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Death on Demand series
Death on Demand, 1987
Death on Demand is in its 18th printing for a total in print of 175,621 books.
From Publishers Weekly
In Agatha Award–winner Hart’s sparkling 22nd Death on Demand mystery (after 2011’s Dead by Midnight), Annie Darling enlists Gretchen Burkholt, a fellow volunteer at Better Tomorrow, to sub for her at the charity shop so she can host an author signing at her Broward’s Rock, S.C., bookstore, Death on Demand. To Annie’s horror, someone kills Gretchen with an axe during the charity shop’s afternoon shift. Police chief Billy Cameron is sure ex-con handyman Jeremiah Young, who fled the crime scene, is guilty, but Annie’s longtime customer and mystery connoisseur, Henny Brawley, is equally convinced of Jeremiah’s innocence. When Annie and Henny find a link between Gretchen’s murder and the “accidental” drowning of fussy and pretentious Everett Hathaway two weeks earlier, the suspect field opens considerably. A bucolic setting, colorful characters, and frequent knowledgeable recommendations of mystery authors and books old and new help make this another winning entry in a cozy series that shows no sign of age.(Apr.)
From Booklist
It’s winter on Broward’s Rock, the South Carolina sea island where Annie Darling runs Death on Demand,
a mystery bookstore, and her husband, Max, a consulting firm. It should be quiet, leaving Annie with
nothing more to worry about than avoiding Laurel, her mother-in-law, currently pressing sunflowers on
everyone, or Emma Clyde, the resident eccentric mystery writer. During an event at the bookstore, Annie
receives dramatic messages from the woman who substituted for her at A Better Tomorrow, the remotely
located volunteer relief shelter. As soon as the bookstore event ends, Annie heads to the shelter to soothe
her friend but instead finds her dead. The ex-con handyman, hired by Annie’s loyal friend Henny Brawley,
is the prime suspect—and the only one the meddling mayor will let the police consider. Annie, Max,
Henny, Emma, and Laurel do some meddling of their own, along with careful observation of how people
get around the island, which leads to trapping the real killer in lies. A particularly satisfying entry in an
always-satisfying cozy series.
Reviewed by Lorie Lewis Ham
"If you have never read one of Carolyn Hart’s Death On Demand books head on out and find them now. You can start at any point in the series, but it’s fun to start at the beginning and watch Annie and Max’s relationship blossom and grow. These books are charming, fun, funny, clever and kind of like comfort food without the calories, but instead with a great mystery!" -- Read the full review
Reviewed by Joe Meyers for CTNews.com
‘Death Comes Silently’: another murder in paradise
So much of the news coverage of crime is powered by information from police and prosecutors that it’s rare for the public to have doubts about the guilt of the prime suspect in major cases.
Whether we are talking about a murder or a sensational sex case (like the one that broke at Penn State last fall) a good portion of the public seems to be convinced of the guilt of the accused long before a case goes to trial.
The speed and scope of this sort of judgement has expanded in recent years due to the 24/7 cable news cycle and the gossip posing as news on social networking sites.
Among the pleasures of the mystery fiction of Carolyn Hart is the way she puts us in the position of the falsely accused in many of her stories. The crime solving of her amateur sleuths gains urgency because the authorities have targeted the wrong person.
The just-published “Death Comes Silently” (Berkley/Penguin) is the latest in the long-running “Death on Demand” series, set on a seemingly idyllic resort island off the coast of South Carolina.
The title of the series comes from the mystery bookstore operated by Annie Darling who is married to the unlicensed private investigator Max Darling.
A few novels ago, Max was falsely accused of murder, and the emotions stirred up by that horrific situation have filtered through the subsequent books.
Annie and Max respect the police but they know from personal experience that very often law enforcement officers will start building a case against the suspect they have rather than continue to look at other possible perps.
In “Death Comes Silently” ex-con Jeremiah Young is assumed to be the killer of a woman who works at a local charity store.
Annie feels guilt over the victim’s death because the woman was filling in for her volunteer shift so that Annie could host a signing at her shop for Emma Clyde, a best-selling mystery writer who is the biggest celebrity on Broward’s Rock.
Circumstantial evidence points toward Jeremiah — the victim expressed her fear of the gruff young man, his ax was the murder weapon — but Annie quickly deduces that the murder in the shop was part of the cover-up of the death of one of the island’s wealthiest residents (a drowning too quickly ruled to be an accident by the local police).
As always, Hart serves up a beautifully constructed puzzle mystery in which there are numerous possible suspects and very good reasons for amateur sleuth Annie Darling to become so deeply involved in the case.
“Death Come Silently” upholds the high standards of one of the best contemporary mystery series.
