April Fool Dead: A Death on Demand Mystery
By Carolyn Hart
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
Someone is playing a rather nasty April Fool's prank on mystery bookstore owner Annie Darling. A felonious forger on the idyllic -- if rarely tranquil -- South Carolina island of Broward's Rock has made it appear as if Annie is accusing some of her neighbors of murder. In the wink of a bloodshot eye, the Darling name is mud . . . and then the Broward's Rock body count starts mysteriously increasing. And now it's up to Annie to follow the well-hidden trail of the vicious trickster -- or a secret slayer's next lethal "joke" may very well be on her!
Carolyn Hart
An accomplished master of mystery, Carolyn Hart is the author of twenty previous Death on Demand novels. Her books have won multiple Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Awards. She is also the creator of the Henrie O series, featuring a retired reporter, and the Bailey Ruth series, starring an impetuous, redheaded ghost. One of the founders of Sisters in Crime, Hart lives in Oklahoma City.
Read more from Carolyn Hart
Dead by Midnight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death of the Party Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Laughed 'Til He Died Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder Walks the Plank Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Yankee Doodle Dead Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Engaged to Die Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Death Walked In Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ghost Ups Her Game Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ghost in Trouble: A Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Motherhood Is Murder Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related to April Fool Dead
Titles in the series (2)
Dead Days of Summer Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Dare to Die: A Death on Demand Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related ebooks
Poison Ivory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hand that Rocks the Ladle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSplendor in the Glass: A Den of Antiquity Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As the World Churns Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Killing Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHandy at Murder Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFlo and Maude Save a Santa Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsToo Big To Die: Odelia Grey Mystery, #12 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChunky Raspberry Fudge Murder: Jen and Sherry's Ice Cream Mystery, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMasquerade Party Murder: Juniper Holiday, #4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsParsley, Sage, Rosemary and Crime Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Reporting is Murder: A (Ghostly) Paranormal Cozy Mystery: Evangeline Moon Reporting, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTequila Mockingbird: Australian Amateur Sleuth, #7 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Spirit of the Season (A Lexie Starr Mystery, Novella) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mardi Gras Murder (A Maryvale Cozy Mystery, Book 4) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSlaying is Such Sweet Sorrow: A Far Wychwood Mystery Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Curse of the Holy Pail: Odelia Grey Mystery, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWritten to Death: A Murder, She Parodied Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPuddin' on the Blitz Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Killer Campaign: Lisa Chance Cozy Mysteries, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHell Hath No Curry Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Trimmed to Death: The Bad Hair Day Mysteries, #15 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Mystery For You
The Life We Bury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summit Lake Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5None of This Is True: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5False Witness: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paris Apartment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pretty Girls: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Daughter: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hidden Staircase: Nancy Drew #2 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Flight: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The River We Remember: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jack Reacher: A Mysterious Profile Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Kept Woman: A Will Trent Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Club: A Reese's Book Club Pick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finlay Donovan Is Killing It: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Side: A Collection of Mysteries & Thrillers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone: A Murdery Mystery Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pharmacist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hunting Party: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Short Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Did I Kill You?: A Thriller Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Dean Koontz: Series Reading Order - with Summaries & Checklist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Write a Mystery: A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Still Life: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder Under a Red Moon: A 1920s Bangalore Mystery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Woman in the Library: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Iron Lake (20th Anniversary Edition): A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The People Next Door Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pieces of Her: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for April Fool Dead
68 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Entertaining cast of kooky characters and enough mystery to keep it interesting. The real star for me is that island- I'm adding it to my bucket list of places I must visit.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Annie Darling has thought up the absolute best promotion for the April 1st book-signing of Emma Clyde’s latest Marigold Rembrandt mystery. She’s papered the island of Broward’s Rock with flyers and is sure to have a huge turnout at her Death on Demand mystery bookstore. When she spots a skywriting plane spelling out the book title – WHODUNIT? – she assumes her wealthy husband, Max, has orchestrated the surprise. But it wasn’t Max, or anyone else Annie knows. And more distressing, Annie soon learns that someone has distributed fake flyers with clues to several local crimes and offering a $1000 prize for the first person to solve them. If this is someone’s idea of an April Fool’s joke, it’s not very funny. Annie has to put a stop to this; her business is at risk!
This is book # 13 in the Death on Demand series. I read the first one a couple of years ago and it was entertaining enough. I picked this one up because the cover art satisfied a challenge. I’m sorry I didn’t check the library’s shelves for other options, because this was really dreadful.
The mystery flyers are just a lot of noise and Hart keeps jumping from character to character giving different points of view. The murder doesn’t happen until page 150, and apparently only Annie is investigating because we hardly see a police officer Then there is the side story involving Max’s mother, Laurel – a bigger-than-life wealthy widow with way too much time on her hands – which is totally unnecessary. I never did figure out what all the divining rods were for.
I have a feeling that this series, like so many others, has more than run its course; the author seems to have run out of coherent ideas. In a nutshell – the characters aren’t developed; the plot is disorganized; clues are nonexistent; the writing is padded with descriptions that add nothing to the story or atmosphere. Oh, and the cover art has absolutely nothing to do with the story, as far as I can tell. Don’t waste your time.