A Little Traveling Music, Please (Honey Huckleberry Mysteries)

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining but Dimwitted Heroine
Review: ALITTLE TRAVELING MUSIC, PLEASE is the 3rd Honey Huckleberry mystery, which I didn't realize when I picked the book up. If you haven't read the first two books and intend to do so, be sure to read them before starting this one, as the author provides many spoilers throughout.

The story opens with the mailman delivering an envelope addressed to Honey's dog, Bailey. All that's in that envelope is a brass key. The mailman also delivered several notices of termination of service from Honey's utility companies. It seems that Honey's accountant, who normally pays all her bills, hasn't been doing so for months. When no one answers the phone at his office, Honey goes there in person and encounters the huge, threatening, former Navy SEAL, private investigator Sledge Hamra, who also is looking for the missing accountant. He follows Honey wherever she goes.

In addition to a missing accountant (and her $4 million!), Honey has misplaced her fiance, and she had planned to go to London to search for him. Her adventures while searching lead her into many dangerous situations, including being abducted and physically hurt. She doesn't let a little think like kidnappers get in her way, and Honey is soon scouring the English countryside seeking her man.

While the book was funny and interesting, I was disappointed in Honey's dimwitted antics. Given all the signs of a hurricane, does Honey ever once tumble to that? Even turn on the radio to listen to the weather forcast? Nope. She easily dismisses all evidence that the shore has been evacuated until it's too late. Later, after being kidnapped and released, does she call the police? Nope. Instead, she tries to find the kidnappers to tell them her fiance is dead and they should leave her alone now. As if they would take her word for it!

I prefer intelligent protagonists, so I don't plan to read any further Honey Huckleberry books. If you, too, prefer to read books where the heroine acts in an intelligent manner, skip this one entirely.

Rating:
Summary: Hurray for the best Honey Huckleberry mystery yet!
Review: Are you tired of cookie-cutter characters and predictable protagonists? Burned-out on heroines as complex as a Starbucks stir stick? Wonder where all the quirky, eccentric sleuths are hiding? Look no further...Honey Huckleberry is back. And face it, any lady strong-willed enough to carry off that moniker is worth a look!

From the postman's mysterious delivery of a brass key to her dog Bailey, through natural disasters and apparent destitution, across Texas and London, Honey follows her nose and her heart, as always. She will capture your affections with her innocence and candor. Buy the book, and I double-dog-dare you to try to keep it stashed away in your beach bag, briefcase or backpack...you won't be able to for long. A fast, fun read, not to be missed.

Rating:
Summary: Simply Irresistable!
Review: Few books live up to incredibly clever opening lines, but true to her form, Margaret Moseley's crisp prose and eccentric characters captivate the reader right down the the unexpected, and perfectly luscious last line.

Honey Huckleberry appears to have it all--several million dollars, an incredibly sexy fiance, and a close circle of friend, among whom she includes her accountant.

One day Bailey the dog gets a brass key delivered to him with the Honey's morning mail. Before you can turn more than a few pages, we find that Honey's newly found stasis is shattered. Her fiance is missing along with her accountant, and very possibly her newly found millions.

Honey is prodded into action once again by her friend turned roommate, Janie. These two quirky cohorts brave more than one rollicking adventure on their way towards discovering the fate of Honey's lover, her accountant, and her missing money.

Once Moseley introduces a seedy PI named Sledge Hamra into the mixture of Honey's characteristic tunnel vision and Janie's yearning for adventure, this rollicking good read takes off on a one of a kind journey that keeps you guessing until the last minute.

Great job, Ms. Moseley!

Rating:
Summary: Where, oh where, has my money, lover, and accountant gone?
Review: Honey Huckleberry is not a superheroine. Try as hard as she might to take control of each situation she finds herself in, she's still a victim of circumstances. To make things worse, her dog gets more interesting mail than she does! An unidentifiable key arrives in a well-traveled envelope addressed to her dog Bailey, while all she gets are over due bills and termination notices. (Typical mail for most writers.)

Honey's search for the lock that fits Bailey's key takes her to the Texas Hill Country, New York City, London and the English countryside.

Honey is not a detective. She doesn't even pretend to be one. She's just a girl who was raised in a very protective atmosphere and is now becoming an adult.

