Bring Your Own Poison

This is a wonderful series. I love the rich characters and the family interactions. Wanda Nell and her friends are so likeable and you get to reading and forget that they are fictional! These folks are like some i know in Monteagle Tennessee! This series just keeps getting better, and as it goes along just richer in the descriptions of family and surroundings. I really recommend this series alot.

Wanda Nell Culpepper is back! Like many, she's just trying to get by, but life always seems to interfere. This time, life presents itself in the form of another dead body - a local deputy drops dead at his own bachelor party in the Kountry Kitchen's banquet hall, and Wanda Nell is a witness! Despite the attendance of most of the local law enforcement (for the party, of course!), she is the only one with sense enough to call the acting sheriff because she has a strong suspicion that poison was involved in the death of the less-than-popular, crude-mouthed officer. When the bridegroom's own brother, quite drunk, presents Wanda Nell with an empty vial of unknown origins, Wanda Nell decides that the party's definitely over - before someone else falls flat on their face! With two daughters and a grandson living with her, Wanda Nell is working two jobs just to keep ahead of the bills. It takes its toll, but that's just how life is and she just rolls with the punches. But when the hit is suspicion of murder, Wanda Nell has to make time to get answers where none are forthcoming. Wanda Nell's relationship with schoolteacher Jack is heating up; but so is her youngest daughter's temperature - and just when her older daughter Miranda seems to be taking two steps forward towards independence, something trips her up. Her best friend Mayrene does all she can to help, but Mayrene seems to finally have found a decent guy, as well, so all Wanda Nell can do is put one foot in front of the other and take things one day at a time - but will her common sense lead her into the path of a killer? There's a lot going on in this light, well-written cozy and there are a lot of characters to keep up with, but Evans' manages to keep the stories straight and well-blended so that it all seems to come together in the end. Some of the sub-plots are easy to foresee, but one is never disappointed with the results. And to some, the lifestyle of the characters may seem over the top, but having grown up in a small southern town I was never thrown out of the story by something that didn't fit - more often I was reminded of those memories and years past. I truly enjoyed my short journey with Wanda Nell, her children, and her friends and family. Unlike some cozies, Wanda Nell doesn't seem to plow forth without sense or thought to repercussions, making the reader wonder how she managed to live this long. Cozy readers will love this series - a light read with modern twists.

Wanda Nell Culpepper is the waitress serving the Trevor Blakely bachelor party at the Kountry Kitchen in Tullahoma, Mississippi. Rumors abound that Trevor's two wives died of suspicious "accidental" circumstances and that both of his spouses had large life insurance policies with him as the benefactor. At his gala, Trevor is a loudmouth, making ugly remarks about women especially his fiancée. When he reaches behind him, grabs a drink from a table and sips it; he suddenly dies. The police assume he was poisoned with his younger brother Gerald as the prime suspect since he loves his future sister-in-law. While drunk at the party, Gerald picked up a vial containing a liquid. The police take him in for questioning. State Police officer Bill Warren heads the investigation; he believes Gerald did the MURDER OVER EASY crime as he had motive, means and opportunity. Bill tries to blackmail Wanda into signing a statement that she knows is false. She decides to conduct her own inquiry as Bill has convicted Gerald. Life in a small Mississippi town especially in a trailer park turns interesting when the eccentrics are determined to help. In addition to her investigation, the heroine contends with a situation concerning her oldest daughter, come to terms with her feelings for Jack who wants to marry her, and keep his niece safe from a stalker. Wanda Nell assumes all this is a piece of cake as she is a waitress and deals daily with a lot worse. Character driven, BRING YOUR OWN POISON is an entertaining regional amateur sleuth. Harriet Klausner

I would actually give this book 4 1/2 stars. This cozy series just gets better and better. As it has progressed, the relationships of the Culpepper family and friends have developed to the point of feeling as if they are friends of one's own--or maybe the characters are so "lifelike", I'm just reminded of many people I know. Something that has especially impressed me is that this series contains a gay relationship that is mature and dignified--rather than a mere plot device. I always enjoy and look forward to seeing how Wanda Nell is going to involve herself in the town's murder. I highly recommend the Trailer Park series.

This series continues to get better and better as characters develop further and relationships grow. Wanda Nell Culpepper is a hardworking mother of three who occasionally happens upon a murder. In this case, it takes place at a party at the Kountry Kitchen, where she works. The author does a very credible job of having Wanda Nell get involved in trying to figure out the murderer but without doing anything stupid. What I found more interesting than the murder plot, though, was Wanda Nell's interactions with her family and her boyfriend, Jack. These are all extremely likable characters, who are three-dimensional and who care about each other a great deal. Even Wanda Nell's ex mother-in-law is thawing out towards her, and the older woman's conversations with her cousin are a riot. This is a light, but well-written series with sensitivity and heart. I highly recommend it.