My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is the fifth book in the Madison Cruz Mystery series and is just as fun to read as the others. In this one, Madison is doing her usual stint of side gigs between acting jobs, including dressing up as a slice of pizza. Then she runs into her high school drama teacher who has purchased an old theater and is planning on revamping it with a production of The Sound of Music. When he has a heart attack and is unable to work the show, Madison steps in as director. But someone doesn’t want the show to go on, and a series of mishaps befalls the production. Things really get hot when a body turns up. It’s up to Madison, along with her family and friends, to not only solve the mystery and save the theater, but to prove that “the show must go on.”
I enjoy these books. I am not much of a romance reader, but I do love Madison and her crazy family and friends. The books really are more mystery (though light and with a lot of humor) and not really heavy romances. The characters are funny, sweet, irascible, strong, flighty- in other words, they are human. Madison has a talent for getting herself into- and out of- some of the strangest situations. Her mother is an FBI agent, her grandmother a former Russian spy, and one of her friends and neighbors was the star of a Las Vegas strongwoman show. It’s an offbeat cast in offbeat stories that charm and delight.
Carol’s style is breezy and extremely readable. Her characters come to life and the mysteries are fairly straightforward but believable. The humor twists throughout the whole tale, and the romance is done with a light touch.
Standing O is a lovely addition to this series and definitely deserves a “standing O”.
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And So On... 