Book Review: Pick Your Poison

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Pick Your Poison     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Leann Sweeney
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Woman Main Character   Amateur Sleuth   Cozy
Series: Yellow Rose Mystery # 1
Signet, May 2004, $5.99, 272 pp.

After their adoptive father died, Abby and Kate became heiresses, inheriting the mansion, the business and the art. Abby spends her days by the pool and avoiding the advances of her ex-husband. One day the yardman Ben tells Abby that he needs to speak to her and Kate later that evening. She agrees and falls asleep by the pool only to be awakened by the dog barking.

She finds Ben dead in the garage and later learns that he was the victim of cyanide poisoning. She also finds out that he was a suspect in the killing of his first wife, also by cyanide poisoning. Ben’s second wife convinces Abby that her husband was innocent and asks her to find his killers. A determined Abby does just that and her investigation leads to revelations that put her at the mercy of a ruthless killer who know secrets that were kept from her.

This is Leann Sweeney’s debut novel and it is a dandy amateur sleuth novel once you accept Abby investigating a crime. What helps is that the protagonist is stubborn and determined, a woman intending to keep an impulsive promise though secrets that are decades old come to light and hurt the living. PICK YOUR POISON is fast-paced and contain many action scenes but it is the characters that make this who done it a cut above the average. This author has talent with a capital T.

Harriet Klausner

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