Murder Over Easy (A Trailer Park Mystery #2)

this is just a light and easy read, very entertaining, and soooo much better than reruns on tv. I will read all the books in this series.

I know some people like the ones in the novel. One of my friends is waiting for me to pass my copy on to her. Don't give trouble to a redneck woman who owns a shotgun. You could get yourself hurt. And don't knock around a woman who has access to a baseball bat. A couple men in this novel are lucky they didn't get Bobbittized. It all starts when Melvin Arbuckle calls Wanda Nell Culpepper from the county jail. He has been arrested for murdering Fayetta, a waitress from the Kountry Kitchen that he owns. You might remember her from Flamingo Fatale. As Wanda Nell puts it, "she was conniving and two-faced, and those were her good points." Nobody is really sorry to see her gone, but Melvin and Fayetta had been fooling around outside work, and Melvin is now the prime suspect. When Wanda Nell starts looking into things, with a little help from her friend Mayrene, they dig up a can of worms. Some prominent men in the town had a little something going on the side. Fayetta had been involved (she had a thing about running around with married men). Fayetta had children by four different men, three of whom are unidentified. It is suspected that she was getting a little child support under the table. There are some dangerous people involved, and a lot of suspects. Now things are being exposed to the light of day, and everything is hitting the fan. The novel seemed to start out a little slow, maybe because some of the novelty wore off the characters after Flamingo Fatale, but things pick up as the novel progresses. The ending was a bit of a surprise, at least to myself. There is a secondary plot about Wanda Nell's family, expecially T.J., but that is a little transparent and not really related to the main plot. You might feel a little sorry for some of the characters, or maybe not. Some people get what they deserve.

Wanda Nell Culpepper is a divorced mother of three, who works two jobs to support her family, and lives in a trailer park. She and her beautician next door neighbor, Mayrene, seem real unlikely detectives, but they've now got two successful murder cases under their belts and there's probably no stopping them now. And this reader is particularly glad about that. Ms. Evans has created a real small-town landscape in her mysteries. Everyday women with guts and common sense are solving their own problems and helping friends. Okay, they're taking the law into their own hands, but hey--that's where the fun comes in. The story opens with Wanda Nell getting a call from her boss, Melvin, who owns the Kountry Kitchen diner where Wanda Nell works. Melvin's in jail for the murder of fellow employee Fayetta, who in Southern parlance 'deserved killing' but Wanda Nell certainly didn't want to see her boss get jailed for the crime. So, Wanda Nell and her sleuthing partner Mayrene set out to clear Melvin's name. On the way, they discover a private men's club and enough scandal to set their small town on its ears. Plus, Wanda Nell has some surprises in store related to her son, TJ. This novel might have deserved a five had there been more doubt in my mind as to who the murderer actually was. Also, I think Evans needs to do a better job of drawing her characters. Still, Evans has created an interesting and convincing world. I like Wanda Nell and Mayrene and I'll probably find more of her books to read.

Melvin, Wanda Nell's boss at the Kountry Kitchen restaurant, has been arrested for murdering Fayetta, another waitress. They had been dating. He asks Wanda Nell to help clear him because she helped clear her son recently when he was charged with murdering his dad. As if Wanda Nell didn't have enough to do. Fayetta wasn't a nice person. She and Wanda didn't get along, but no one deserved to die the way she did. So, Wanda Nell decides to try to help Melvin in any way she can. She runs the Kountry Kitchen in his absence, hires Tuck as his lawyer, and does some snooping on her own. She discovers that Melvin wasn't the only man Fayetta was dating. Plus Wanda Nell finds a bankbook with a large sum in the savings account. There was no way she made that money as a waitress. Wanda Nell works to uncover more about Fayetta's life and those she "worked" with, including a club where it didn't appear she was delivering food. But can Wanda Nell discover the truth without putting herself or her family in jeopardy? I love this series. Wanda Nell is such a terrific character. I love how she interacts with her kids and grandson, as well as her best friend Mayrene. Tuck is a wonderful character as well. Wanda Nell's mother-in-law is as cantankerous as they come, but that makes it work so well. The fact that Wanda Nell lives in her double wide mobile home with her 2 daughters and her 16 month old grandson lends a lot of credibility to the story. So does the fact that she has to work two jobs to make ends meet, and then it's still tough. The setting is great and the plot has plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing who did it until the end. I highly recommend this book and the series. Check out [...] and enter the monthly drawing for an autographed book. If you like romances, check out [...] and enter the monthly drawing for an autographed book.

Wanda Nell of Tullahoma, Mississippi has known hard times, the worst being when her son T.J. was arrested for killing his father. She made a lot of enemies in the police department for investigating on her own this case, but in the end she cleared her son's name. She is now very happy, living in her double wide trailer with her sixteen year old grandson as well as her daughters while Wanda Nell works part time at the supermarket and full time at a restaurant. Wanda Nell gets a call from her boss Melvin at the jail where he was arrested for murdering his other waitress who was also his lover along with about half the men in town. She was knifed so many times that her bedroom looked like something out of a slasher movie. Wanda Nell knows he couldn't have committed such a heinous crime and she starts investigating on her own to clear his name. She finds a bankbook that has a huge sum of money in it that her peer couldn't earn on a waitress's salary, a list of powerful men she was blackmailing and a key card to a club in which the movers and shakers belong and the women do more than serve food. Both Wanda Nell and Melvin's lawyer are worried, but the spunky investigator is determined that justice will be served even if she has to do it herself. Fans of regional mysteries are going to find MURDER OVER EASY a refreshingly original who-done-it. The characters act true to type as everyone who lives in a small southern town knows and the heroine, who usually goes with the flow, becomes an independent tornado sweeping away everything in her path as she pursues the investigation her way. Readers will thoroughly enjoy this talented woman who practices what she preaches and hope Jimmie Ruth Evans will write more stories about this intrepid heroine. Harriet Klausner