Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner
Date With a Perfect Dead Man
Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Annie Griffin
Class/Genre: Mystery Woman Main Character Senior Sleuths Amateur Sleuth
Series: Hannah & Kiki # 2
Berkley, Aug 1999, $5.99, 288 pp.
Hill Creek seems to have the best of two worlds. The town is close enough to San Francisco to be considered cosmopolitan yet isolated enough to have its own character. The small town is loaded with eccentric citizens. This includes good time girl sixty-years old Kiki Goldstein and her more sedate sister Hannah, who relishes solving murder mysteries. She solved one last year (see THE VERY ELIGIBLE CORPSE) and she now has another opportunity as the guest of honor at the local film festival has been murdered.
Fred Case, a former grade B screen writer and director is making a comeback. He comes to the festival at the urgings of Hannah. When someone poisons Fred, Hannah feels guilty since her eloquent plea brought the victim to the town. Hannah is determined to uncover the identity of the culprit because of a guilty conscience and to prove the townsfolk are innocent. She never stopped to think how much danger she was placing herself and her sister in from a killer who wants his identity to remain secret.
DATE WITH A PERFECT DEAD MAN lives up to its’ humorous title because the story line of this novel is a hilarious amateur sleuth tale. The protagonists are extremely funny yet likable even when tension is at its peak. Annie Griffin shows her talent by pulling off the difficult task of putting a mystery inside a mystery and making it seem easy to accomplish. Sub-genre fans will take much pleasure from this series even as they praise the author.
Harriet Klausner
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner
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