MIXED UP MURDER by Leslie Langtree
Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Humorous, Coming December 15
5*****
Blurb: It’s been a crazy summer in Who’s There, Iowa, but if ex-CIA agent turned Girl Scout leader Merry Wrath Ferguson thought all the drama would end when school started, she was wrong. Now that the teens from the Cult of NicoDerm are away at college, a strange group of squatters, calling themselves the Ministry of a Series of Unfortunate Events, have moved into the Chapel of Despair and are refusing to leave. NicoDerm leader Stewie, from his college in Wisconsin, believes his Big Demon Energy will drive them out. Merry’s most dangerous Girl Scout, Betty, has a plan that involves a guy named Bad Andy and about 40 Russians from Des Moines, but Merry thinks there has to be a better, somewhat more legal way. Unfortunately, the police can’t dislodge them and Betty’s middle school club, the Future Espionage Agents of America, is making plans of their own to deal with the intruders. In addition Felicity Coombs, crime scene cleaner, has been finding strange poems at the sites of fatal home accidents, that seem to be aimed at Merry. Merry is starting to wonder if any of those accidents were really murders, and she suspects that they may be connected to the Ministry. If so, can she solve the mystery and get this new cult out before it’s too late?
THOUGHTS: Merry Wrath and her friends and gang of girls are at it again in this addition to the Merry Wrath Murder mystery series. In this one, a “cult” has taken over the Chapel of Despair from Merry’s friends (most of whom are away at college). Betty, a fourteen-year-old spy-to-be (although I think she’s well on her way to already being one!) begs Merry to get rid of the squatters, so Merry goes undercover to find out what’s really going on there. In addition, an older farmer has been murdered (not unusual in Who’s There, Iowa – the most murdery town in the state) and Merry is certain his death is connected to the cult. While she’s working on these two issues, someone else has been leaving mysterious poems about her at scenes of deaths – and left a cute little lamb at her home.
Merry and her friends solve the mystery surrounding the cult and the murder, but not who’s leaving the poems or who left the lamb. Which leads me to believe there is definitely more to come for Merry and her people.
Recommended.
Disclosure of Material: I received a final and/or advanced reader copy of this book with the hope that I will leave my unbiased opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… My Opinions. I am posting this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”
