dying on the vine marla cooper wedding cozy mystery

Marla Cooper Brings Out A New Wedding Mystery: Dying on the Vine

When Marla Cooper first created the feisty and funny wedding planner turned sleuth Kelsey McKenna, readers of cozy mystery fell in love with the character and her story Terror in Taffeta. Now she is back with another book in the series Dying on the Vine which promises the same level of joy.

In the new installment, Kelsey just signed on to a dream gig. She is going to be the “day-of” coordinator at the beautiful Higgins Estate in California wine country. There’s just one problem: the wedding was originally planned by Babs Norton, self-proclaimed Queen of Wine Country Weddings, who the father of the bride has fired.

Kelsey decides to clear the air with Babs and make sure there are no hard feelings, but before she can throw herself into executing the perfect wedding, she discovers Babs dead on the floor of of her office. David, Bab’s assistant, is quick to point the finger very publicly at Kelsey. Even worse, Kelsey learns that with the big day only weeks away, the bitter little man has sabotaged her new clients’ wedding by canceling all the vendor contracts.

With the help of her friend Brody and assistant, Laurel, Kelsey must scramble to salvage the wedding while dodging gossipy wedding planners, grumpy winemakers, and a cold-blooded killer.

A fun cozy mystery read with a fresh theme!

One of the great elements of this novel is that although it is written in a smart way, it’s an easy read to pass the time and enjoy a fun story. The style of the story and character development reminded us of the work by Jerrilyn Farmer, the American mystery fiction writer who penned a series of humorous ‘cozy’ mysteries featuring Hollywood caterer ‘Madeline Bean’.

Our Rating: 3.7

 

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