Tramp

Lilly Bennett is the Chanel wearing United States Marshal from the great state of Wyoming. In this book, she is hot on the trail of a murderer who is killing off the members of a local theater group, the Roundup Repertory Company. The mystery will keep you guessing and Lilly is a hoot as she reminisces about her own past loves and the present love of her life Richard Jerome. The descriptions of Wyoming make me want to pack up and move there and the escapades in this novel will keep you turning the pages. I am going to read all the selections in the Lilly Bennett series but sadly it looks as if the author wrote the last in the series in 2000. I wish this was a continuing series because it is just delicious.

Tramp is a great addition to the Lilly Bennett series. This is the kind of book you can easily read on a rainy day. It holds your attention until the very end.

Lilly Bennett continues to solve the mystery while cutting a swath thru food and drink, clothes and parties, that most of us only dream of. Her catty insights and tongue in cheek comments are delightful. But, there's something different about this Lilly. I'm not going to say what, see for yourself. It's still a great series and I'm really looking forward to the next one.

Lilly Bennett was born to wealth and privilege. However, the vibrant Lilly is too intelligent of an individual to settle for a jet set lifestyle. Instead she has spent two decades working for the Santa Biancan police force. To avert a potentially nasty scandal, she resigns from her job as Chief of Detectives when she is caught in a compromising position with a married State Supreme Court Justice. Lilly returns to her home town of Round-Up, Texas to accept the position of U.S. Marshal. She also opens up a private investigation firm. Her current case evolves around the death of Cyrus Vaile, a wealthy business-person, who bought and financed the local repertory theatre. Before the wealthy individual overdosed from excess digitalis added to his specially blended tea, he hired Lilly to learn what happened to the $20 million endowment he bestowed on the theatre that mysteriously disappeared. Not soon after Cyrus' death, an attempt is made on Lilly. That incident is followed by the death of an individual who ate poisoned mushrooms at a theatre party. A sabotaged catwalk falls onto the stage, injuring many of the performers and killing one person. It would be obvious to even the most obtuse person living inside the Beltway that someone is after individuals associated with the theatre group. Unless Lilly can find the culprit from a host of potential murderers, more death will follow. The protagonist speaks with a brutal honesty that, though a bit brash and colloquial, perfectly fits the character. This makes the novel ring true. The cleverly constructed storyline is populated with an eccentric and colorful cast of scoundrels. Each one of them could easily be the villain. Tramp is a witty who-done-it that makes for fun reading. Harriet Klausner