Goody Goody Gunshots
An
Abby Shaw Mystery
Sammi
Carter
Berkley Prime Crime (Mass Market
Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-425-22332-9 (0425223329)
ISBN-13: 978-0-425-22332-1 (9780425223321)
Publication Date: September 2008
List Price: $6.99
Synopsis (from the publisher): When Abby Shaw witnesses a stanger being gunned down on the highway, she's convinced she's seen a murder. Problem is, there's no body. But days later, when a body does turn up, wishy-washy witnesses make things sticky. Even elbow-deep in hot syrup, Abby is determined to find out the truth. And it's not as if she can take her sweet time figuring it out -- she's busy running Divinity, training a new employee, and helping to coach her nephew's basketball team. Not to mention that nosing around for too long could get her killed ...
Review:
Paradise Colorado candy shop owner Abby Shaw searches for a dead man
who suddenly isn't, then unexpectedly is, in Goody Goody Gunshots,
the fourth mystery in this series by Sammi Carter.
After dropping off her nephews and while returning home from her
brother's house one evening, Abby nearly runs into a disheveled man at
an intersection called Hammond Junction. A few seconds later, Abby
hears what seem to be gunshots and the man goes down. Fearing her own
safety, she leaves the area and contacts the police. But when the
authorities search the area, no body is found. A couple of days pass
and Abby sees the unkempt man again, clearly alive, but soon thereafter
she stumbles across his dead body. Abby is determined to sort out the
true circumstances of the mysterious appearance and death of this man
in her small town.
Goody Goody Gunshots is subtitled A Candy Shop Mystery yet Abby as a
candy maker and her candy shop Divinity play absolutely no relevant role
whatsoever in the story. They seem to merely exist as props,
and infrequently used ones at that. Abby could have been
portrayed as a dentist or accountant or construction worker and it
wouldn't have made a bit of difference to how the story plays out or concludes. The plot itself is
fine, a bit derivative, but otherwise workable as a template for a
murder mystery. And it can't be said that the book is poorly written or
that its characters lack depth and interest. But couldn't the author
have done something, anything, to make candy or sweet treats an
integral part Abby's investigation or its resolution? In some ways it
seems all rather pointless, but in the end it's simply just
disappointing.
Special thanks to Penguin for providing a copy of Goody Goody Gunshots for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
Candy Apple Dead
Berkley Prime Crime (Mass Market Paperback), September 2005
ISBN-10: 0-425-20532-0 (0425205320)
ISBN-13: 978-0-425-20532-7 (9780425205327)
Chocolate Dipped
Death
Berkley Prime Crime (Mass Market Paperback), March 2006
ISBN-10: 0-425-20894-X (042520894X)
ISBN-13: 978-0-425-20894-6 (9780425208946)
Peppermint
Twisted
Berkley Prime Crime (Mass Market Paperback), December 2007
ISBN-10: 0-425-21227-0 (0425212270)
ISBN-13: 978-0-425-21227-1 (9780425212271)
Goody Goody
Gunshots
Berkley Prime Crime (Mass Market Paperback), September 2008
ISBN-10: 0-425-22332-9 (0425223329)
ISBN-13: 978-0-425-22332-1 (9780425223321)
Omnimystery keywords for Goody Goody Gunshots
...
Location(s) referenced: Colorado.
