Helpful Score: 1
Dollycas's Thoughts
Pack your bags we are headed for Mackinac Island for the Lilac Festival!!
There are tourists everywhere and even a few people posing as tourists. Evie's friend Fiona is shocked when her former boss, Peephole Perry, gets off the ferry. This can't be good. His trip is cut short when he is found dead outside of The Grand Hotel. This isn't good for Peep or the island. A dead body could mean cancelled reservations and a mass exodus of the guests that have already arrived. When one of the hotel's guests thinks it is a murder mystery game, Evie convinces Police Chief Sutter that this is a great cover so he (with her help) can catch the killer. Unfortunately all the evidence points at Fiona so Evie needs to catch a "brake" to prove her innocence.
I have to start by saying if you need a pick me up pick up this book! I was laughing, giggling, and almost rolling on the floor laughing throughout the entire book. I know murder is a serious thing but poor Evie, she has so many things to do and so many things go wrong, she has to find the humor or she would spend the whole book in tears. From a missing wedding dress, to a mistress, and a few near misses that may have been attempts on her life, Evie treks back and forth around the island trying to do everything asked of her and more.
Duffy Brown brings us back to this idyllic island to follow around Evie Bloomfield. Evie is a smart woman with a very unique business, renting one of a kind bicycles that she has painted herself. You can rent the music bike, or the Sherlock bike, one of the many lilac bikes or any other of the very imaginatively themed bicycles. Evie's mother has returned to the island and has opened her law office behind bike shop. There is a fudge shop right next door and Rudy, the original owner of the bike shop, splits his time between the 2 places. His thoughts are more on keeping his bride to be happy than anything else.
I am totally in awe of the way Ms. Brown writes. I was grabbed from the first page. My attention was completely held until the last word. To be truthful I didn't want the story to end. The whole murder mystery game just had me in stitches. At least 4 teams of people were tracking down "clues" and creating theories to catch the culprit. The way the main characters dealt with them all while really trying to solve the mystery itself was truly a unique plot idea.
A great addition to this series. Murder and yes, mayhem along with wonderful characters shine in this Cycle Path Mystery. I have already been to Rudy's Rides and reserved the Nancy Drew bike for our next excursion to this wonderful place!
Pack your bags we are headed for Mackinac Island for the Lilac Festival!!
There are tourists everywhere and even a few people posing as tourists. Evie's friend Fiona is shocked when her former boss, Peephole Perry, gets off the ferry. This can't be good. His trip is cut short when he is found dead outside of The Grand Hotel. This isn't good for Peep or the island. A dead body could mean cancelled reservations and a mass exodus of the guests that have already arrived. When one of the hotel's guests thinks it is a murder mystery game, Evie convinces Police Chief Sutter that this is a great cover so he (with her help) can catch the killer. Unfortunately all the evidence points at Fiona so Evie needs to catch a "brake" to prove her innocence.
I have to start by saying if you need a pick me up pick up this book! I was laughing, giggling, and almost rolling on the floor laughing throughout the entire book. I know murder is a serious thing but poor Evie, she has so many things to do and so many things go wrong, she has to find the humor or she would spend the whole book in tears. From a missing wedding dress, to a mistress, and a few near misses that may have been attempts on her life, Evie treks back and forth around the island trying to do everything asked of her and more.
Duffy Brown brings us back to this idyllic island to follow around Evie Bloomfield. Evie is a smart woman with a very unique business, renting one of a kind bicycles that she has painted herself. You can rent the music bike, or the Sherlock bike, one of the many lilac bikes or any other of the very imaginatively themed bicycles. Evie's mother has returned to the island and has opened her law office behind bike shop. There is a fudge shop right next door and Rudy, the original owner of the bike shop, splits his time between the 2 places. His thoughts are more on keeping his bride to be happy than anything else.
I am totally in awe of the way Ms. Brown writes. I was grabbed from the first page. My attention was completely held until the last word. To be truthful I didn't want the story to end. The whole murder mystery game just had me in stitches. At least 4 teams of people were tracking down "clues" and creating theories to catch the culprit. The way the main characters dealt with them all while really trying to solve the mystery itself was truly a unique plot idea.
A great addition to this series. Murder and yes, mayhem along with wonderful characters shine in this Cycle Path Mystery. I have already been to Rudy's Rides and reserved the Nancy Drew bike for our next excursion to this wonderful place!
Duffy Brown just seems to get better with each book she writes. Braking for Bodies is filled with humor and the mystery is laced with first-rate misdirection.
A generous helping of the book's humor centers on the esprit de corps of the inhabitants of Mackinac Island. Tourism is their livelihood, and they go out of their way to hide any sort of bad news from money-wielding visitors. When some of those tourists think Peephole Perry's death is part of a grander scheme for their entertainment, the townfolk use that to their advantage, as they also do their knowledge of the island to help Fiona as much as they can.
Evie Bloomfield is a junk food-eating amateur sleuth who is an artistic genius with paint, brush, and bicycles. (How about renting the "Nancy Drew," the "Downton Abbey," or the "My Little Pony"?) Away from paint and bikes, it does take her a while to figure out to where all her clean clothes are disappearing. I enjoy the entire cast of characters, although I have to be honest and admit that Irish Donna's brogue sounds completely phony. Since she doesn't have a big share of the action, I can deal with it, but I do wish she'd be struck with some strange type of linguistic amnesia and start talking like normal folks.
If you're in the mood for a light-hearted mystery in the near-perfect setting of no-combustion-engines-allowed Mackinac Island in Michigan, I'd suggest you pick up Duffy Brown's Cycle Path mysteries.
A generous helping of the book's humor centers on the esprit de corps of the inhabitants of Mackinac Island. Tourism is their livelihood, and they go out of their way to hide any sort of bad news from money-wielding visitors. When some of those tourists think Peephole Perry's death is part of a grander scheme for their entertainment, the townfolk use that to their advantage, as they also do their knowledge of the island to help Fiona as much as they can.
Evie Bloomfield is a junk food-eating amateur sleuth who is an artistic genius with paint, brush, and bicycles. (How about renting the "Nancy Drew," the "Downton Abbey," or the "My Little Pony"?) Away from paint and bikes, it does take her a while to figure out to where all her clean clothes are disappearing. I enjoy the entire cast of characters, although I have to be honest and admit that Irish Donna's brogue sounds completely phony. Since she doesn't have a big share of the action, I can deal with it, but I do wish she'd be struck with some strange type of linguistic amnesia and start talking like normal folks.
If you're in the mood for a light-hearted mystery in the near-perfect setting of no-combustion-engines-allowed Mackinac Island in Michigan, I'd suggest you pick up Duffy Brown's Cycle Path mysteries.
It started out OK and the murder happened fast, but after that it was not so hot. The subplot of wedding plans going awry for a couple of characters took up way too much time, the premise of hotel guests mistaking the murder for a murder game and entering all sorts of places around town, and just some irritating characters. I did like the culprit's ID, but had to skim many a page to get there.
I liked the first one in the series so I will probably try #3 as well, depending on the plot.
I liked the first one in the series so I will probably try #3 as well, depending on the plot.
