Murder Hooks a Mermaid (Haunted Souvenir Shop, #2)

by Christy Fifield

Nestled in Keyhole Bay, Florida, Glory Martine’s souvenir shop, Southern Treasures, is supposed to trap tourists—not ghosts. But a possessed parrot may be just what Glory needs to solve a murder...

Inheriting her great-uncle Louis’s bayside souvenir shop should have been a breeze for Glory. Instead it’s been one headache after another—with a lot of them generated by Bluebeard, a parrot with a mouth like a sailor and a personality a lot like her late great-uncle. But Glory’s troubles pale in comparison to those of her best friend Karen, whose ex may still have the personalized key chain to her heart, but whose brother-in-law is about to get locked up.

A diver has been found with a gaff hook in his chest, and Karen turns to Glory to help get her brother-in-law off the hook for his murder. But casting the net for the real killer won’t be easy. Glory and Bluebeard are about to find out that the secrets in Keyhole Bay run deeper than anyone ever imagined…

• ISBN10: 0425251845
• ISBN13: 9780425251843
• Publish Date: 31 December 2012 (first published 1 December 2012)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Berkley Publishing Corporation,U.S.
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 304
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780425251843

Reviews

[Mystereity Reviews]

Murder Hooks A Mermaid Another Kindle cleanup, I read the first book in this series a year or 2 ago and started this one but set it aside for some reason.  This is a cute series and an easy read, but just okay.  In this one, you're not given any introduction at all the suspects or the victim in the book.  That always keeps me from getting "into " a book.  Without any background, I find I'm detached from the book. 
 
Which, now that I think about it, means that the events, the investigation and the ending are just narrated, there's nothing to engage the reader as part of the story.
 
So, although a good read, I'm going to rate at just 3 stars.  If this review was one of my report cards, it would read, "Not working up to potential." 
 
It would also say, "does not play well with others."  but that's a whole other story.

[MurderByDeath]

A fun, light read. I guess it's really more of a 3.5 star read - I enjoyed it, but it wasn't a *really* great read. I like the main characters, although Glory really is unrealistically dense about Bluebeards messages - surly she isn't supposed to be a dim protagonist. There's a bit of romance, but a very lightweight one so far and nothing that really sparks. Bluebeard has a lot of potential and I'm hoping future books have him playing a more vocal role. Being a Floridian myself, I love the setting and the author does a very good job depicting small town Florida, so the book was a bit of a mini-trip home for me.

The mystery was solid. I didn't know absolutely who the bad guys were until it was revealed. The author did a credible job crafting the murder mystery and dragging us into the debacle Glory's best friend's little brother found himself in.

I feel a bit like I'm damning with faint praise, but truly I enjoyed reading the book and I will definitely be picking up the next one.