Reviewed by Martha A. Cheve for A Book and a Dish
"I can't get enough of Author Carolyn Hart's books. She has entertained me with
all of her Death on Demand stories and I simply love her Bailey Ruth ghost
stories, which I hope she writes more of soon. With all of her books Hart
combines love, humor and a 'whole lot of mystery' making each page flip by
quickly to see what clue the next holds. You can't help but love this author. " -- Read the full review
Reviewed by Liz Nichols for Mystery Maven
In this installment in the Death on Demand Mystery series bookstore owner, Annie Darling, finds a substitute for her shift at the local thrift shop in order to host a book signing for the latest novel by the town’s local mystery writer, Emma Clyde. Her substitute is murdered during the shift, presumably by the young handyman, an ex-con. Annie and her friend, Henny, have reason to believe the young man had nothing to do with it.
This cozy mystery will appeal to fans of Carolyn Hart’s series. It’s easy to feel the clammy winter fog in Broward’s Rock, SC as Hart describes it and to experience some of the sense of terror that Henny and Annie feel as they are pursued in the thick island undergrowth by the killer. The setting and the characters are familiar, but the suspense and action are always riveting and new.
Hart should also win over new fans to the long-standing Death on Demand series with “Death Comes Silently” because it is not hard to get to know the cast of characters and the idyllic setting of Broward’s Rock just from reading one installment in the series.
From Good Reads
National Bestselling Author and winner of multiple Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Awards, Carolyn Hart continues to dazzle mystery fans with an all new Dead on Demand Mystery.
Winter has arrived in Broward's Rock, South Carolina, and business has slowed for Annie Darling, owner of mystery bookstore Death on Demand. So when the island's resident writer publishes the latest in her popular mystery series, Annie jumps at the chance to host a book signing, even though it conflicts with her shift at the local charity shop, Better Tomorrow.
Luckily, fellow volunteer Gretchen Burkholt agrees to sub for her. The signing goes well, but Gretchen interrupts the event multiple times, leaving voice mails about scandalous news she's dying to share. Even though Gretchen tends to be excitable, Annie heads over to Better Tomorrow, where she finds Gretchen dead on the floor, an axe by her side.
Annie enlists the help of her husband, Max, to piece together a puzzle involving an overturned kayak, a stolen motorboat, a troubled love affair, and a reckless teenager. And she must tread carefully in her investigation, because a killer is on the loose, and that killer works well in the foggy days of winter...
From Cozy Library
"There are lots of reasons Carolyn Hart’s books are all national bestsellers. They’re just great … books readers are sad to see end, and which can be read and re-read." -- Read the full review
From Publishers Weekly
In Hart's engaging 21st Death on Demand mystery (after 2010's Laughed 'Til He Died), Annie Darling, proprietor of the Death on Demand mystery bookstore in South Carolina's Lowcountry, believes that the official conclusion of suicide of one of her employees, Pat Merridew, doesn't add up. Recently fired from her longtime position as receptionist for the law firm of Jamison, Jamison, & Brewster, Pat was taking odd, late-night excursions, and had planned an expensive cruise to Alaska that her economic situation wouldn't support. With the help of her husband, Max, Annie begins to nose around among lawyer Glen Jamison's family and associates. When Glen is shot dead, the evidence points to his sister, Elaine, but Annie and Max think that Elaine is protecting someone else and that the two deaths are connected. Expert pacing and a tense climax distinguish this intriguing variation on the locked room mystery. (Apr.)
Reviewed by Bob Edmonds for the McCormick Messenger
"The reigning monarch of the amateur sleuth mystery" is back with the next irresistible entry in her popular Death on Demand series... featuring bookstore owner Annie Darling and again proves why the bestselling author is hailed as America's modern day answer to Agatha Christie....
As with Agatha Christie's traditional mysteries, the ultimate mystery in Dead by Midnight is not the identity of the murderer, but rather what drove them to murder. Hart explores the lives of the characters and their fractured relationships while unraveling a tangled web of deception and cruelty that changes a family forever.
Reviewed by Lorie Lewis Ham for Kings River Life
For the last several years I’ve spent most of my time reading only books I had to review and so I’ve lost track of some of my early favorite mystery authors and series. One of those authors is Carolyn Hart and recently I had the chance to read my first Death On Demand book by Carolyn Hart in many years and they are just as wonderful as I remembered!
In the latest installment of the series, Annie Darling, owner of mystery bookstore Death on Demand in Broward’s Rock, South Carolina, is shocked when new employee Pat Merridew commits suicide. Annie’s long time friend and best customer Henny was a friend of Pat’s and is convinced this was not suicide, so they set out to find evidence to prove it. Soon the police get sidetracked from Pat’s case by the murder of a rich lawyer, Pat’s former boss Glen Jamison.
Convinced the murders are connected, and feeling bad because her nosiness put her in a position to give evidence that pointed toward someone she felt was innocent, Annie is bound and determined to find out who the killer is. Annie enlists the help of her handsome husband Max and they set out to find the truth.
Read the full review
Reviewed by Mary Louise Ruehr for Record Pub
To my delight, I have been enjoying brand new tales filled with intrigue and familiar personalities from some of my favorite mystery series.
“Dead by Midnight” by Carolyn Hart is one of the most satisfying mysteries I’ve read recently. It’s always a pleasure to read her books, and this island cozy proves that Hart knows what she’s doing. As she brings back the loving couple of Max and Annie Darling for their 21st romp through crime-solving, we meet again some of her recurring characters, including the staff of Annie’s Death on Demand mystery bookstore, as well as a whole batch of new people who make colorful suspects.
