to knowing where to find the skeletons in family closets.
Acknowledgment: the author provided a copy of Hit or Missus for this review.
Review Copyright © 2011 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Location(s) referenced in Hit or Missus: Orange County, California
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Hit or Missus by Gayle Carline
Publisher: CreateSpace
Format: Trade Paperback
ISBN-10: 1-4610-9359-7
ISBN-13: 978-1-4610-9359-6
Publication Date: May 2011
List Price: $13.99
Synopsis (from the publisher): Surveillance assignments are low-stress, easy money for private investigator Peri Minneopa. Take some pictures, write a nice report and collect the fee. Her new case is a routine one: a rich husband suspects his wife of infidelity. Just because bad things start happening to her when she takes the job doesn’t mean anything.
Peri’s boyfriend, Detective Skip Carlton, is investigating the death of Peri’s elderly neighbor. It looks like a heart attack, which is how her husband died two weeks ago. He realizes elderly couples sometimes die within a short time of each other. It’s not unusual.
Skip’s elderly couple had left legal papers lying out on the table, involving a year-old real estate purchase. There’s a note on the papers from Peri’s client. He is a real estate developer, so it’s not that odd.
Peri doesn’t believe in coincidences, any more than Skip does. When their cases collide, she begins poking her nose into police business and immediately butts heads with her boyfriend. She wants to know who is harassing her, and what happened to her neighbor. Skip wants to keep her out of danger and keep his case from being compromised.
For Peri, getting to the truth will require more help than Skip and the police are willing to give. She is forced to rely on an unlikely partner, an annoying little man who is obsessed with Dean Martin.
If she can keep her sanity and her life ...
She might just solve this case.