Brigadoom! by Susan Goodwill: This book was hilarious, and a good mystery to boot. Just ignore the Evanovich echoes. (I just had to look up that phrase, "to boot," which seems to make no sense. I found: "This term has nothing to do with footwear. The 'boot' is thought to be a derivative of the earlier 'bat' meaning 'good or useful'. This is also the root of the word 'better'." on this highly useful site (if you're a big English nerd). Moving on...
Kate London is sent to anger management class after hitting her cheating fiance, Mayor Ronnie Balfours, (in a port-a-john) with a golf cart. Meanwhile, she has a month to get the family legacy, a crumbling Egyptian theater (newly condemned by an angry mayor), in shape for a production of Brigadoon her crazy Aunt Kitty is putting on. When Mayor Ronnie turns up dead in Kate's car, she's dragged into a mystery involving vandalism of the Egyptian, dumpster diving, real estate intrigue, and a fellow anger management student. Susan Goodwill is really funny, the writing is snappy, and the mystery well-plotted. If Aunt Kitty and her friend Velma remind you a bit of Grandma Mazur and Edna, well, that's okay. There are echoes of Plum, to be sure, but the story is original, and the characters well-developed. (Dr. Al the pissed-off anger management teacher is a gem!) I had fun reading this, and I recommend it to anyone fond of a humor/mystery combo.
Sounds like something different -- a mysterious comedy. Maybe I'll check it out.
ReplyDeleteLol, Have you ever read Agnes and the Hitman? She had to take anger management classes because she hit her cheating fiance with a frying pan. I'll have to see if my library has this.
ReplyDeleteI just tried to request the book from the Minneapolis Library and they don't have Susan Goodwill or the book listed! I guess it's time to go book shopping.
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