Her friend Janey is an avid mystery reader and bookstore owner and is the slueth of pair. If two heads are better than one, then three must be better still. Minnie (introduced in Grinning In His Mashed Potatoes) joins them in NYC for their trip to England. The Texas locales are authentic, the restaurants are real (I've eaten at all of them and even recommended some of them to my friends).

Ms Moseley brings back the memorable characters we've encountered in the earlier books in this series, with each one contributing to her quest. Each character's personality is well defined; Ms Moseley makes you believe in them as real people, likeable or not. Throughout the series, we've seen each character grow and change. I'm looking forward to next summer's beach read from this author, be it a Honey Huckleberry mystery or some other work that has yet to surface.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Leave Home Without It ...
Review: If light entertaining mysteries with delicious twists is to your taste then this third Honey offering needs a pathway to your bedside table.

Nothing is the way it looks in the world of Honey Huckleberry. After discovering four million dollars everything is looking sweet until her old friend and family accountant Steven Bondesky disappears ... along with her money.

Honey and her self proclaimed mystery sleuth girlfriend Jane need to sort out why Bailey...her dog, received a key in the mail, and why a strange P.I. Sledge Hamra suddenly showed up in Bondesky's office. Does it have something to do with her fiancé Harry's disappearance, her money's disappearance?

Enjoy the trip as Honey wrestles not only the puzzle but with kidnappers and a surprising new foe, Hurricane Charley.

Barbara (c) 2000

Rating:
Summary: It's a sweep!
Review: Margaret Moseley has done it again...swept us into the mind and antics of a most unlikely detective. Honey Huckleberry provides us with yet another very entertaining jaunt into the "whodunit" realm with incredible charm and wit. But then, what else would we expect from the author who gave us Bonita Faye?

Honey's dog, Bailey, may have gotten the brass key...but Margaret Moseley definitely gets the brass ring for this one. It's a "must have" for any library!

Rating:
Summary: As Good as the First in the Series!
Review: Millions of dollars, a new best friend, two men wanting to marry her, and a great dog! Well, all that is left is a mystery. Honey is back and better than ever. With her friend Janie, Honey is out to solve her biggest mystery yet. Where is her loyal accountant, fiance and her four million dollars? While trying to solve the mystery she travels through a hurricane, tornado and then off to London. While on her journey she is followed by a great new character/ P.I named Sledge Hamra. Is he what he says he is? Or should she be a bit worried? This is a fun and endearing mystery. With each addition to the "Honey" series the reader grows to love Honey and her friends more. Enjoy!!

Rating:
Summary: A Little Traveling Music Please
Review: Moseley has the most intriguing openings, a key for grabbing immediate interest. This was the best of the three she's written in the Honey/Janie series. I'm a good guesser of endings...this one kept me reading until the last page. If you like humor, romance, intrigue wrapped up in a thriller...get this book. It's a fun read. Look forward to the next in the series!

Rating:
Summary: A Little Traveling Music Please
Review: Moseley has the most intriguing openings, a key for grabbing immediate interest. This was the best of the three she's written in the Honey/Janie series. I'm a good guesser of endings...this one kept me reading until the last page. If you like humor, romance, intrigue wrapped up in a thriller...get this book. It's a fun read. Look forward to the next in the series!

Rating:
Summary: Very entertaing mystery
Review: Twenty-nine-year-old Honey Huckleberry leads an interesting life. A former book representative, who visited independent bookstore owners throughout central Texas, Honey quit when she found four million dollars. She is on the verge of seeing London with her roommate Janie when the mail carrier delivers an envelope to her dog Bailey. Inside is a key with nothing else in the envelope.

Honey's trusted accountant Stephen Bondesky managed her money before disappearing with her cash. Worried about her friend as well as her money, Honey breaks into Bondesky's office to find the place deserted. She finds a file with her name on it. Inside is another key identical to that mailed to Bailey. Needing to find answers, Honey enlists her friends to help her learn what is going on. Between nature and terrorists, Honey and company will be lucky to remain alive let alone find answers.

Margaret Moseley is a master of characterizations that include memorable players who fans will remember years later. In A LITTLE TRAVELING MUSIC, PLEASE, Ms. Moseley combines humor and intrigue in the creation of huggable Honey Huckleberry and her horde. This leads to a special tale starring a unique amateur sleuth surrounded by several eccentric but endearing protagonists.

Harriet Klausner