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Reviewed by Michelle Greathouse for Michelle's Cozy YA Blog
Broward’s Rock is one of those small towns where everyone knows everyone else - and usually their business too.
Annie Darling owns the local book store, Death on Demand, which specializes in Mystery reads. Mrs. Darling fancies herself a Mystery book afficionado - and when it comes to mystery books and authors - she knows her stuff.
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Reviewed by Susie Kline for 50 Books
I am a big fan of Annie and Max Darling, the main characters in Carolyn Hart’s Death on Demand series. Dead by Midnight is another romp I’m pleased to have shared with the Golden Couple. Annie, proprietress of the murder mystery shop Death on Demand, hires the former secretary of a prestigious law firm to work for her. She is surprised when she ends up dead. But while the police claim her death is a suicide, Annie is certain they are wrong. Together Annie and Max wander about their South Carolina island paradise, and get to the bottom of the mystery. Carolyn Hart does a nice job of weaving the tale, making you suspect so many different people!
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Reviewed by Mary Ann Smyth for Bookloons
Any time I get my hands on a Death on Demand mystery by – who else? – Carolyn Hart, I make note of the other mystery authors she recommends or quotes. I recognize most of them, but occasionally find a new one. Good to know when venturing near a bookstore.
Taking place on fictional Broward Island off the coast of South Carolina, Dead by Midnight presents a plethora of suspects in the killing of a woman who had just been fired from a law firm. It is first thought to be a suicide, but Annie Darling, owner of the mystery bookstore Death on Demand questions the ruling. Her doubt centers on a towel placed late at night in a gazebo!
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Reviewed by Amie Taylor for Book Reporter
DEAD BY MIDNIGHT is the 21st installment in the Death on Demand series, and it should be easy for readers to see why these books have been so popular for so long. Memorable characters with a sense of humor, a mystery that begs to be solved, and a small-town setting that makes readers wish it were real rather than fictional, are just some of the captivating elements of Carolyn Hart's novels. Mystery enthusiasts should definitely pick up a copy for their keeper collections. They may not be "dead by midnight," but they'll certainly be turning the pages well after the clock strikes 12.
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Reviewed by Martha A. Cheves for Author Nation
I have yet to read a Carolyn Hart book that I haven’t completely enjoyed. Her style of writing is light, yet full of suspense. And she usually keeps me fooled until the end.
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Reviewed by Sarah Dobie for Sarah Dobie's blog
I very much enjoyed Dead by Midnight. That’s not my problem. My problem is (thank goodness it was on a Sunday) I couldn’t stop reading the book once I started.... I want to thank Ms. Hart for creating such lovely characters in a lovely world. I enjoyed hearing about Annie Darling’s bookstore. I had no idea there were so many different mystery sub-genres.
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Beth Fish Reads
Dead by Midnight is the twenty-first entry in Carolyn Hart's award-winning Death on Demand mystery series featuring Annie Laurance Darling and her husband, Max. When Annie moved to Broward's Rock, South Carolina, to take over her uncle's mystery bookstore, she found herself caught up in a local murder investigation. Since then she and Max have helped solved a variety of cases both on the island and on the nearby mainland. In Dead by Midnight, Annie and Max take an interest in a local death that the police rule a suicide. To the Darlings, the facts add up to murder. The police agree to keep the file open but aren't convinced they have a crime on their hands. After two more killings, clues start to fall into place, and Annie thinks she has the perfect plan for exposing the murderer. As always in Hart's Death in Demand series, the facts and clues make sense, and if you pay careful attention, you just might solve the mystery before Annie and Max. More often than not, however, you'll be fooled by the well-crafted red herrings, and just when you're sure you know the answer, you'll turn the page and see you're wrong. A successful cozy series needs more than a good mystery to keep it strong through twenty-one books, and Death on Demand delivers. Annie and Max's relationship grows from boyfriend/girlfriend in the early books to happily married in the later books. They have a loving and supportive relationship that has only one tiny flaw: Max's mother, Laurel. Laurel is a bit of flake--she often means well, but she drives Annie crazy. Laurel's latest schemes and obsessions are always fun to follow. Throughout the series, we meet many of Broward's Rock's citizens and Annie and Max's friends. The town comes alive, making us as comfortable in the local diner and on the boardwalk as are the Darlings. Annie's bookstore is a local gathering place, and it is great fun to learn what titles are displayed in the store's front window and which books the tourists are buying off the shelves. Who can resist a mystery series that will add to your reading list? As a side note, if you are an audiobook fan, don't miss the audio editions narrated by the wonderful Kate Reading. I have spent many, many hours listening to Annie and Max's adventures, and I love Reading's performances.
