Poisoned Tarts

by: G.A. McKevett

Published by: Kensington Books (May release)

Reviewed by Linda Lee

A southern girl at heart, Savannah Reid has a detective agency in southern California where she works with friends she had from when she was on the police force. The grandmother who raised her and her eight siblings has come to visit and is very interested in everything Savannah does. She would really like to be able to help when Savannah’s old partner, Dirk Coulter, asks for help with a missing person case. Two decades ago the partners worked a case like this one that ended badly. For that reason this mystery has special significance.

The primary suspects, Tiffy, Kiki and Bunny, are founding members of the Skeleton Key Three, a group of young women who are celebrities because they have obese trust funds and extremely thin bodies. The missing teenager, eighteen-year-old Daisy O’Neil, had little in common with the tiny trio. She was thicker, poorer, and more talented in the acting department. Her disappearance, on the eve of her first real acting job, makes the rich Tiffy Dante look a bit jealous, and a lot guilty.

Not one to let something as insignificant as the disappearance of a friend alter her plans, Tiffy is making big preparations for a Halloween party. The decorations almost hide the body of Tiffy’s millionaire father who was dressed as Dracula and laid out in a coffin. The stake through his real heart doesn’t seem to be part of the costume. Savannah and Dirk need to find Daisy and a murderer before the tabloid reporters destroy all the evidence.

Poisoned Tarts is the thirteenth installment in the Savannah Reid series. You can’t help but laugh at some of the situations, conversations and relations in her life. She is voluptuous and sassy and makes no apologies for either. The love for her Gran and exasperation with her sister are believable and make for sympathetic reading. The friendship and sexual tension between Savannah and Dirk are enviable.

Sonja Massie, writing as G.A. McKevett, has a solid series, fun characters, entertaining dialogue and a good read with Poisoned Tarts.

Author’s Web site: http://www.SonjaMassie.com