I love this series. Kiki and Reagan crack me up as they go out and about solving murders. This time Reagan must find the killer of the man running against her mother for alderman. If she cannot solve it, mama is going up for it. I love how Reagan manages to upset everyone. She leaves Boone befuddled. She is not going to listen to Boone to keep her nose out of it but she knows the cop sent from Atlanta to handle the case is not going to look further than her mom so she does what she must. I have so much fun watching Reagan and Kiki get into trouble and managing to survive. ( )

Pearls and Poison is the third book in the A Consignment Shop Mystery series.

Election time is nearing in Savannah and Reagan's mother, Judge "Guillotine Gloria" is in a tightly contested race for Alderman with Kip Seymour. Seymour is about to tell Judge Summerfield about his new campaign ad that will knock her out of the race. Later that day Seymour dies from an apparent poisoning. Quite naturally, the police feel they know the killer and more interested in getting more evidence, rather than looking for any other suspects.

So it's time for Reagan and her Aunt Kiki to go undercover to sort out the truth. They soon find that there many suspects from other contractors that were losing jobs because of being under bid, campaign worker that was told he was in love with her and a power hungry wife.

As always, it's a joy to visit with Reagan and Kiki and they are up to normal hijinks that will get them jail time. Most of the other fun characters are to offer there assistance.

And in the words of William Shakespeare, I think the lady doeth protest too much. I wonder if Reagan maybe mellowing with regards to her ex's slick lawyer, Boone. We'll see what happens in other books.

Will be looking for the next book. ( )

Pearls and Poison finds Reagan's mother running for alderman in Savannah and being accused of the murder of her rival candidate. Naturally this means that Reagan and good old Aunt KiKi need to get into all kinds of trouble in order to clear her good name (not that they've ever needed much excuse for that). As this is a cozy mystery, there's never really much chance that anything bad will happen, although Reagan's eyebrows do get singed off at one point. But the bad guys get their just deserts and that's all that matters. That and it looks like things between Reagan and everyone's favorite hot, sketchy lawyer are finally coming to a head.

A fun cozy mystery. I thought the ending was a bit abrupt, and am still wondering what Boone told Reagan's ex, but presumably all of this will be resolved in the next book. ( )

1/2 of this two star rating goes to Walker Boone as a thank you for existing as a character in this series.

What works:
Likeable if scattered-to-pieces MC: check.
Adorable canine mutt side-kick: check
Eccentric (and likeable) family and friends: check
Savannah, Ga backdrop: check

What doesn't work: Boy is this going to be a long list (and long review - I have rants!), starting and ending with bad story editing.

Page 94: The scene is a fracas at a funeral home, during the viewing of the victim. EMT's are called, but it's never explained why. Then "the ambulance carrying Blanche motored off down Price" That's the first time Blanch's name is mentioned and it's only ever mentioned twice more in the following few paragraphs. The last mention does give us a last name, "Blanche Woodside again?" but that's it. I have no idea who Blanche is or why the EMT's came, or why she was carted off in an ambulance, apparently at her insistence. I actually went back and re-read the previous 93 pages to figure out who the hell this extraneous character is, because surely I must have not been paying attention and missed her introduction. Nope. And she's never mentioned again. So it's page 94 and I'm already pissed off because who the hell is Blanche!?!?!

At some point in time I remember hearing the following advice: When getting dressed for an event, put on your jewellery and then remove one piece. I can't remember who first said it, but I always thought it a smart way to avoid over-accessorising. This piece of advice kept popping into mind while I was reading this book. I think with very little alteration, it could also be a sage piece of advice for authors. For this book in particular:

- Humor. There are a LOT of funny scenes and lines in this book. I love humour and almost require it in my reading, but Pearls and Poison felt like it was trying too hard to be funny too often. It went beyond madcap and veered into desperate.

- Southern. I also love me some Southern ambiance. I'm from the South and I enjoy the idioms, the accents, all of it. But again, the author took everything just that one step too far, and the reader is drowning in the overuse of cultural language. If I read one more quaintly Southern exclamation I was going to snatch somebody bald-headed.

- Actions. The characters spend a lot of time making the sign of the cross in this book. I mean, a HEAP of times. I was this -| |- close to buying the ebook version so I could do an actual count of how many times it was used. Now I'm RC (sort of lapsed) and I'm not at all offended by the use of the sign of the cross for light hearted effect. The first few times she did it I thought it was amusingly effective. After the first 3 or 4 times, not so much. After about the half dozen mark, it verged on insensitive and trivialising.

- Stupid nicknames. The MC and assorted supporting characters call the murder victim "Scumbucket" or, most frequently, "Scummy" almost exclusively - we're talking 95% of the time. It's not only a stupid character device, the chosen nicknames are just stupid, uncreative, and childish. What are we, 10 years old?

Let me be clear, all of those items above (except for the stupid nicknames) were effective, positive aspects of the book - or at least, they would have been had the author used them judiciously. If she'd only removed that one piece of jewellery, this story would have been a fabulously entertaining read. As it was, this story is just WAY over accessorised.

Next, (and this is something the author has a habit of doing in this series) is a complete disregard for reality as it pertains to legal matters. In Pearls and Poison, it's slander/libel laws. The MC's mother (a judge!) is running for alderman and her opponent not only runs around town making up completely false stories about her, but he comes into her campaign headquarters and boasts about the speeches, commercials and press conferences he has planned where he's going to spread more falsities. And the JUDGE does nothing! Well, sorry, apparently this is supposed to give her adequate motive to kill him. As opposed to say the more rational actions of injunctions or law suits. Gah!

Last, but certainly not least, the final climactic scene. I suppose I'd better put it in spoiler tags, because it is rather plot related.

Reagan stumbles upon the murderer, who ushers her into a room where she finds Boone tied up to a chair. I've gone back and rechecked: he's definitely tied to a chair. The murderer confesses all including how he's going to kill them and bury them with the Yankees in the basement, and then Boone is suddenly "decking him with a solid left hook". Nobody untied him, yet here he is, decking the bad guys! It's magic!

I'm going to wrap up this excessively rant-y review by saying the plot was actually a really, really well constructed puzzle. Suspects, clues, twists, and a surprise bad guy. A genuinely great mystery.

This series frustrates me; I really like the bones of it, which is why I keep reading each new book. But the author just piles too much on top. It's a deep fried Snickers bar with bacon, hot fudge, whipped cream, cherries and sprinkles, when really, the Snickers bar is delicious all by itself. ( )

Read for Fun (Gift from Friend)
Overall Rating: 4.25
Story Rating: 4.00
Character Rating: 4.50

Read It File It Review: Pearls and Poison by Duffy Brown was a delightfully fun read that had me grinning, yelling, and fist pumping! This whole series is one that I really have fallen in love with and can count on to make me laugh! ( )