MysteriesEtc
It is so wonderful to be able to escape to Broward's Rock and the Death on Demand bookstore with Annie and Max and their assortment of friends from famous authors to police detectives to restaurant owners on a new adventure. Dead by Midnight is the twenty-first Death on Demand mystery and it is a wonderful addition to the series. As always the writing is so smooth and enjoyable to read. The plot is full of twists and turns and the identity of the murderer was a surprise to me as always in this series. I've loved this entire series beginning from Max and Annie's courtship to their established marriage. And it is wonderful that their marriage is solid and full of love. They are a great partnership, always very supportive of one another. I really enjoy the Death on Demand bookstore setting and I love that Ms. Hart is always dropping mystery writers names as I have found many a new author this way. And the first murder victim is a new employee of Annie's this time out. The setting of Broward's Rock which is off the South Carolina coast is a wonderful setting. We have another "new" old island family as the central characters in this mystery. The Jamison family is full of victims and suspects. And the bookstore employee murderee had been an employee of the Jamison's law firm until recently. Annie knows her new employee had no reason to commit suicide and quickly determines it was murder and sets out to solve the case. Another murder victim quickly follows. Everyone looks like a suspect at some point and it takes Annie and Max's detective work to prove who the murderer is. Great story! Highly recommend this wonderful new addition to the Death on Demand series by Carolyn Hart. It was just released this week so be sure to get your copy soon!
Reviewed by David Marshall James for Shine
Annie Darling-- proprietor of Death on Demand mystery bookstore on the boardwalk at Broward's Rock, South Carolina (an island coastal resort)-- does a good bit of business off "hammock reading." This twenty-first entry in Carolyn Hart's "Death on Demand" mystery series makes for good hammock reading. That is, of course, after you've finished the new biography of Millard Fillmore (for real). The action here centers on a three-partner law firm that's been suffering mightily since the senior partner (a widower with three young-adult children) succumbed to the wiles of his flashy, arriviste, new female partner, making her a partner in every sense of the word. It's "wicked stepmother" time not just for the kids, but for the third partner as well as the firm's receptionist, both of whom have fallen out of favor with the newly crowned queen. You just know someone's going down in this nasty scenario. Actually, it's more than one of 'em. The death of the first to go is ruled a suicide, but Annie and her pal Henny Brawley aren't buying it, so they start nosing around for themselves, with begrudging permission from the island's chief of police, Billy Cameron. You would think by now he would trust Annie's instincts. Well, he sort of does. Probably more than most COP's would, even given her track record for solving murders. Naturally, Annie's husband, Max, is easily encouraged to join in the investigation, via his Confidential Commissions firm, where business is slow enough that the secretary, Barb, can whip out a banana or chocolate cream pie in the office kitchen every day, proving her weight in meringue, which is rather something. Sometimes, Max would rather be out chopping waves in his speedboat, or soaking up rays on the beach, or even whipping up a pie himself, at home. Who can blame him? He's rich and handsome and doesn't have to worry about the funds to back Barb's next paycheck. His mother, Laurel, happens to be a few lady fingers short of a Charlotte Russe, but after a charming fashion. Annie, however, is a worrier and a workaholic. The author creates a most appealing milieu within the bookshop, which includes a gourmet coffee bar, with most generous name-dropping of mystery authors and titles, present and past. Good thing that Annie's a gal on the go-- all those caramel lattes at the coffee bar add up, especially alongside Barb's pies, Max's pies, and the fried-flounder sandwiches at Parotti's Grill (if Annie's not going heavy on the tartar sauce, it's the Thousand Island dressing-- a lass after m'own heart). The regular characters are as fetching as ever in this newest "Death on Demand," and who wouldn't want to read about a beach setting, especially when you can't make it to a real one? The plot-- a well-designed whodunit-- will keep you in that hammock for hours. Sounds like a plan.
Reviewed by Ed Gorman
The police say suicide. Annie Darling suspects murder. Max is unconvinced until Annie follows a trail behind the dead woman's house. Annie unravels the mystery of a towel hidden at midnight in a gazebo, the interesting lack of fingerprints on a crystal mug, blood on a teenager's blue shirt, and the secret of a lovers' tryst. Max plunges deep into the woods to find incriminating evidence. Annie sets the perfect trap for a merciless killer, but her cell phone rings and Death is on the line. www.CarolynHart.com And for cat lovers: DEAD BY MIDNIGHT by Carolyn Hart I love to have fun when writing a mystery. If I laugh, I think a reader will laugh. In the Death on Demand series, I especially enjoy writing about Annie Darling's ditzy mother-in-law, Laurel Roethke. Laurel is usually excited about a new interest, something that surprises and often confounds Annie. In Dead by Midnight, Laurel creates Cat Truth Posters, which she wants Annie to hang in the bookstore. Annie thinks books should be the store's focus, but the posters enchant her. Each poster features a cat's photograph with a caption. Here are three of the Cat Truth posters; . . . a silky furred, mitted, and bicolored Ragdoll stretched out on a red silk cushion, looking as comfy as Eva Longoria in a Hanes ad: Go with the Flow. A rectangular-muzzled, green-eyed, cholocolate colored cat appeared as brooding as a Gothic hero: Always Say Yes to Adventure. . . . a thick-furred, piebald Siberian forest cat, its white front a brilliant contrast to a charcoal back and head. Its face appeared almost angelic: Always try a Smile First. And yes, one of the posters points to a killer. Fun for me and fun, I hope for readers
