Bedeviled Eggs (Childs)

Bedeviled Eggs
Laura Childs (2010)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This is the third in the series that started with my pandemic book club selection. THe first one was interesting enoug that iI thought I'd try a couple more. This book was not available as an ebook from any of three NYC library systems, so I had to get it as a paperback, just as I did with the previous two. I also got the audiobook, as I did with the last two. It's good to listen to when I'm out for my walks.

The usual gang is back. Szanne, the recent widow, and her new boyfriend, Sam the doctor, along with Petra, whose husband is in a medical facility, and Toni, who is still married to Junior. Junior proves to be little more useful in this book. The relationship stays on-again-off-again. I'd imagined Junior as a cross between Jethro Clampett and Max Baer, Jr (who played Jethro, but could play parts that were more physical). This book describes him as a cross between Fonzie and Homer Simpson. I'm not sure I can switch that description into my head.

As luck would have it, this was another Halloween book, taking place just before the holiday and Election Day.

I enjoyed the book, because I'm getting to know the characters, but this one seemed to end abruptly. The murderer is caught but then it's over without any loose ends tied up.

The book opens wtih a Read Dating night at the Cackleberry Club, a take on Speed Dating where each person brings a favorite book. An argument ensues with one woman and a mayoral candidate about pieces of his mother's estate which apparently she was talked into donating. The moment is diffused, but afterward, as he and Suzanne walk out the back door, someone in the field shoots him between the eyes with a crossbow. More bolts him the building and the women hide inside until the police come. We meet a new, young deputy who searches the field. A couple days later, Suzanne and Petra find him deceased.

There are a couple of contrivances here. The book starts with a historical quilt trail, where places with a significant history hand up a quilt square (made of wood) and folks follow the trail to visit these places. Petra and Suzanne drive the trail, as night is falling, of course, and think they're lost. They pull over, found the police cruiser and then the deputy handcuffed to the tree and shot. Suzanne finds a hurt dog on the way home and calls Sam the doctor to come over and take a look.

Since it's almost Halloween, as well as Election Day, the Cackleberry Club is hosting a Halloween event. A guy owes Junior a favor and he can get them all the pumpkins they need for cheap. Once again, they go out at night, using a hand-drawn map of Junior's. They get lost again, and stumble upon a dog-fighting kennel, and are chased to a canoe to escape. Now we know what happened to the first dog.

And then there's a prison break that causes the Reverend Yoder to have a heart attack while his spreading the alarm. The ladies save his life, and he'll recover.

And then it all comes to a head at the Halloween event. Junior gets a good showing here, and Doogie lets him because Doogie might not trust himself at this point.

And it's over.

For all the talk of the election, we never make it to Election Day. The crooked mayor is now unopposed, so he's a shoe-in, but Doogie was afraid of his chances if he didn't close either of the murders. He got the guy to confess (off-camera, in the car) to the first killing, but not the deputy. But Doogie will work on it. No mention that, oh, there's a gun in the field behind the restaurant and it might be the same one that killed the deputy. No reelection celebration after closing the book on the murders. No followup on the prison break (other than they were rounded up) or any fallout from the dog fights. So while I enjoyed the book, it could've used a denouemnent of a half-dozen pages of so.

The other nit to pick is that Suzanne finds a clue that Doogie missed. A post-it that says only "Tortuga" on it. Now forget that this is the kind of clue you only find in Scooby Doo or other contrived mysteries, but the number of people who knew that it means "turtle" in Spanish was astounding, considering that no one has spoken Spanish yet. There was scarce mention of the island, which if you're aware of popular culture, Tortuga plays an important part in Pirates of the Caribbean, and is an actual place. This allows for a misdirection because someone happens to know that another character has a turtle tattoo. Without a spoiler, there is no reason why the word "Tortuga" on the note shouldn't have been followed by another word, except that then it would identify what it meant 50 pages too soon.

Once again, the dual media has its advantages, where I catch something in one that I miss in the other.