Helpful Score: 12
This is the second (and also the last) book in the thoroughly delightful Kitzi Camden mystery series. The author, Barbara Burnett Smith, was killed in an automobile accident in 2005 after starting the manuscript. Her husband convinced her friend and fellow author, Karen MacInerney, to finish the book for his wife. I must say that Ms. MacInerney has done Barbara proud. One can hardly tell that the entire book wasn't written by Ms. Burnett Smith. The story and plot lines flow seamlessly, and the ending is, I'm sure, everything that Barbara would have hoped for. I hope that Ms. MacInerney can be persuaded to continue the Kitzi Camden series - it is clear there are many more stories to be told about this fascinating family and the former senator and bead enthusiast with a nose for murder.
Helpful Score: 6
Enjoyable - great characters, decent mystery. Usually mysteries where they try to work in a specific hobby or something are annoying, but this book and the first Kitzi Camden are really good. I'm sad that there won't be any more.
Helpful Score: 5
I was happy to discover this book at my Friends of the Library sale. The characters in this novel are enjoyable and I love the descriptions of all the beaded goodies. This investigation has Kitzi dressing in disguise and sneaking around--giving me a good laugh. There's a great chapter involving Texas Hold'em Poker too. There are directions in the back of the book for a beaded cell phone dangle too. I am sad that Barbara Burnett Smith has passed and there will be no more in this series.
Cozy mystery that is second (and last) of a series due to the death of the author. Not as much name-dropping of Texas personalities as Bead on Trouble, and again, a surprise ending. The beading ideas are a cute concept (phone dangles) but the instructions could use illustrations. Not a keeper for me.
It is so sad that Kitzi Camden is at an end. Barbara Burnett Smith captures Austin, the politics, families and places so well, I feel I know these people. Karen, would you consider writing more Kitzi Camden mysteries for us?