Reviewed by Ben Steelman for Star News Online
They’re the Palmetto State’s answer to Nick and Nora Charles,or maybe its Robert Wanger and Stefanie Powers. Annie Darling runs Death on Demand, the finest mystery bookstore on Broward’s Rock, S.C., or maybe the entire South Carolina Lowcountry. (Author Carolyn Hart thinks Low Coiuntry is one word.) Her dashing blonde husband, Max, is an independently wealthy private investigator. And they’re back on the case in “Dead by Midnight,” the 21st in Hart’s popular “Death on Demand” seriess of murder mysteries, due out March 29 from William Morrow ($24.99). This time, Annie is trying to cope with an inept assistant, Pat Merridew, who knows nothing at all about mysteries. But poor thing, she was fired after years of loyal service as secretary to island lawyer Glen Jamison, at the insistence of his slinky new trophy wife, Cleo. (Cleo thought his office needced someone less frumpy.) Then Pat turns up dead. Everyone thinks it’s suicide — esxcept, of course, Annie, who finds clues including a towel hidden in the gazebo and blood on a surly teenager’s T-shirt. Then Glen Jamison turns up dead from a .45 gunshot wound – and a scary phone call lets Annie know she’s in danger. Hart, a oo-founder of Sisters in Crime, knows her turf. (As always, her books are a virtuaal “to-do” list for mystery buffs, with dozens of titles of great books.) The Oklahoma City resident also writes the Henrie O. siers and the Bailey Ruth mystery, about a spunky redhead who can’t stay idle in Heaven but keeps returning to Earth to solve crimes and rescue the innocent.
Reviewd by Jean Henry Mead for Make Mine Mystery
Carolyn Hart's new mystery/thriller, Dead by Midnight, features recurring characters in the Death on Demand series, Annie and Max Darling. Max's ditzy mother, Laurel, is usually up to something that surprises and confounds Annie. In Dead by Midnight, Laurel is creating Cat Truth Posters which she wants hung in the bookstore. Annie, of course, thinks books should be the focus of the store, but the posters enchant her. The author describes a few of Laurel's posters, which feature photographs of cats: . . . a silky furred, mitted, and bicolored Ragdoll stretched out on a red silk cushion, looking as comfy as Eva Longoria in a Hanes ad: Go with the Flow. A rectangular-muzzled, green-eyed, chocolate-colored cat appeared as brooding as a Gothic hero. The legend read: Always say yes to adventure. . . . a thick-furred, piebald Siberian Forest cat, its white front a brilliant contrast to a charcoal back and head. In a side view, the cat's face appeared almost angelic. Always try a smile first. And yes, one of the posters points to a killer. In Carolyn Hart's 21st Death on Demand mystery, Annie Darling, owner of the Death on Demand mystery bookstore in South Carolina, doesn't believe the official report concerning the suicide of her newest employee, Pat Merridew. Merridew had been fired from her previous job with a law firm and her suspicious conduct prior to her death, coupled with a planned cruise to Alaska she couldn't afford, raises Annie's suspicions. So she and her husband Max decide to investigate.When a law partner in the firm the victim worked for is found shot to death, there are plenty of suspects, including the lawyer's sister. The Darlings are convinced that's she protecting the real killer and set out to prove it. The plot is well-paced and Max's mother lends plenty of humor to the plot. Bookstore enthusiasts and readers from all venues will love this latest Death on Demand mystery/thriller. Carolyn Hart has won multiple Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Awards. She's the creator of the Henrie O series, featuring a retired reporter, and the Bailey Ruth series, starring an impetuous, redheaded ghost. One of the founders of Sisters in Crime, she lives in Oklahoma City. Dead at Midnight will be officially released on March 29, but can be preordered online.
From Kirkus Reviews
A mystery bookseller once more finds real-life murders harder to solve than the ones in the books she loves. Death on Demand's owner, Annie Darling (Laugh 'Til He Died, 2010, etc.), has her hands full. Her mother-in-law Laurel is insisting she fill the shop with her latest photographs, "Cat Truths." Between this demand and the book-club members, needy authors and mystery novices who stop by the shop, Annie knows that she has to get some extra help. When her friend Henny Brawley insists that Annie take on Pat Merridew to lighten the workload, Annie is skeptical. Not only was Pat recently let go as secretary to local law firm Jamison, Jamison, and Brewster—though they cited the economic downturn as the reason—but Pat doesn't know Christie from Chandler. To her surprise, Annie finds Pat enthusiastic and able, until she doesn't show up for work one day because she's dead. Local police chief Billy Cameron wants to rule her death a suicide by self-administered pain pills, but Annie is convinced otherwise. In her investigation, she enlists the help of her husband, Max, who's something of an amateur sleuth (and, in Annie's opinion, a total stud). Her investigation leads her to the Jamison family, where husband-and-wife team Cleo and Glen run the law firm that let Pat go. Annie tries to build trust with the Jamison clan as the murderer becomes more bold and the danger closer to home. Hart's latest cozy puzzler casts a net that will ensnare a wide audience.
