Yankee Doodle Dead
(Libby/OverDrive eAudiobook)

As the denizens of the South Carolina island resort Broward's Rock prepare for the Fourth of July, tension starts eroding the festivities. Bud Hatch, a recently arrived northerner, gets shot during the fireworks after rearranging events and bullying resort natives. Annie Darling, owner of the mystery bookstore Death on Demand and her husband, Max, start investigating after most of their close friends become prime suspects. In this tenth Death on Demand mystery, Hart creates lively, sympathetic characters and interesting locales and maintains a snappy pace. However, she has a bad habit of advancing the plot through strings of biographical sketches instead of through narrative. Woven through the descriptions of bookselling, characters, and local library politics is an annotated bibliography of Hart's favorite mysteries and sleuths. Despite its flaws, this will delight fans of Toni Kelner, Judy Jaffe, or Sarah Shankman, all of whom write light mysteries with southern settings and characters. --John Rowen

This ninth in the Death on Demand series (after Mint Julep Murder, 1995) finds mystery-bookstore owner Annie Darling in top form: polite, considerate, cheerful and relentlessly investigative. Retired Brigadier General Charlton "Bud" Hatch is a newcomer to the tiny resort community of Broward's Rock, S.C., where his arrogance, power and extreme right-wing views have quickly antagonized many of the genteel yet clannish residents. When Hatch is shot to death at the island's annual Fourth of July festival, Annie and her relaxed but shrewd husband, Max, utilize their connections and gentle diplomacy to interview some of the many idiosyncratic natives who loathed the general. Was he murdered by a cuckolded husband? What about the young, sweet do-gooder whom Hatch had terrified? Or the gay library director whose job had been threatened by the moralistic library trustee? Annie and Max tap into the best source of information anywhere‘rampant gossip‘and, aided by society doyenne Miss Dora, find out more than they want to know. Might Max's flaky and much-married mother be another suspect? Rich in Southern atmosphere (lots of live oak, Spanish moss and the ever-present smell of the salt marsh), populated by a diverse and engaging cast, including the fallible, endearing leads, and following a deftly constructed plot line, this tale is charming‘and gripping. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Popular series sleuth Annie Darling (Mint Julip Murder, LJ 8/95), owner of an island resort mystery bookstore, witnesses the murder of a much-hated man during a Fourth of July fundraiser for the local library. The usual clever plot and charming characters ensue. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

The peaceful tenor of life in BrowardŽs Rock, South Carolina, is at risk with the arrival on the island of retired Brigadier General Bud Hatch, a reactionary bully who detests gays, blacks, and anything that smacks of liberalism. Annie Darling (Mint Julep Murder, 1995, etc.), amateur sleuth and owner of the Death on Demand mystery bookstore, sees trouble ahead when Hatch, now on the library board, seeks to downplay the role of South Carolina women in the historical chronicle being prepared for the upcoming Fourth of July Festival. Hatch would like to see the departure of the libraryŽs competent director Ned Fisher, a gay man living with artist Toby Maguire. Neither is he happy with the un-complaisant president of the library board, Henry Brawley, or librarian Edith Cummings. When a hefty flowerpot falls from a library balcony and barely misses Hatch, he is quick to accuse Samuel Kinnon, a young black whose future is threatened by the HatchŽs animus. There are others whose lives are roiled by HatchŽs intrusion, but it all comes to a head on Festival Day when a gunshot ends his life and Samuel faces a murder charge. Annie and her husband Max work hard to prove SamuelŽs innocence, homing in on answers that lie in the pastŽbut the upshot is out of their hands. Loaded as usual with an excess of detective story lore, but the local characters are often appealing, as is the small-town atmosphere. Best of the authorŽs recent outings. (Mystery Guild main selection)