BOOKS & STUFF

Wow, March has just begun and I’ve been super busy. Between delivering donations to Helping Hands in Wausau and St. John’s Lutheran in Weyauwega, helping Hope ELCA in Eau Claire make pizzas, preaching at Faith UCC on March 3, 6 and 10, sewing, and the usual duties of home and family, I’ve had little time for relaxing and reading.

I’m definitely not complaining. I’ve been given gifts, and I am thrilled to be able to share them. And you all know that I managed to squeeze in some reading.

This seemed like the perfect time for something light but still challenging. “Marriage can be Murder – Every Wife has a Story” by Susan Santangelo was exactly that.

This is her third mystery featuring Jim and Carol Andrews. In this one Jim and Carol are preparing for their daughter Jenny’s wedding. Only six months ago their son Mike had surprised them by marrying a girl named Marlee. They’d only met the girl once. Carol had tried to get to know her, but Marlee seemed to keep her distance. Mike is happy, so maybe Marlee would come around.

Carol must remind herself not to make judgments as she and Jim had thought Jenny’s former fiancé Jeff was great. Their dogs Lucy and Ethel disliked him intensely. They understood why when Jenny broke up with him saying that Jeff was a control freak dictating her every move.

Jim and Carol are thrilled with Jenny’s new love, Mike. The couple wants to be married at the Whaling museum in Nantucket, but their busy lives make wedding planning difficult.

Carol is eager to jump in and help, so she’s devastated when Jenny and Mike hire Cinderella Weddings to do all the planning for them. Carol had her heart set on “helping” Jenny create a dream wedding and now she would only be allowed a few suggestions.

At almost the same time Carol’s best friend Nancy’s marriage to “Bob the Blob” Green falls apart. After many years together Bob has announced that he wants a divorce so he can be with his new love, Tiffani.

Nancy is both crushed and furious but decides to attend the wedding show where Jenny, Mike, Jim and Carol are to meet with the Cinderella Wedding planner. To their shock, their personal planner is none other than the infamous Tiffani. Now Carol has to keep Nancy from finding out who their planner is and as far from the wedding plans as possible.

When the family visits Nantucket to decide to set up details, they stay at the famous Grey Gull Inn with its famous but treacherous staircase. When nature calls in the middle of the night, Carol sees a body sprawled at the bottom of the stairs and Bob Green sobbing beside it. To her great relief it is Tiffani.

Did Bob push her down the stairs? He insists he found Tiffani’s body when he came in and someone else went out. After plenty of warnings from Jim and the police, Carol tries to stay out of the investigation, but Nancy is now sure Bob didn’t harm Tiffani and wants Carol to help prove it.

With the help of her three best friends, Carol does her snooping on the down low. No one has a clue to who the killer might be until Lucy and Ethel sound the alarm. To her horror Carol realizes that Jenny had been the intended victim all along.

With the stalker/killer behind bars, everyone tries to move on. Now if Carol can just get Jenny to welcome her “help” in planning the wedding, all will be well.

Sometimes we are offered more help than we really need, but you can be assured that the staff at your public library will offer the right amount. Just drop in soon and check it out.

AT A GLANCE
BOOK: “Marriage can be Murder – Every Wife has a Story”
AUTHOR: Susan Santangelo
PUBLISHER: Baby Boomer Mysteries Press
PUBLISHED: July 13, 2012
PAGES: 237