From Publishers Weekly
In Anthony-winner Hart's lively 20th Death on Demand mystery (after 2009's Dare to Die), more than one death in Broward's Rock, S.C., engages Annie Darling and her husband, Max. First, Click Silvester, a black teenager who hung out at the Haven, a teen activity center, apparently falls to his death from a wooden viewing platform in the woods. Later, someone shoots obnoxious Haven board member Booth Wagner on stage during an outdoor evening benefit for the center. Many had motives for killing Booth, including his stepson, Tim Talbot, who feared and hated him; his wife, Neva, who's curiously unmoved by his death; his former mistress, Jean Hughes, who was terrified of being fired as the Haven's director and becomes police chief Billy Cameron's prime suspect. A group of local ladies, led by mystery writer Emma Clyde, assist Annie and Max in the hunt for the real killer. Well-developed characters and a complex, fast-moving plot make for a satisfying read. (Apr.)
Reviewed by Mrs. Brooks for Night Owl Reviews
Annie, Max’s wife, owns a mystery bookstore called Death on Demand. At first, she’s not comfortable with Max taking Jean as a client. But that changed with the death of a young member from the Haven and the death of one of the Haven’s directors with Jean being the police’s number one suspect. ( just a little teaser) This is the first in Carolyn G. Hart’s Death on Demand series that I have had a chance to read. I have to say I loved it. Carolyn Hart holds you in suspense until the end. She gives little clues throughout the book allowing you to guess at who the killer really is. In fact, she actually had me believing that the killer was one person and it ended up not being that person. I LOVE how Carolyn Hart leads you to believe one thing and it is another. I LOVE those kinds of books! Read Laughed ‘Til He Died and find out for yourself what this book is all about. I KNOW you will not be disappointed.
Reviewed by Kimberly for Coffee Time Romance
Jean Hughes used to be a singer in a nightclub, but a man shows up one night and convinces her to move to Broward’s Rock, South Carolina. The job he suggests for her is to be the director at Haven - a place for kids to hang out. Attendance rises as Jean takes over, and the kids of Haven love her. Booth Wagner is the person who laughs at other people’s misfortunes. As you can imagine, that trait has made him more than a few enemies. He is a hateful man who does not like it when other people can get a laugh at his expense. Booth brought in Jean Hughes to the director of Haven because he knew it would upset more than one person on the board. When Jean refuses to bend to his will, Booth plays dirty. He tries to turn the board against her and threatens to kick her out of her home. A man with enemies should never turn his back and that is exactly what Booth does. Booth is shot at a Haven talent show when the lights go out. The hunt begins for a killer and the Darlings find themselves involved in the investigation. The death of a teenage boy was overlooked as an accident, but was it? Or is there a tie to Booth Wagner’s murder? The Darlings are back for another go around in this twentieth installment of the Death on Demand series. While this series is familiar to a lot of readers, this one is just as fresh and new as the first. With familiar characters to draw her readers in, Ms. Hart keeps them hanging by their fingernails with this latest addition. I enjoy visiting with my friends who reside within the pages of these books, but when there is a mystery to be solved, I know I am in for a long night of reading. I encourage you to pull up a chair at Death on Demand, settle in for a conversation, and see what else will happen to the characters of Broward’s Rock.
Reviewed by Sharon Galligar Chance for Las Vegas Review-Journal
Life on Broward’s Rock Island off the coast of South Carolina usually is slow and relaxing. But when a series of unexplainable deaths rock the peaceful village, Max and Annie Darling are called in to help find who is trying to turn their town upside-down. When Jean Hughes, the director of the Haven, the town’s youth recreation center, comes to the Darlings desperate for help to save her job, Max discovers that poor Jean has been duped by local millionaire Booth Wagner, who cruelly intends to run his former lover off the island for good — laughing it off as one big joke. When Booth is shot during a Haven event, Jean becomes the prime suspect in his murder, but when two other deaths seem to be related to the youth center, Max, with Annie’s help, begins to dig into what was really going on while the kids were at play. More than one person on the island isn’t too upset that Booth is dead. In her 20th novel in the “Death On Demand” series, author Carolyn Hart delivers yet another intriguing and lively mystery featuring her beloved characters of Annie and Max Darling. Hart manages to keep Max (the handsome lawyer and owner of Confidential Confessions, a private investigation firm) and Annie (owner of the Death On Demand mystery bookstore) fresh and vibrant, portraying the loving young couple in a charming manner that makes one long for them to be next-door neighbors. Who wouldn’t want to browse through the shelves at Annie’s delightful bookstore or sit down to one of Max’s mouthwatering gourmet meals? Although a part of the series, “Laughed ’Til He Died,” like many of Hart’s novels, can stand alone as an interesting tale with plenty of back story included for new readers to feel “in the know” throughout the novel. Old or new, fans of cozy mysteries will be overjoyed with this captivating and charming tale.
