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Wed and Buried
A Laura Fleming Mystery
Toni L. P. Kelner
Kensington Books (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-57566-840-8 (1575668408)
Publication Date: February, 2003
List Price: $22.00
Synopsis (from the publisher): Since the birth of her six-month-old daughter, Alice, Laura has wanted to do nothing but camp out in her Boston apartment and dream of having one good night’s sleep. So when her excitable, social climbing cousin Vasti calls to say there’s trouble in Byerly, the savvy sleuth is tempted to say she’s taking a leave of absence from crazy family shenanigans. But it isn’t Vasti who needs the help, it’s irascible Aunt Maggie—or rather, Maggie’s new husband. Normally, the words “husband” and “Aunt Maggie” would have Laura howling, but the identity of the groom boggles the mind—Aunt Maggie has gone and married Big Bill Walters. And now, someone’s trying to kill the old coot. That news is enough to get Laura and Richard packing the diaper bag and hightailing it to the airport for the next plane home.
When she gets to Big Bill’s mansion, Laura can see that Aunt Maggie has moved in and Big Bill’s suite has been turned into a private hospital for one since the murder attempt nearly gave him a heart attack. It’s also clear that no one connected to the fiery old man is feeling charitably towards him. Certainly not his daughter-in-law, Dorcas, who resents no longer being the lady of the manor now that Aunt Maggie’s on the scene; or his son, Burt, who has never forgiven his father for nearly selling the mill—and to Yankees, no less. Then there is the problem of those ranting letters from a disgruntled former employee. Everyone from the nursing staff to one of Aunt Maggie’s spurned, football player boyfriends has a reason to dislike Big Bill in a big way.
Laura doesn’t like the idea of her aunt in harm’s way, so with baby in tow, she sets out to investigate a veritable seven-layer cake of a case where greedy power plays and simmering, small-town secrets are hiding beneath one pretty package. And when the killer breaks into Big Bill’s mansion, leaving two bodies on the hard, marble floors, it’s clear that someone is hand-delivering an invitation…for cold-blooded murder…
Review: Wed and Buried is Toni L. P. Kelner's eighth mystery to feature Laura Fleming, with the new mother returning to her southern roots to celebrate the wedding of her Aunt Maggie to local tycoon Big Bill Walters.
Kelner's
mysteries are not intended to serious reading by any means, but Wed and Buried is
especially weak. Laura and her husband Richard discuss early on in the
book if they can continue to solve mysteries now that they have Alice,
their adorable baby, to look after. The answer, sadly, is no. The
motive for the attempt on Big Bill's life is unconvincing at best, and
in the end, Laura actually does very little to unmask the culprit
anyway.
It's all well and good for series characters to grow up, get married, have children, and the like. But it doesn't matter much if they are part of a thinly developed and uninspired mystery. With the cast of characters Kelner had to work with, she could have done better with Wed and Buried.
Review Copyright © 2003 Hidden Staircase Mystery Books
Other mysteries in this series by Toni L. P. Kelner:
Down
Home Murder
A Laura Fleming Mystery
Zebra Books (1993)
ISBN: 0-8217-4196-9
Dead
Ringer
A Laura
Fleming
Mystery
Zebra
Books (1994)
ISBN: 0-8217-4469-0
Trouble
Looking for a Place to Happen
A Laura
Fleming
Mystery
Kensington Books (1995)
ISBN: 0-8217-4855-6
Country
Comes to Town
A Laura Fleming Mystery
Kensington Books
(1996)
ISBN: 1-57566-083-0
Tight
as a Tick
A Laura
Fleming
Mystery
Kensington Books (1998)
ISBN: 1-57566-242-6
Death
of a Damn Yankee
A Laura
Fleming
Mystery
Kensington Books (1999)
ISBN: 1-57566-431-3
Mad
as the Dickens
A Laura
Fleming Mystery
Kensington Books (2001)
ISBN: 1-57566-838-6
Omnimystery keyword(s) for Wed and Buried ...
Locations referenced: Boston.
