Death Walked In
A
Death on Demand Mystery
Carolyn Hart
William Morrow (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-06-072405-6 (0060724056)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-072405-4 (9780060724054)
Publication Date: March 2008
List Price: $23.95
Synopsis
(from
the publisher): Annie Darling discovers the secret of the Franklin
house, but death walked in ...
Max Darling hasn't been interested in crime since his brush with a
seductive young woman put him in danger of losing his freedom. He even
refuses to talk to a woman who calls for help and says she is afraid.
The caller leaves word she's hidden something in the antebellum house
Max and his wife, Annie, are restoring. When Annie finds out, she
hurries to the woman's home, only to discover her shot. Annie hears her
final whisper as she holds the dying woman's hand.
Evidence links the dead woman to a nearby home, where a fortune in gold
coins has gone missing. The gold coins, rare Double Eagles, were stolen
from a house filled with visiting family members, twentysomethings
hungry for money and several with secrets they must keep. Is one of
them willing to kill for a fortune in coins? Or is it the dead woman's
high school dropout son? Max is there when the police arrest the son,
but the boy's shock upon learning of his mother's death convinces Max
of his innocence. Max and Annie plunge wholeheartedly into the
investigation.
But are the coins hidden in Annie and Max's Franklin house? The
intruder who shoots at Max seems to think so. And who walks in when
Annie discovers the secret of that house?
Review:
Carolyn Hart's 17th mystery in the Death on Demand series, Death Walked In,
has mystery book store owner Annie Darling in a quest for a treasure of
lost gold coins.
It is February on Broward's Rock, the resort island off the South
Carolina coast, it's damp and cold and there are few visitors. When
Annie is called to go to the home of Gwen Jamison who says that she is
afraid of something, Annie finds her shot and dying. Without any proof,
the police immediately arrest Gwen's son, Robert, for her murder. He is
a high-school dropout and a rabble rouser. He has been in trouble
before, but nothing violent. Though Annie's husband Max is able to
obtain an alibi for Robert from the minister of the local Baptist
Church, it's a mixed blessing. Much to the minister's chagrin, Robert
was with his daughter during the time of the murder. This does not
completely satisfy the police as some of Gwen's blood was found in his
car as was the gun used to shoot her. The questions still unanswered
are: if Robert is innocent, who planted the gun and blood in his car?
And where is the fortune of gold coins that has gone missing from a
historic house that the Darlings are restoring?
The mysteries in this series have typically been in the style of Agatha
Christie's Miss Marple stories, some more so than others, and with
varying degrees of success. Death Walked In is one of the better ones
and deservedly so. The plot is tightly constructed, and the suspects,
though numerous, are well delineated. The romantic interplay between
Annie and Max is a bit overdone at times, but they make a good
investigative team. When Annie figures out where the coins are and
their link to Gwen's murder, it's a puzzle worthy of the grand master
herself.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Death Walked In and to HarperCollins for providing a copy of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
Death on Demand
Bantam (Mass market paperback), January 1987
ISBN-10: 0-553-26351-X (055326351X)
ISBN-13: 978-0-553-26351-0 (9780553263510)
Design for Murder
Bantam (Mass market paperback), January 1988
ISBN-10: 0-553-26562-8 (0553265628)
ISBN-13: 978-0-553-26562-0 (9780553265620)
Something Wicked
Bantam (Mass market paperback), May 1988
ISBN-10: 0-553-27222-5 (0553272225)
ISBN-13: 978-0-553-27222-2 (9780553272222)
Honeymoon with
Murder
Bantam (Mass market paperback), December 1988
ISBN-10: 0-553-27608-5 (0553276085)
ISBN-13: 978-0-553-27608-4 (9780553276084)
A Little Class
on Murder
Doubleday (Hardcover), August 1989
ISBN-10: 0-385-26452-6 (0385264526)
ISBN-13: 978-0-385-26452-5 (9780385264525)
Deadly Valentine
Doubleday (Hardcover), December 1990
ISBN-10: 0-385-26518-2 (0385265182)
ISBN-13: 978-0-385-26518-8 (9780385265188)
The Christie
Caper
Bantam (Hardcover), July 1991
ISBN-10: 0-553-07404-0 (0553074040)
ISBN-13: 978-0-553-07404-8 (9780553074048)
Southern Ghost
Bantam (Hardcover), June 1992
ISBN-10: 0-553-07392-3 (0553073923)
ISBN-13: 978-0-553-07392-8 (9780553073928)
Mint Julep Murder
Bantam (Hardcover), August 1995
ISBN-10: 0-553-09463-7 (0553094637)
ISBN-13: 978-0-553-09463-3 (9780553094633)
Yankee Doodle
Dead
Avon Books (Hardcover), October 1998
ISBN-10: 0-380-97529-7 (0380975297)
ISBN-13: 978-0-380-97529-7 (9780380975297)
White Elephant
Dead
Avon Books (Hardcover), September 1999
ISBN-10: 0-380-97530-0 (0380975300)
ISBN-13: 978-0-380-97530-3 (9780380975303)
Sugar Plum Dead
William Morrow (Hardcover), October 2000
ISBN-10: 0-380-97772-9 (0380977729)
ISBN-13: 978-0-380-97772-7 (9780380977727)
April Fool Dead
William Morrow (Hardcover), April 2002
ISBN-10: 0-380-97774-5 (0380977745)
ISBN-13: 978-0-380-97774-1 (9780380977741)
Engaged to Die
William Morrow (Hardcover), February 2003
ISBN-10: 0-06-000469-X (006000469X)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-000469-9 (9780060004699)
Murder Walks the
Plank
William Morrow (Hardcover), February 2004
ISBN-10: 0-06-000474-6 (0060004746)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-000474-3 (9780060004743)
Death of the
Party
William Morrow (Hardcover), March 2005
ISBN-10: 0-06-000476-2 (0060004762)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-000476-7 (9780060004767)
Dead Days of
Summer
William Morrow (Hardcover), March 2006
ISBN-10: 0-06-072402-1 (0060724021)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-072402-3 (9780060724023)
Death Walked In
William Morrow (Hardcover), March 2008
ISBN-10: 0-06-072405-6 (0060724056)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-072405-4 (9780060724054)
Omnimystery keywords for Death Walked In ...
Location(s) referenced: South Carolina.