Who knew taking a dog to the groomer would result in finding a dead body? Well, in the Hammocks, Handguns & Hearsay, the newest addition to the Camper & Criminal Cozy Mystery series by Tonya Kappes, that’s what happened to Mae West.
All Mae wanted to do was (spoiler alert) get everything planned for her upcoming wedding to Hank. Right from page one the mystery starts off with a dead body and evidence pointing to Dottie, one of The Laundry Club ladies. When you find all of this information right off the bat you can’t help but ask: 1) Who actually is the killer? and 2) Where is Dottie?. But don’t worry as The Laundry Club ladies are on this case and they will get to the bottom of how bounty hunter, Colt Lincoln, was killed.
The full book description is below:
Grab your hammock and your bug spray, and join Mae and the Laundry Club Ladies on a wild ride through Happy Trails Campground, where the only thing more dangerous than the handguns is the gossip.
When famous bounty hunter Colt Lincoln is found dead in the Smelly Dog Groomer, clutching a sponge curler that belongs to Dottie Swaggert, Mae West and the Laundry Club Ladies know they’ve got a real doozy of a case on their hands. Despite Colt’s catfishing ways and the fact that he’d parked his fifth wheel camper in Happy Trails Campground, owned by Mae and run by Dottie, they know their friend couldn’t have done it.
As they start digging, they discover that Colt had been chasing a member of a notorious motorcycle gang member across the country. To complicate matters further, there’s a motorcycle convention in town, and the Laundry Club Ladies have to go undercover to find out if any of the gang members are among the convention attendees.
But that’s not all – Mae’s mama, Mary Elizabeth, is breathing down her neck about finalizing her wedding plans with her fiancé Hank. With a killer on the loose and the campground buzzing with rumors, Mae’s got her hands full.
As Mae and her pals weave their way through the hearsay and red herrings, they uncover a web of deceit that threatens to take down more than just Colt. With the killer still on the loose and time running out, Mae must use all her Southern charm and camping know-how to catch the culprit.
Will they catch the killer before it’s too late, or will this case be the one that got away?
Now you may be saying to yourself I haven’t read any of the books before this one in the series. Well, I have some good news for you. I am not fully caught up in the series either (I am working my way through it). But the nice thing that Tonya does in her books that are part of a series is to give the reader a bit of a background of the character and what has happened in previous books. So, if you don’t want to know what has happened in past books make sure you read them in order.
Now this book really had me guessing who could have done it. I kept changing who I thought it was throughout the whole book and when I found out who was the killer, I was a bit surprised. When a book does this and really gets me invested not only with the characters but the crime, I can’t help but enjoy the whole thing. With each book the characters become stronger and grow and you really can’t help but want to be friends with every one of them. It’s how she gets me to keep wanting to go back to Normal, Kentucky.
With all of that said I am giving this book 5 out 5 stars. I highly recommend this book and any cozy mystery lover will enjoy this book and have an exciting time reading it.
If you have a kindle unlimited membership you can read the book as it is included in your membership. If you are not, you are able to purchase it on Amazon.
Have you read this book? Are you excited to pick this up?
The post Book Review – ‘Hammocks, Handguns & Hearsay’ by Tonya Kappes first appeared on The Lost Coffee Mug.
