Design for Murder (Death on Demand Mysteries, No. 2)

This second in the Death on Demand series is a good, solid mystery. We still get that wonderful name-dropping from the world of "mystery fiction", and we get Annie planning a murder-mystery surprise for a small Southern town's annual spring celebrations. And no one is more surprised than Annie and Max when a real mystery occurs in the little town of Chastain. As they delve into motives and opporturnites they find more secrets in this little town than they ever dreamed. It was fun reading about their efforts to solve the mystery of the death of one of Chastain's leading citizens, while Annie's scripted plot ran through the book.I think I'm going to enjoy this series.

What a great mystery - it was almost Perry Mason-like with seeing all the suspects at the beginning of the book and why they would have a motive to kill Corinne. Also like Perry Mason you had to pay attention to what was going on. It was a good believable story. I really enjoyed it and cannot wait to start the next book in the series.

Carolyn Hart write wonderful stories set in the South. I always like the way Annie name drops about detective fiction at the start and the beginning or each story, but rarely in the middle. I always wonder if the author does this on purpose or is just the way story develops. This is a find follow-up to Death On Demand, although there are parts that are overly predictable andsterotypic.

Annie Laurance, proprietor of the book store Murder on Demand, is delighted to be asked to put on a mystery night as part of a celebration of the history of Chastain, South Carolina. She is not so pleased at the prospect when she meets Corinne Webster who is in charge of the event. Corinne is a rude and arrogant person who has made enemies of half of the town. It is not surprising, when Corinne is found dead, that there is no shortage of suspects. Unfortunately, the police chief focuses in on Annie as his main suspect and seems unwilling to look any further. As a result, Annie and her fiance, Max Darling, have extra motivation to solve this murder. Annie puts herself in danger by exposing the murderer and the ending is bittersweet.