CAROLYN HART is a long-time best-selling author of cozy
mysteries. Later this year she will be named a Grand Master by the Mystery
Writers of America. Dead, White, and Blue is the latest (23 and counting) mystery
in her Death on Demand series. The
series features amateur detective Annie Darling, owner of the Death on Demand
Bookstore in Broward’s Rock, South Carolina. Her husband, Max Darling, enjoys
inherited wealth and undertakes confidential commissions as a sort of hobby. He
considers himself a problem solver, and is not a licensed Private Investigator.
Although it
would seem that a Fourth of July dance would be a happy, relaxed, occasion, Shell Hurst is making things
miserable for her husband, his first wife, her lover, his kids, her blackmailer
and just about everyone else. Several days after the dance, Shell’s
stepdaughter approaches Max to find her stepmother. Not only is she missing,
but so are her new, green Porsche and a waiter from the country club which
hosted the dance. Annie and Max begin to investigate. They get help, of course,
from some of the other Broward Rock residents: especially local mystery author
Emma Clyde, Annie’s dear friend Henny Brawley and Max’s mother Laurel.
Hart’s
characters are always reliable, yet utterly unpredictable. Those loveable
characters, plus the idyllic-seeming Broward’s Rock are reasons why this series
has been going on for so long. But there is another reason why I love these
books -- Annie’s bookstore always
features a monthly mystery contest. Five books are pictured as watercolor
paintings above the coffee bar. From the description of the paintings we, along
with Broward Rock customers, are invited to guess the author and title being
depicted. I can rarely get one or two, but Henny and Emma always can guess
correctly. Annie, as any good bookstore owner should do, also recommends titles
for her customers. In this story she mentions over sixty authors and at least
42 titles – that’s enough to create a great list of future cozy reads for me.
In addition
to her upcoming Grand Master Award, Hart has won multiple Agatha, Anthony and
Macavity awards. She is one of the founders of Sisters in Crime and, in 2007,
received the Lifetime Achievement Award at Malice Domestic.