Thursday, June 22, 2017

Murder on the Mullet Express by Gwen Mayo & Sarah Glenn Review


It’s 1926. The West Coast Development Company is staging its biggest land deal in Homosassa, Florida, selling pieces of a planned city to speculators who dream of a tropical paradise. Army nurse Cornelia Pettijohn takes leave to travel to Florida with her ancient uncle, who claims that he wants a warm winter home. When their car breaks down, they take the local train, The Mullet Express, into Homosassa. By the time they arrive, though, a passenger has been poisoned. A second murder victim boards the train later, iced down with the fish. Uncle Percival’s hidden agenda makes him the sheriff’s prime suspect. Cornelia and Teddy Lawless, a twenty-year-old flapper in a sixty-year-old body, must chase mobsters and corner suspects to dig her uncle out of the hole he’s dug for himself.

Gwen Mayo
Gwen Mayo is passionate about blending her loves of history and mystery fiction. She currently lives and writes in Safety Harbor, Florida, but grew up in a large Irish family in the hills of Eastern Kentucky. She is the author of the Nessa Donnelly Mysteries and co-author of the Old Crows stories with Sarah Glenn.

Her stories have appeared in A Whodunit HalloweenDecades of DirtHalloween Frights (Volume I), and several flash fiction collections. She belongs to Sisters in Crime, SinC Guppies, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, the Historical Novel Society, and the Florida Authors and Publishers Association.

Gwen has a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Kentucky. Her most interesting job, though, was as a brakeman and railroad engineer from 1983 - 1987. She was one of the last engineers to be certified on steam locomotives. http://www.gwenmayo.com

Sarah Glenn

Sarah E. Glenn has a B.S. in Journalism, which is a great degree for the dilettante she is. Later on, she did a stint as a graduate student in classical languages. She didn’t get the degree, but she’s great with crosswords. Her most interesting job was working the reports desk for the police department in Lexington, Kentucky, where she learned that criminals really are dumb.

Her great-great aunt served as a nurse in WWI, and was injured by poison gas during the fighting. A hundred years later, this would inspire Sarah to write stories Aunt Dess would probably not approve of. http://www.sarahglenn.com

My Review:
This is a funny book! Murder on a train, watching someone die, and trying to find out who is guilty. I was so involved with the characters that I forgot that the book was a mystery and not a comedy at times. I really liked the way the authors had Florida in the 1920's. The language was real and funny! My favorite was Fuddy Duddy!!! It was a different time then, Buying property and Prohibition are just a few sub plots that I enjoyed. The ending was good, and I hope that there is a series with these quirky characters! I am giving this book a 5/5. I was given a copy, all opinions are my own, 

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for the review.

    Yes, there will be more. The trio of snowbirds is off to St. Petersburg. Uncle Percy still wants to see that new pier.

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