Book 35, 2022

[chez_jae]

Bless Her Dead Little Heart by Miranda James

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Since I just had two short chapters left in my work book, I brought it home and finished it this evening. The book was Bless Her Dead Little Heart by Miranda James. It's the first in the "Southern Ladies" mystery series, which is a spin-off of the author's "Cat in the Stacks" series. These books feature An'gel and Dickce Ducote, a pair of wealthy spinsters with keen minds and Southern manners.

Miss An'gel and Miss Dickce are pet-sitting for Diesel, their friend Charlie Harris' large Maine Coon cat, when a former sorority sister comes calling, seeking sympathy and sanctuary. Rosabelle claims someone is trying to murder her, and she is afraid it's one of her own family. Not long after Rosabelle arrives, her selfish adult children show up. An'gel and Dickce soon have a house filled with uninvited and unwanted guests, but that's not the worst of their troubles. When one of Rosabelle's family members slips on the marble stairs and falls to her death, Rosabelle is convinced she was the intended target. After Deputy Kanesha Berry declares the death a homicide, An'gel and Dickce realize they've opened their home to a murderer. Unwilling to sit idly by, they put their heads together and begin sifting through clues in an effort to save Rosabelle and their own sanity.

The story was interesting and mostly enjoyable, but I simply couldn't wrap my head around this family of maniacal hyenas. Nor could I understand why Ang'el and Dickce offered to let any of them stay, including Rosabelle, whom they knew was an attention-seeking drama queen. So Rosabelle, fearing for her life, skedaddles out of her home in California to seek refuge with the Ducote sisters in Mississippi, and not one, not two, but all three of her adult children show up the next day?! Bringing their own adult children?! It didn't help that none of them particularly liked one another, nor did any of them seem to harbor any affection for Rosabelle. And this is what you invited into your home. But wait, it gets better. Rosabelle had told An'gel and Dickce she was widowed (for the third time), but her estranged husband showed up out of the blue, as well, followed by...his male lover! Woo! Now we're cooking with gas! This was like a Ray Cooney play. Good grief.

As for unraveling the mystery, the sisters didn't do any overt investigating. They did do some eavesdropping, and they dutifully reported what they overheard to Deputy Berry. Otherwise, I wouldn't really consider them to have done any sleuthing. The ending was rather odd and anticlimactic, and the crime(s) committed didn't seem to have made much sense. Eh.

Favorite line: "I can't believe we're accepting a character reference from a cat."

I think I would have liked this story more had I not had a face full of 'WTF?' for most of it. Giving it an average score.

Comments

[felaine]

I've read some of that series also, and they really vary in quality, or at least in how much I enjoy them.

[chez_jae]

I did snag another in the series at a used book sale. I'll give it a try.

[wpadmirer]

I know the writer of these books, and the sisters that the characters are based on. All three are really fun people.

Have you read James' Cat in the Stack books? I'm assuming you have because of you reading this one.

[chez_jae]

I do enjoy the 'Cat in the Stacks' series. I think what I like most is that Charlie doesn't end up in mortal peril at the climax of each book, unlike other cozy series. I know it's meant to be exciting, but how many times can one amateur sleuth end up nearly dying?!

[wpadmirer]

That's the nature of the cozy. You have to have your hero or heroine endangered.

[chez_jae]

And, the love interest must be someone in law enforcement.

:D