Is There a Dead Man in the House?

Rating:
Summary: A DULL BOOK IN SPITE OF A LIKEABLE LEAD CHARACTER
Review: KF: I like Peaches Dann, the amateur sleuth with the faulty memory. But this is not the best of the lot. Actually, it is fairly confusing - giving one the impression of hasty writing and inattention to plot and transition. Certainly not fascinating or intriguing. Actually, not even very interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Witty and a challenge-What more could you want?
Review: Peaches Dann has such a faulty memory that she constantly has to create ingenious ways of reminding herself of what is important to her. Her methods are so effective, Peaches decides to help other people suffering from the same problem. She writes a book and starts a tour to promote it. Unfortunately, the book tour is interrupted by her rapscallion of a father, who, though wheelchair bound, has eloped with some woman he has only known for a few weeks. Peaches feels guilty because she introduced her lonely father to the colorful Azalea Marlowe.

She only finds out that they were married when Peaches receives a call from a Tennessee hospital spokesperson who informs her that Azalea has fallen down a ladder at the family homestead she was renovating. Her dad wants Peaches, who has demonstrated some crimesolving ability in yhe past, to investigate the incident because he suspects it was not an accident. When Peaches arrives at Azalea's place, she learns that the family's home has had several mysterious occurrences, including the unsolved disappearance of a groom and his future brother-in-law in 1849. That mystery reaches into the present day as someone is murdering people trying to learn what happened in the mid nineteenth century.

IS THERE A DEAD MAN IN THE HOUSE? Is the fifth book in the Peaches Dann series, starring a unique heroine whose faulty memory makes her crime solving abilities a delightful counterpoint. Elizabeth Daniel Squire creates a realistic murder mystery that is only solvable if the reader is a genius or an expert on amateur sleuths. Ms. Squire has created a charming series that successfully combines the best of a cozy with the elite of a literary mystery.

Harriet Klausner