Murder on the Back Burner

Presley’s back in Chicago after her vacation in Wisconsin, and the store is doing record business under the direction of the new staff. Presley’s barely settled in when a customer is murdered right in her store. The woman looks like she has just collapsed, but she was overdosed with insulin, apparently right in the store. Cooper’s back from New York, and it seems like he’s in Chicago to stay as he has hired a new worker who can do a lot of the legwork. But then someone breaks into Cooper’s office.

Who killed Susan in the shop? Will Presley be under investigation? Who’s the culprit at Cooper’s office?

I’ve been reading the series in order over the last couple of weeks. I found this installment a little frustrating on several levels. I was definitely happy to see Cooper back as I enjoy his and Presley’s interactions. But I felt like the mysteries took second place to relating what was going on in Presley’s life, like the time she spends with Cooper and at Silk. This book seems to have a more significant number of issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage compared to early books of the series as well as other current published fiction. Commas were hugely problematic, not being where they needed to be—like between independent clauses in a compound subject or after introductory phrases—as well as improperly used in a way which formed comma splices. A character’s name was misspelled. I am an RN, so I can state that the way she had Presley discuss insulin was not true to fact; Presley states, “I thought those injectors came in regulated doses.” Insulin is not given to a person in preset amounts like a pill (though a specific number of units is prescribed depending on need). Instead, a person would either draw up the amount from a vial or use an insulin pen, dialing up or pulling back the number of units needed. So a person with ill intent could definitely draw up and inject a lethal dose.

By the way, this book ends on a cliffhanger.

Murders in Wisconsin

Presley heads off to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, staying at one of her boutique client’s rental properties. She’s gotten a new manager at Silk, and even though Katy’s gone, Presley is able to take a little time off. She goes out to walk on the beach along Lake Michigan and what she thinks might be a big piece of driftwood is actually a dead body! Can’t she get some proper time off? She starts interacting with the locals and gets invited to a wedding. The bride discovers another dead body. What’s going on in this town? Will Presley be in danger.

I missed seeing Presley’s interactions with the familiar characters like Katy and Cooper, but it was fun to see Presley off on her own finding more trouble. I found myself wondering if the author is a Jane Austen fan, as the name of the militia compound was Wickham Place. I liked the slice-of-small-town life we get in this installment of the Presley Thurman Mystery series.

Missing Brooch and Murder

Presley is happy to be providing a swanky gown for Veronica, a mover and shaker in town, for a charity Halloween event. Veronica is ready to dash off to dinner but doesn’t want to take the expensive brooch she brought to match to her gown with her, so she asked Presley to hold it for her in her safe. The next morning, the brooch is gone. Who has access to the safe? Was this some plan? Soon, though, there are more significant problems when Veronica turns up dead, and her husband disappears. Did he have something to do with it? Are the theft and her death linked?

Yet again we have another installment of this series without Cooper. I enjoy the books more when he is in them; he’s a great counterpoint to Presley. Katy is still in Chicago helping Presley run Silk. This book was shorter than the last two. I enjoyed the previous two because there were more elements to the mysteries involved in these longer works. This installment is relatively short, and the big murder doesn’t happen until close to the halfway point, not really giving enough time to develop the unraveling of the mystery. So compared to the previous couple of books, this was a disappointment. There are definitely some issues, too, with punctuation and grammar that were more noticeable here.

Still, if you enjoyed this series, you will most likely enjoy this one, even with its limitations.

Proud New Entrepreneur…and Mysteries!

Solange’s husband is giving Presley ownership of Silk. Before the ink is even dry, one of the employees of Silk, Roxanne, is arrested for the murder of her boyfriend, Drew. Roxanne swears she is innocent and wants Presley’s help in clearing her name. All is not well at Silk either, as some merchandise has been ordered on the company accounts but doesn’t seem to exist. Also, Solange’s husband left out a little detail or two about the business’s financial state.

Did Roxanne kill her boyfriend? What will Presley find out? Will Silk be able to survive financially? Will Presley regret her decision to become a business owner?

I was sorry to see that Cooper didn’t feature heavily in this installment of the Presley Thurman Mystery series. At the end of the previous book, they had finally gotten back together after being on the outs for a while. In this book, he’s in New York working for a client. Katy still here in Chicago, supporting Presley as she starts her new business. I enjoy watching their friendship. This particular installment feels like a combination of mystery and chick lit, which is not a bad mash-up. I like how in the last two books the author has increased the complexity of the plot to include more mysteries than just one. This book isn’t just about Roxanne and Drew’s murder; it is also about mysterious happenings at Silk as well.

This book seems to have more issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage than some of the other books in the series, which is unfortunate as I do enjoy reading about Presley’s happenings.

If you’ve enjoyed the previous mysteries in this series and the quirky cast of characters that always seemed to surround Presley, you may enjoy this book. By the way, if you are new to the series, the author does a good job setting up the world by telling you a little about some of the previous mysteries as they relate to Presley and her friends currently.

Problems with Roommate’s Company

Presley’s back in Chicago, and Katy is staying with her and Jared while she puts the debacle of her near wedding behind her. Presley thought Cooper was still out of the country after his failed proposal, but she finds out he’s been back to their hometown. Why hasn’t he called to let her know that he is back in the States? Jared has some unexpected time off from work because one of his co-workers has been murdered. On top of that, his company is suffering because someone is leaking their ideas to rivals, who then present the same ideas to the potential customer, making Jared’s company appear as if it is the one that is stealing concepts.

Why was Jared’s co-worker murdered? Who is the mole, and is that related to the murder? Can Jared’s company get its reputation and clients back? Will Cooper give Presley a call? Or will she have to call him?

This book concentrates on figuring out the murderer, but Presley can’t get Cooper out of her mind. I was glad to see Cooper back, even peripherally, because I do enjoy the dynamics of a couple. I like seeing more of Katy; she has some big decisions to make, and it was interesting to see her work through them. The author has created a well-developed but small set of secondary characters that add substance to the series, particularly in this novel where we see more of Katy and Jared.