Reviewed by Erik Craddock for Edmondsun.com
“Laughed ‘Til He Died” finds Booth Wagner, a pompous business tycoon, using his power, privilege, and influence to manipulate the removal of the seemingly naïve and vulnerable Jean Hughes as director of the Haven, a youth recreation center. Hughes asks Max Darling to help in her fight to keep working. Just as Max is making headway with the board members to save Jean’s job, Wagner is felled by a single shot amidst the chaos of a momentary power outage at a Haven event. Citing Jean’s despair over the loss of her job and rage over Booth’s callousness as motive, police chief Billy Cameron has his sights set on Jean as the most likely suspect. Sleuths Annie and Max Darling are quick to discover that Wagner had made many enemies. They explore these motives as they try to vindicate Jean. They are also both deeply troubled by the tragic and suspicious death of a beloved local teen and they suspect that there is a connection that the true killer will go to any length to conceal. As the evidence against Jean mounts, Max and Annie uncover clues that ultimately lead them to Booth’s killer. Throughout “Laughed ’Til He Died” Carolyn Hart mixes her enthralling cadre of Broward’s Rock residents with newcomers and visitors. Each time the door to Death on Demand bookstore opens, it’s a mystery as to what kind of intrigue will pass the threshold in this milestone 20th installment. Adult ages.
Laughed 'Til He Died: A Death on Demand Mystery
Carolyn Hart, the grande dame of American mystery novelists, has completed her twentieth chapter in her "Death on Demand" series featuring Annie and Max Darling, "Laughed 'Til He Died" (William Morrow Publisher, 282 pages). The husband and wife team of sleuths of Broward's Rock Island, South Carolina, are back solving crimes and restoring tranquility to their beloved island home in their latest adventure. They are called upon to clear the name of the director of the island's youth center who has been accused of murdering Booth Wagner, an overbearing millionaire with a penchant for playing nasty tricks on others. The Darlings are faced with a complex puzzle as they find there were all too many islanders with motives for killing the obnoxious Mr. Wagner. As in prior mysteries, Annie and Max are assisted in their search for the true culprit by the "Intrepid Trio" - Emma Clyde, the island's mystery writer; Henny Brawley, the island's greatest mystery reader, and Laurel, Max's free-spirited mother. With such indomitable allies as these, even the most clever fiend does not stand a chance of eluding justice. As to be expected from the talented and prolific Ms. Hart, "Laughed 'Til He Died" is a terrific brew of a clever plot with endearing characters in an elegant setting the perfect "tea cozy" mystery for those who savor a more refined whodunit. This book is on sale April 6 just in time for Mother's Day.
Reviewed by Lois Collins for Deseret News
Occasionally, a mystery reader meets a character so obnoxious, arrogant and otherwise repulsive that it's impossible not to hope that the creature's going to be on the fictional murderer's list. And that's how you feel about Booth Wagner in this, the 20th installment of Carolyn Hart's "Death on Demand" series, featuring Annie and Max Darling. But there are two other, clearly less deserving victims when an unknown killer starts wreaking havoc on Broward's Rock Island, S.C. Police chief Billy Cameron's suspect is Jean Hughes, director of the Haven, a youth center on the island. She doesn't really have the credentials for the job and it turns out that Wagner brought her on board just to be mean — sort of his perpetual reason for doing anything. He knew it would make others unhappy. And ultimately, she'd be hurt as well when her inexperience catches up with her. What he hadn't counted on is her popularity with the youths the program serves. They love her. And she loved the job, so she seeks the help of problem solver Max Darling. And when you've recruited Max, you have Annie as a dedicated and charming bonus. It doesn't take the chief long to decide that Jean Hughes' motive, however, is something much more personal and plausible than just not wanting to lose her job. The real motive the chief assigns her is something much more personal — and plausible. The main characters are, of course, the Darlings. They're decent, devoted and love a good mystery. They have a finely honed, shared sense of justice. And they're pretty clever when it comes to tackling a puzzle. I loved this book — and others in the series. The stories are cozy and well-written, entertaining and a bit surprising. They have the violence of murder without being graphic or gross. And they're believable and thoroughly entertaining. Best of all, you may not see the ending coming.
