I truly wish I could give this more than 2 stars. I love Joan Hess, but this isn't one of her better entries in the Claire Malloy series. From the moment Claire received a call from her presumed-dead-for-30-years cousin Veronica (aka "Ronnie") asking Claire to look for a blackmailer, to Claire's traipsing blithely through Acapulco with little regard for the dangers of possible imprisonment in Mexico, I was left shaking my head. Granted, one needs to suspend belief with most cozy mysteries, but this one would have had to be an out-and-out satire for me to suspend my belief enough to believe it. This being said, this IS Joan Hart and there is always something to enjoy with her witty writing style. As always, I found Claire's daughter Caron a great bit of comic relief. The mystery itself was quite good - up until the "twist," which I totally saw coming. It's not too bad, but I'm hoping for better with the next book I read by Hess, who is one of my favorite cozy authors.
#11 in the bookstore owner Claire Malloy mystery series set in Farberville, Arkansas. Claire receives a call from Veronica "Ronnie" Landonwood in Chicago to ask Claire for help in tracking down a blackmailer who threatens to expose her past and possibly ruin her professional life is the information comes out. The twist: Claire thought her cousin died 30 years ago in a car accident in Mexico. She wants Claire to go to Acapulco, where, as a teenager, Ronnie killed a famous Hollywood producer who tried to rape her and was sent to prison. There are tons of twists and turns which take Claire to Acapulco and then Phoenix to unravel what happened and find the blackmailer. The end will come as a bit of a surprise.
