Book Review: Tagged for Murder

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Tagged for Murder     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Elaine Flinn
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Woman Main Character   Amateur Sleuth
Series: Molly Doyle # 2
Avon, Oct 2004, $6.99, 304 pp.

Her husband ruined her sterling reputation by selling fake antiquities before leaving for parts unknown with his young bimbo leaving Molly Doyle financially ruined, She now runs her friend’s antique shop in Carmel, California. She is recovering financially and making new friends when her sister Carrie whom she has not seen in fifteen years arrives with her twelve year old daughter Emma. Carrie is job hunting and asks Molly to watch Emma. Not long afterward, a letter given to Molly from Emma informs her that Carier is leaving the country and wants Molly to raise Emma.

While Molly reels from her sibling’s callousness, she learns that her friend Trudy Collins did not die from a heart attack; instead was murdered by someone who knew she was allergic to aspirin and hid a tablet in her soda at an antiques gala. While going through her pal’s belongings, Molly realizes Trudy was selling fakes and Carrie was part of the operation. The more she digs, the more Molly comprehends her sister broke several laws and leaving the country was the only way to avoid arrest. Molly’s snooping frightens the killer so much that he or she tries to murder her and her niece on a fog shrouded road.

Molly is a likable and intelligent heroine who falls in love with Emma from the moment they first meet and takes her home with her without a second thought. She accepts that her sister is a felon and the best thing Carrie can do is stay away from her family. Emma steals the hearts of readers as a precocious child (they always seem that way in fiction) who has more common sense than most of the adults she knows. Elaine Flinn provides a beguiling amateur sleuth tale that readers will love.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner