Vacations Can Be Murder: A Girl and Her Dog Cozy Mystery, Book 2 (Charlie Parker New Mexico Mystery) - Softcover

Shelton, Connie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1945422025 ISBN 13: 9781945422027

Publisher: Columbine Publishing Group, 2016

Synopsis

Second installment in this USA Today bestselling author's cozy mystery series. Charlotte "Charlie" Parker's last case (Deadly Gamble) left her tired and emotionally drained. She books a vacation trip to the beautiful garden island of Kauai. In her own words, "Vacations mean different things to different people. There's the planning, the packing, the anticipation. Then there's the late arrival, the sunburn, the fuzzy pictures. In my case, add a romance with a good-looking pilot and fourteen stitches in the back of my skull."

So starts her vacation. Her first day on the island, Charlie takes a helicopter tour and partway around the shoreline she and the pilot, Drake Langston, spot a dead body lying on the rocks below. When Drake's friend and employer is accused of the murder he implores Charlie to help find the real killer.

Although Charlie misses home and her usual sleuthing sidekick dog, she finds herself romantically intrigued with Drake and wondering what will happen between them once she leaves the island.

"This is a dandy. Don't miss it!" -- Book Talk

"....a promising series." -- Booklist

"A good selection for all collections." -- Library Journal

"Tension is fast-paced in this involving account." --Bookwatch

About this title

About the Author

Connie Shelton is the USA Today bestselling author of more than two dozen mysteries in two series. The first is the Charlie Parker series featuring Charlotte "Charlie" Parker as an accountant who reluctantly tends to get involved in cases that come into the private investigation firm she owns with her brother, Ron. Connie's second series features Samantha Sweet, a Taos baker with a magical touch, who also breaks into houses for a living. In addition to her full-time writing career, Connie has taught writing, is the creator of the Novel In A Weekend writing course, and was a contributor to Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul. She and her husband reside in northern New Mexico with their two dogs. Visit her website at connieshelton.com and get her free mystery newsletter.

From Publishers Weekly

The second appearance (following Deadly Gamble) of Charlie Parker, an Albuquerque CPA who keeps the books for her brother's private investigating firm, works more successfully as a Hawaiian tour than as a mystery. On vacation, Charlie is taking a helicopter tour of Kauai, when she and the pilot, Drake Langston, spy a dead body on the rocky coast. The dead man is identified as Gilbert Page, a married California businessman who had just had a fight with his young girlfriend. The hunky Drake asks for Charlie's help after his friend, Mack, owner of the helicopter tour business, is arrested for the murder. The dead man was a loan shark, and Mack was one of his indebted minnows. Charlie travels to the mainland to check out Page's background and pokes around Kauai to find out how and when someone dumped his body on the rocks before she nabs the killer. Charlie's first-person narration is pleasant but not much more, and this lightweight caper never quite gels into an engrossing mystery.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Columbine Publishing Group
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1945422025
• ISBN 13: 9781945422027
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 216