Wednesday, 2 March 2016

Cancans, Croissants, and Caskets by Mary McHugh (Cosy Mystery, 10E/10E, short 'n' sweet review)

 August 2015, Kensington Books, 352 pages, Ebook, Review copy from NetGalley
 
Content: lots of humour, some murder, major peril

Summary from Kensington Books
 You can’t tiptoe when murder’s afoot…

It’s Bastille Day in Paris. The Happy Hoofers—Tina, Janice, Pat, Mary Louise, and Gini—are all set to kick off the fete by dancing the cancan on a beautiful sightseeing cruise down the Seine. As the leggy ladies soak in the magic of the city of lights, everything is magnifique…until a very important patron goes belly-up on the top deck.

On the heels of their French debut, murder takes center stage. The five daring dancers will need to step lively to stop the crafty killer fast…or their grand finale will turn out far more explosive than the fireworks over the Eiffel Tower…

Nayu's thoughts
There's a fair amount of humour in this Parisian murder mystery where I guessed who the murderer was very early on but I didn't care. I was laughing too much at the escapades of the dancing friends, who have great fun as they work on board a boat despite the murder which they delve into head and feet first. They get put in lots of danger, some where I thought the end had to be near because there was seemingly no way out of certain sticky situations. 

I was frustrated on their behalf at the way the enemy kept slipping out of police notice, who, it must be noted, take a personal interest in the dancing troupe. That relationship has a few perks which are appreciated despite the somber ccasion it's given in. I'm looking forward to reading the previous 2 books in the series which exactly my kind of read, along with helping me travel the world from my sofa! 

Random trivia: while looking for Mary's website I discovered she's worked on the magazine Good Housekeeping, which I read - very cool! 

Find out more on Mary's website.

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