Amazon.com Unless you find the idea of a woman who runs a mystery book store as an amateur crime solver just too cute for comfort， you'll have some fun with Carolyn G. Hart's latest cozy yarn about Annie and Max Darling， the Nick and Nora Charles of the South Carolina island resort town called Broward's Rock. Annie， of course， still keeps her Death on Demand book shop， matching wits with customers about unlikely murder methods from classic mysteries while serving them iced café lattes to ward off the summer heat. Max， the most underemployed private detective of recent memory (he doesn't seem to have had a paying client since 1995)， is still as charming and sexy (to Annie， that is) as ever--although his annoying mother， Laurel， has become positively dangerous. But Laurel is only one of a veritable Orient Express-load of possible suspects when an obnoxious ex-military man is shot to death at the Broward's Rock Fourth of July Festival. The racist， sexist， antigay Bud Hatch could have been killed by any of his several enemies. It's up to Annie and Max to clear Laurel and various other friends of suspicion， and Hart certainly knows how to keep a familiar story from becoming too obvious. Other Death on Demand tales in paperback: The Christie Caper， Deadly Valentine， Death on Demand， Design for Murder， Honeymoon With Murder， A Little Class on Murder， Mint Julep Murder， Something Wicked， Southern Ghost. --Dick Adler From Publishers Weekly This ninth in the Death on Demand series (after Mint Julep Murder， 1995) finds mystery-bookstore owner Annie Darling in top form: polite， considerate， cheerful and relentlessly investigative. Retired Brigadier General Charlton "Bud" Hatch is a newcomer to the tiny resort community of Broward's Rock， S.C.， where his arrogance， power and extreme right-wing views have quickly antagonized many of the genteel yet clannish residents. When Hatch is shot to death at the island's annual Fourth of July festival， Annie and her relaxed but shrewd husband， Max， utilize their connections and gentle diplomacy to interview some of the many idiosyncratic natives who loathed the general. Was he murdered by a cuckolded husband? What about the young， sweet do-gooder whom Hatch had terrified? Or the gay library director whose job had been threatened by the moralistic library trustee? Annie and Max tap into the best source of information anywhere?rampant gossip?and， aided by society doyenne Miss Dora， find out more than they want to know. Might Max's flaky and much-married mother be another suspect? Rich in Southern atmosphere (lots of live oak， Spanish moss and the ever-present smell of the salt marsh)， populated by a diverse and engaging cast， including the fallible， endearing leads， and following a deftly constructed plot line， this tale is charming?and gripping. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information， Inc. See all Editorial Reviews