Dianne Harman

A Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery book #8

This cute story brings us to a land of classic car, beautiful beaches, salsa music and the best cigar in the world. Putting my thoughts together I swing my hips to the beat of the music now playing in my head...ok. I will cool it. Jack Trout, his friend Mike and their spouses set off on an exploratory trip to a Cuban island. Their dream of fly fishing the saltwater flats was quickly replace when a local constable ask to help to solve the murder of a British fly fishing guide. Jack fast becomes the main suspect...and the investigation starts...

What a different mystery this turned out to be. I love how the wives went about solving this murder, they used all the assets to discover what they wanted and they succeeded at every turn. Everything is so lively from the characters, the food, the music and Cayo (the cat). Cuba in this story is still frozen in time before the embargo on US citizens. On the streets of Cuba are old 50’s American cars, they only serve Cuban beer and local rum , but the food is out of this world and the people are warm, friendly and beautiful. The murder mystery is a soft one no graphic scenes to make us shiver but enough to leave a picture in our mind. The style is a bit stilted at time so is the narrative but in whole this story is quite captivating and I enjoyed passing time with it.

Ok I want a Mojito please

Fly fishing is the reason this group went to Cuba but this mystery gives us a trip to a beautiful place along with its culture and food and is easy to read, entertaining and unpredictable. Well-done.… (mere)

While cozy mystery writers are known for testing the limits of suspension of belief, I think this author went too far. There were two sleuths in the story: Chef Dani and Arthur, her one-time bodyguard and owner of a private investigation firm. While Arthur was hired by the owners of the resort and had a reason to investigate, Dani didn't. I don't know why she questioned some of the suspects and I cannot imagine why anyone would allow themselves to be questioned by a chef about a murder. Since this is the first book in the series that I have read, perhaps how these two characters came to do their sleuthing together would have been explained in earlier novels. It just seemed odd to me that the chef did more sleuthing than the professional investigator.

What I did find interesting was that digital vehicle forensics was supposed to be used in the investigation. I had never heard about this type of forensics before. However, after Arthur brought this idea up with his clients, it should have been used to determine who the killer was. It not only wasn't used, Arthur never even looked into the car owned by one of the suspects that he was interested in. Why was digital vehicle forensics even mentioned?

One more thing bothered me. When visiting chef Dani arrived at the resort, she was given the Presidential Suite. Granted, Dani is a celebrity chef but this still was odd to me.

There were several flaws in the story but it still had some appeal for me. I enjoyed the first half of the book but when Jackson Kelly died at the midpoint, it fell flat. The second half of the novel, which was the investigation, was not plausible.… (mere)

A wealthy Texas family gathers at a resort in #Seychelles for a family wedding. As the wedding is about to commence, the father of the bride & oil company magnate is murdered. Fortunately, a steamy romance novelist is staying at the same resort—she’s an amateur sleuth on the side—and the local cops decide she’s just what they need to solve the murder. Yes it sounds and was far-fetched. Great description of a resort that could be anywhere with some mentions of landmarks on the island. I got no sense that the author didn’t just use the internet to describe the scenes. Actually well written, just implausible without any character I could care much about. I wish the sex writer could have written mysteries instead. It would have made more sense.… (mere)