Review by Kathleen Costa
Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win an ebook copy of the book and a link to purchase it.
Karma Knows Best!
Five years ago, Fionnaghuala Merrygold Czrygy was a CIA field agent embedded undercover in a Chechen terrorist group, until, thanks to a grudge held by the Vice President with her Senator father, a CNN news report outed her identity. She thankfully escaped, took an apology settlement from the feds, changed her name to Merry Wrath, and headed home to Who’s There, Iowa, where she’d lay low as a Girl Scout leader with her BFF Kelly Albers. “Lay low” is relative since the bad guys discovered her location and have made several unsuccessful attempts at pay back. However, her troop of ten very precocious pre-teens, surprisingly more interested in weapons training and enhanced interrogation methods than selling cookies, came in handy. Her husband Detective Rex Ferguson, former CIA handler PI Riley Andrews, and several quirky friends and family, including a quartet of teenage druids, also offer great support, but it’s Girl Scout Betty, unofficial agent-in-training, causing the most concern for her overwhelmed parents, for Merry, and for the police!
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| Image Source Gemma Halliday Publishing |
The mayor is missing! Mayor John Van Meter had gone out to his car to get his wife May’s sweater and didn’t return. Sounds like a police matter to Merry, so why grill Betty about her whereabouts? Well, first, since she was a first-grader, she’s been threatening to kidnap the mayor on various grounds, but she’s currently involved in the campaign of Meter’s rival. Ava, another precocious scout, found a loophole in the town’s charter: no age requirement for candidates running for mayor. After the fiasco of electing a donkey to the office, the only proviso was a candidate had to be human, so the eleven-year-old dynamo has been actively campaigning with the rest of the troop as her “kitchen cabinets” and Betty as her “G. Gordon Liddy”-style campaign manager. So, Betty, “where were you last night?”
Flashback “One Week Earlier…” The mayoral debate was literally a “circus” with Pogo the dancing clown, balloons, and confetti along with an attack on pets and clowns?, a threat made by the mayor’s wife, and the mayor’s embarrassing faux pas. But, the next day, while enjoying a sweet treat, Merry and her former colleague Hilly, CIA assassin not an assassin, witness a falling body, “Thud!” The campaign manager, Ricky Dodd, who’d been fired by the Mayor’s wife due to last night’s fiasco, is dead, shockingly dressed as Pogo. Does the death lead to the kidnapping? Who is the auburn-haired beauty seen with the victim? And has anyone seen Betty?
The Results are In! Leslie Langtry has my vote for her twenty-first book in the delightful Merry Wrath Mysteries filled with cheeky pre-teens, conspiracies, and a clown. The mayoral election is finally here, and with Ava in the lead, has Betty crossed the line to make sure she wins? The mayor’s wife’s ambitions, the mystery woman, a reptilian attack, and appearance of the FBI add engaging obstruction to the investigation, but it’s Langtry’s humor, snarky banter, fun flashbacks into Merry’s CIA career, well-developed and quirky characters, and an exciting, clever wrap-up that have made me an eager fan. Sure, readers need to suspend disbelief about eleven-year-old girls running for public office, getting covert weapons training, and planning and implementing dirty tricks along with a Laurel and Hardy FBI team, but that’s what’s fun. No need to have read previous installments since very few references are made without a bit of clarification, but be prepared to have your interest piqued for more, especially more Betty! Check out the Amazon link Merry Wrath Mysteries (21 book series).
Alert! Merry’s twenty-second adventure, Mardi Gras Murder, will soon be on Amazon preorder with a release date of April 12, 2022. Spring break has Merry taking her troop to a small town in Louisiana for Mardi Gras, and since the town is Who’s There’s sister city, the red carpet is laid out. Southern hospitality is complicated with local legends, voodoo, an oddly decorated tearoom, a locked room, double homicide, and frustrating arrest. Merry and her troop need “to find the killer quickly, before Fat Tuesday becomes Fatal Tuesday!” Can’t wait!
Be a Big Leslie Langtry Fan!
USA Today bestselling author Leslie Langtry pens one of my favorite series: Merry Wrath series. She also writes the very entertaining Bombay Assassins Greatest Hits Mystery and is one of the contributing authors in GHP’s Aloha Lagoon Mystery with two marvelous books: Ukulele Murder and Ukulele Deadly. Something for every cozy taste!
Merry’s Troop FB group is private. Fans can join HERE.
Be a Gemma Halliday Publishing Fan!
Website - Gemma Halliday Publishing
To enter to win an ebook copy of Mayor for Murder, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line "mayor,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen February 5, 2022. US residents only and you must be 18 or older to enter. If entering via comment please include your email address so we can contact you. You can read our privacy statement here if you like.Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section in Kings River Life and in our mystery category here on KRL News & Reviews. And join our mystery Facebook group to keep up with everything mystery we post, and have a chance at some extra giveaways. And check out our new mystery podcast which features mystery short stories and first chapters read by local actors! A new episode went up last week.
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Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.Kathleen Costa is a long-time resident of the Central Valley, and although born in Idaho, she considers herself a “California Girl.” Graduating from CSU-Sacramento, she is a 35+ year veteran teacher having taught in grades 1-8 in schools from Sacramento to Los Angeles to Stockton to Lodi. Currently Kathleen is enjoying her retirement revitalizing hobbies along with exploring writing, reading for pleasure, and spending 24/7 with her husband.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds different! Count me in!
Love Leslie's books. Always a fun read.
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We have a winner!
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