Review by Booklist Review
Savannah Reid and husband Dirk travel back to McGill, Georgia, for her twenty-fifth high-school reunion. She dreads seeing mean-girl Jeanette Parker. Savannah's first love, Tom, had cheated on her with Jeanette. Though Savannah is able to be friendly toward Tom, who is now the local sheriff, Jeanette hasn't changed; and when she provokes Savannah about her poverty-stricken past and her family, Savannah hits her. Savannah and Dirk escape to a favorite local make-out spot, where she hears a splash in the nearby swamp. When Jeanette is missing the next morning, and her body turns up in the swamp, Savannah is arrested for the murder. Her colleagues at Moonlight Magnolia Detective Agency come to the rescue and help Savannah uncover years of lies and secrets in a well-crafted mystery. McKevett keeps this series fresh, smart, and fun by varying the settings and continuing to develop the strong relationship between Savannah and Dirk. The mean-girl plot will help this one cross over to women's fiction.--Alessio, Amy Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
McKevett's middling 21st Savannah Reid mystery (after 2015's Killer Gourmet) takes the proprietor of the Midnight Magnolia Detective Agency in San Carmelita, Calif., and her husband, Det. Sgt. Dirk Coulter, to her Georgia hometown for a high school reunion, where it seems everything is frozen in time. Savannah, who had a hard childhood and was often bullied, is itching for some overdue revenge. And it turns out that other members of her class have old scores of their own to settle. Jeanette Parker has not changed her nasty ways and has continued to make new enemies, so it shouldn't have been a surprise when someone decides to get rid of Jeannette once and for all. Savannah, who has a history with Tom Stafford, now the local sheriff, becomes suspect number one. Series fans will gobble up this mix of sorghum syrup and vitriol, but newcomers may struggle to care what happens to the characters, many of whom are too polite to say what they really think about others. Agent: Richard Curtis, Richard Curtis Associates. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Private eye Savannah Reid (Killer Gourmet, 2015, etc.) gets to relive every single trauma of her childhood at her high school reunion. It's hard to imagine why Savannah wants to go back and see all the classmates who humiliated her for being poor and homely as a child. Maybe the reunion gives her an excuse to be in McGill, Georgia, along with most of her eight siblingsnot counting Macon, who's locked up for yet another DWIwhen they celebrate the birthday of her beloved Granny Reid. Maybe it's to show off her spiffy new spouse, Detective Sgt. Dirk Coulter. Whatever the reason, the trip is a train wreck. Jeanette Parker, mean as ever, taunts Savannah from the get-go. Since her rich, elderly husband recently bit the dust, Jeanette's got plenty of bling to wave under the detective's nose. And Savannah can hardly forget how Jeanette seduced her high school boyfriend, Tommy Stafford. When the purple-frocked princess makes fun of Dirk, that's itSavannah cold-cocks her in the parking lot. Jeanette walks away from that fracas, but the next day she isn't so lucky. Her body is found in the lake, inside her purple Cadillac, with a wound to the head that looks as if it just might have come from the stiletto heel Savannah's sister lent her. Tom Stafford, now the local sheriff, has no choice but to swear out a warrant for his ex-girlfriend, and pretty soon Savannah is in the McGill jailhouse listening to indecent proposals from Yukon Bill, her octogenarian cellmate. Can Dirk find Jeanette's killer and spring his lovely wife, or will Savannah have to bust out of the hoosegow to help him solve the case? The trip home has a dampening effect on the usually sanguine Savannah, who can't seem to keep her eyes on the prize. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
