Murder Walks the Plank (2004)

I listened to this book. It was okay. The mystery starts when a woman is pushed off a riverboat. She survives but doesn't remember what happened. The Darlings believe she was attacked but the sheriff leans toward the easy answer that the woman jumped or fell accidentally. A wealthy woman dies and the body of an unknown man is found.

Always a fun series. Great summer reading. ( )

I just went to Amazon to see how this book was rated, and there are plenty of five-star ratings and rave reviews. Hmm. I thought it was a pleasant enough book with a fairly good mystery, but I wasn't in the least taken by the main character and her circle of friends, who are gather are an ongoing group in the series. I was actually annoyed by the too-perfect marriage of the main character, Annie Darling, and her husband Max. The closest they seemed to come to any kind of discord was when she insisted an accident wasn't an accident but a murder; and Max disagrees but still does at least half of the investigative work on the case.

The red herrings were plentiful and I didn't find the solution unbelievable, but I just didn't care about any of the characters.

Another somewhat irritating aspect for me was the idea that so many of the characters had such a depth of knowledge of mysteries. I've been reading them all my life, too, and while I recognized the names of perhaps a quarter or a third of the authors mentioned, there were plenty I didn't. In particular, the 'mystery paintings' contest featured in the book described five paintings that represented five books, none of which I've ever heard of. And yet one of the characters in the book unerringly names all five of them without skipping a beat? Not entirely sure I buy that, really.

Oh, well, this is obviously appealing to many readers; I note she has 42 books on Amazon. And a slew of awards. And I'm sure a pile of money. Good for her.

Once again Carolyn Hart has created a mystery that didn't let on whodunit until the last few pages. Two women in the community die within hours of each other, both presumed accidental, but our Annie doesn't think that is the case at all. Then another body, someone unknown to the Island, is found shot to death. Are all connected in some way. Somehow our sleuths think so. Watch how Emma, Annie, Max and Henny figure this out with the proverbial anecdotes from Laurel whose strange advice always ends up on the money. ( )

On a mystery cruise someone is attacked, but who would want to hurt the town saint? ( )