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DEATH LURKS IN THE BUSH
by Kate Grilley
Prime Crime, July 2002
224 pages
$5.99
ISBN: 0425185494


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

I think that Kelly Ryan and her friends need to cut down on their alcohol intake on their home island of St. Chris. Anyone with brains, I like to think, would know that eight peole do not come down with identical symptoms of the flu exactly at the same time, the same rate, especially after attending a dinner party. And no case of the flu I've ever heard of involves the taste of garlic as a symptom.

I very much liked Death Dances to a Reggae Beat, the first in this series - enough that I think I nominated it for awards. While I did not like the follow-up, I was still hoping to continue with this series but I've lost patience. Sorry, but these people are just not very bright. I don't know if it's the climate, the drinking, the fact that, while yeah, they just had a damaging hurricane, they seem to live in carefree Margaritaville, but they are clueless.

Big news has hit St. Chris - the Queen of Denmark is coming. The island was under Danish rule until 1917 and Queen Margrethe, is coming for a visit - big news on this island. Miss Maude, a retired schoolteacher and charming grande dame, is hosting a dinner party for her old friend. As usual, she asks for help from Kelly, an amiable transplant from the States. Kelly works at - actually now owns and runs - the local radio station. She knows lots of people from all walks of life and seems to spend half her time being conned, co-opted or volunteered to help one or more of them.

In a sort of "practice" dinner, Miss Maude invites some friends to check out her menu before the royal visit. Almost every one of them gets violently ill soon after the party. After ruling out "fish poisoning" (one specific poison which cannot affect the fish Miss Maude served) all the victims decide they got "the flu". Over the next several days, as others come down this, apparently very common illness, one of the other grande dames, Miss Lucinda, is found dead at home. She was a rather obnoxious woman, given to wearing shoes that did not fit, then she'd complain about them. She whined and expected to be waited on, and while I sure did not wish her dead, I was very relieved not to have to put up with the nasty woman - why didn't anyone ever ever say anything to her? She acted like royalty herself.

While this is part of a series, author and editor alike should realize that readers don't always remember, or even know, the background of the book. It would not have been so difficult to say "my friend so-and-so" instead of introducing several characters in the first few pages without any explanation of who they are. Further, as I did not remember Kate's love interest, I almost thought that she had a son I had not remembered. Michael is shown, without description or explanation on page 14 calling her "Mama", a name he seems to prefer as he uses it constantly. Charming for some, annoying for others.

The evil-doer was evident to me from the start and while there were charming details about the island celebration, like the creation of an early island house, I kept expecting someone to wise up and realize what was going on, based on what I thought were pretty obvious hints. All these folks seem to do is eat hamburgers (except at Miss Maude's dinner) and drink - beer, bloody marys, more beer, and the occasional iced tea. And except of Maude, no one seems to cook either. Maybe it's the whole Caribbean thing: in the first book, I was envious. With this third book, I was, alas, just annoyed with these people.

Reviewed by Andi Shechter, May 2002

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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