Friday, May 27, 2016

Weaver’s STRYOFOAM CORPSE Delivers Reader’s Trifecta: Mystery, Romance, Laughs

By Linda Lovely

A heroine-in-hiding who hasn’t lost her sense of humor—at least until she’s the prime suspect for killing her sleazy peeping Tom neighbor. A strapping sheriff who faints at the sight of a corpse. The sheriff’s life-long buddy, an attorney, who lusted for our heroine long before learning she was the sheriff’s secret girlfriend. A politician who plays dirty as he tries to replace the sheriff with his nincompoop son.  

In her newest romantic mystery, STYROFOAM CORPSE, author Robin Weaver weaves these characters in and out of a plot that’s full of surprise twists and turns. It’s a perfect summer read for folks like me who enjoy mysteries entwined with romantic complications and seasoned with humor and snark. By the way, those are trademark signs you’re reading a mystery written by Robin (Snark-is-her-middle-name) Weaver, one of my favorite authors.

Here’s a quick synopsis.
Sheriff Casey Randolph suffers from necrophobia, e.g. the sight of dead bodies makes him weak in the knees and weaker in the stomach. Casey’s crazy about Shannon Summers but keeps their relationship secret for two reasons. He’s running for re-election and he’s sure his opponent, Butchie Blackwell, would twist the relationship into something ugly since Shannon, while separated, is still married. Also she’s hiding from her bullying husband while waiting for her divorce to become final.

Shannon’s neighbor, Timothy Welch, a lecherous peeping Tom, calls the sheriff’s office to report a woman stabbing a man to death and the address he gives is Shannon’s. A frantic Sheriff Casey speeds over, but soon finds the dead body in Shannon’s pool is actually a Styrofoam dummy. She acted out stabbing the centerpiece decoration for her Halloween party just to play a mind game on the peeper. The sheriff visits Welch and warns him to quit bothering Shannon.

After her Halloween party, Shannon awakens poolside and groggy to discover that her Styrofoam corpse has been replaced with a real dead body—who is soon identified as peeper Welch. Shannon’s the prime suspect since she’s verbally threatened Welch, and she’s alone with the body inside her gated, locked home. Initially Sheriff Casey wonders if Shannon might have been under the influence of illegal drugs contributed by party guests, and thinks it’s possible she could have killed Welch in self-defense.

The sheriff calls on his life-long buddy, Parker Daniels, to help Shannon since he can’t publicly do so. He doesn’t realize Parker and Shannon know each other, but hadn’t acted on a mutual attraction. Oops. Jealousy enters the scene.
 
This is just the START. The twists and turns include political shenanigans, illegal bugs, kidnapping, and an array of suspects who had good reason to kill Welch. Will let you discover how it all turns out! Click here  to buy STYROFOAM CORPSE.

Other fun reads by Robin Weaver include BLUE RIDGE FEAR and FRAMING NOVERTA.Click on the titles for links to her books.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great review! Just the cover makes me interested, but your review clinches the deal. Now to just fine the time to actually read. :)

Linda Lovely said...

Glad you liked the review. You'll really like the book.

Judith Ashley said...

Linda, you have a talent for writing reviews! I know Robin writes a great book but your review puts it over the top!