Tuesday, June 8, 2010

How To Crash a Killer Bash-Penny Warner

How To Crash a Killer Bash
Penny Warner
Obsidian, Aug 2010, $6.99
ISBN: 9780451230973

Event planner Presley Parker is preparing for next big gig at Murder Myster Party at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park San Francisco. Tempers are running high between de Young’s chief fundraiser Mary Lee Miller who can bring in millions with her reputation and Delicia Jackson, an actress in the murder play. Mary Lee wants the performer to stop dating her son Corbin; calling the woman a gold-digger. Carbin uses the actress to annoy his overbearing mother.

On the night of the event, Delicia goes to find the “murdered body” of Mary Lee; only she reappears drenched in blood. Mary Lee is dead and after the witnesses tells the police the public fight between the women in Corbin’s life and delcia saying she was going t kill Corbin’s mother, the police arrest Delicia. Presley vows to find the real killer so her friend can get out of jail, but the culprit provides terrorist pressure to get her to back off on her investigation.

Penny Warner has created a wonderful heroine in perilous Presley Parker, reminiscent of the Perils of Pauline plus Peter Parker. The protagonist leaps from one calamity onto another disaster and another; defying Einstein’s definition of insanity. Two cars she drove need repair work due to her proclivity for driving head first into trouble. Someone has killed three people at work and her mother tends to get lost suffering from rhe early stages of Alzheimer’s. She remains resolute and determined, but most critical believable as an amateur sleuth. With plenty of action on her investigation and several poignant moments, readers will enjoy the perils of Presley Parker.

Harriet Klausner

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