Sour Grapes: A Savannah Reid Mystery

Savannah Reid, the hyperphagic Georgian female PI is hired as a security guard for a beauty pageant staged at a California winery. Two of the contestants are murdered. Savannah's empty-headed sister turns up with anorexia nervosa. As usual in this series the sub-plot is better than the main plot, although this one is better than her previous ones as a murder mystery. She moves the story along with clunky prose like "the plan she had crafted so carefully was beginning to unfold." Some of the dialog is good but then you get stuff like "'Ah Savannah, me darlin' he called out in his delightful Irish brogue ' tis a sight for there sore eyes ye are, love'" By now some of the jokes are getting repetitious, such as Dirk's stinginess and Dr Liu's PMS chocolate craving, but I don't suppose that matters if you are new to the series. All is forgiven, however, for the sake of the fully drawn and well-characterized heroine with her cats, her siblings, her grandmother, her attitude problem, her ambivalence towards men, and above all, her food.

Once again McKevett has made you yearn for more Savannah! Everything is here for a great read - Dirk, Granny Reid, the chocolate, the suspense. This one took me a little longer to figure out but was well worth the wait. The inclusion of baby sister (who REALLY needs a good butt kick) brings more of Savannah's family in the picutre to round out an already wonderful character.The only problem I found with the book was knowing when I turned the last page it would be forever before Savannah was back again.

In one of my next lives I want to be Savanah! She has the best friends a woman can have (you can keep her sister, though) As usual she is fast thinking and even faster talking in this book. It took me a long time to figure it out too. G.A. McKevett needs to learn to write books faster. Savanah is an addiciton which needs to be catered to! IF you like likable, "real" women then you will love Savanah Reid........and oh, Granny Reid! How I wish I had her for MY Granny!

In this, the sixth of the Savannah Reid mystery series, we find Savannah with double trouble: find the person who is killing off beauty pageant contestants and help her younger sister, Atlanta, understand that no pageant is worth starving oneself for. Of the two, solving the murder mystery may turn out to be the easiest. Once again, Savannah is joined by Tammy, Ryan Stone, John Gibson and Dirk Coulter (aka Fart Face) as the investigation turns up an abundance of suspects in the first murder and virtually none in the second. Many people wished Barbie Matthews but which one acted on that wish? As nasty as the murders are, Savannah is faced with an even more worrisome problem: it seems sister Atlanta will stop at nothing to attain what she believes is beauty perfection. With a flair for snappy dialogue and a story that moves along smartly [and intelligently], the author again gives the reader a book to sink one's teeth into and from the blurb on the dustcover, a 7th Savannah Reid mystery is in the works.

Mrs. Reid loved Georgia so much she named each of her daughters after a city in the Peach State. Savannah Reid, the oldest child, moved to California, where she joined the San Carmelita police force. Unable to abide by the mountains of regulations, she left to open up her own private investigative firm. Although clients seem rare, Savannah is happy with her work.Ms. Reid's latest job is security guard at the Miss Gold Coast beauty pageant, a piece of cake assignment. However, Savannah reassesses her initial opinion when one the contestants, Barbie Matthews, vanishes. Someone abducted and killed Barbie. To make matters worse yet personal, Savannah's sister Atlanta was Barbie's roommate and everyone knows the two women loathed one another. Not that Atlanta was alone since everyone detested the nasty victim. Still, Savannah and her crew know they must keep the participants safe from a killer.The tragedy side of entering children in beauty pageants is brought home in SOUR GRAPES, a mystery that bitterly satirizes the practice as almost unholy. The story line seamlessly merges a social message inside a strong who-done-it so the reader is educated while being entertained. G.A. McKevett uses humor to lighten a tense plot and making her characters seem even more human, especially the full figured and proud of it Savannah.Harriet Klausner