Reviewed by Joe Meyers for Connecticut Post
The latest novel by Carolyn Hart — “Laughed ’Til He Died” (William Morrow) — is in bookstores today. The mystery is the 20th in a series Hart has been writing about Annie Darling and her bookstore, Death on Demand, on the South Carolina resort island of Broward’s Rock. Hart is one of the top contemporary practitioners of the traditional mystery — which some people slap with the misleading label “cozy” — in the spirit of such masters of the form as Agatha Christie and Rex Stout. The Annie Darling books are masterpieces of construction and characterization, with a perfect balance between a puzzle mystery that keeps a reader happily turning pages, and well-drawn characters that are as full of surprises as the people in our own lives. Two years ago, Hart started a wonderful new series about the adventures of the late great Bailey Ruth — an angel/ghost who returns to her Oklahoma home town to help folks who are caught up in violent crime. The first two titles in the series, “Ghost at Work” and “Merry, Merry Ghost,” display many of the same virtues as the “Death on Demand” books, but with a healthy dose of “Topper”-style supernatural humor. The Annie Darling books have gotten richer — a tad darker, too — since her beloved husband Max was falsely accused of murder in the 2007 novel “Dead Days of Summer.” The experience showed the Darlings how awful it is to have police zero in on a single suspect at the expense of other investigation work and how quickly living in a small town can go from feeling comfortable to being claustrophobic. Max has become a unlicensed investigator determined to help those in the same situation in which he found himself. And, as a result of the falses charges, he and Annie both have a more prickly relationship with the local police. “Laughed ’Till He Died” features a newcomer to Broward’s Rock, Jean Hughes, who arrives on the island under the sponsorship of the enormously wealthy Booth Wagner, one of the most contemptible characters Hart has ever written about. Wagner installs Jean as head of the local youth center just to anger the board members with the idea that his “bimbo” is running the place with few obvious qualifications. Jean turns out to be a terrific administrator, however, and she loves the fact that her dying sister has a beautiful place to spend her final days. When Booth decides to fire Jean, purely out of spite, the woman turns to Max for help, and the stage is set for the poor woman to become the top suspect when Wagner is killed during a youth center program. Hart makes every character three-dimensional — even Wagner, who we quickly see has as many enemies as that doomed businessman in “Murder on the Orient Express.” The contrast of terrible behavior — and violence — in such an idyllic setting heightens the suspense and the horror (Booth is not the only one to die in the novel). I am a big fan of Hart’s Bailey Ruth books, but I would hate to see the writer stop producing “Death on Demand” novels — few mystery series have ever given me this much sheer reading pleasure.
Reviewed by Betty Lytle for The Oklahoman
'Death' worthy of demand; "Laughed 'Til He Died" (William Morrow, $24.99) is the 20th installment in Oklahoma City author Carolyn Hart's Death on Demand mysteries. Mystery bookstore owner Annie Darling and her husband, Max, with their recurring cadre of amateur sleuths, seek to prove the innocence of Jean Hughes, who is the main suspect in three murders on the South Carolina sea island of Broward's Rock. Hughes, director of the island's youth recreation center, has been told by Booth Wagner, a cruel, overbearing business tycoon and member of the center's board of directors, that her contract will not be renewed. Hughes seeks Max Darling's help in keeping her job. When the body of a teen from the youth center is found in the woods, local law enforcement officials deem the death an accident. But was it? The next evening, Wagner is shot and killed during a momentary power failure as he is speaking at a program at the youth center. Hughes is in perfect position to have been the shooter. As the evidence against Hughes mounts and other teens go missing, Max and Annie are relentless in their pursuit of the truth. They are quick to discover that Wagner has many enemies. Intrepid Police Chief Billy Cameron clings to his belief that Hughes committed the murders, and he won't entertain the thought of any other suspects. Ultimately, Max and Annie discover the real murderer, and the mystery is solved. Hart, who has won numerous awards and accolades for her mysteries, has developed an interesting and amusing cast of characters and a surefire formula for the success of her mysteries. Mystery fans will enjoy this book, available in stores Tuesday.
Reviewed by Mary Ann Smyth for BookLoons
Carolyn Hart's twentieth installment of her Death on Demand series is now available, much to the delight of her many fans – of which, I am one. She has been writing this series for twenty-five years, bringing Broward's Rock Island, South Carolina and its residents to her readers. Annie Darling runs the Death on Demand bookstore while her handsome husband Max has his own investigative business. When a young boy's body is found - and it appears to everyone to be an accidental death - Annie does not agree. An island teen center's director's job is threatened by Booth Wagner, a very wealthy resident of Broward's Rock Island who is accustomed to buying his own way whenever he wishes. He is determined to fire the director – but the question becomes moot when Booth is shot to death at a fair at the center. As always, Hart's plot weaves its way around the characters on the island. And characters they are! There's a mystery writer who feels her deductive powers on paper should work just as well in real life. Annie's mother-in-law Laurel is an aging femme fatale. Annie and Max are the most level-headed of the bunch. But they are so much in love, their feet don't always touch the ground. At any rate, Annie gets very involved in trying to solve the crime – too involved. Hart's descriptive powers are as much a delight in her books as are the mysteries. The reader can almost smell the ocean surrounding the island and see the lovely colors of the wild flowers, and hear the rustling in the undergrowth in the woods - and be as startled as Annie when she meets an alligator in those woods. Where Hart finds the time to write so many wonderful books boggles the mind. She also writes the Henrie O and the Bailey Ruth series. Hart contends that her characters start out as strangers until she learn their stories. Then, as all the stories come together, another book is born. Celebrate with Carolyn Hart and enjoy her latest.
Reviewed by David Marshall James for Shine
Whether or not anyone has defined a "cozy" mystery, here's a stab (or a shot, if you will): A mystery novel that you wouldn't be embarrassed to share with your twelve-year-old daughter, your mother, and your grandmother. (Unless, of course, it was stultifyingly awful.) The chief attribute of a cozy, then, would be that nothing's too graphic, neither the sex nor the guts. Carolyn Hart's three mystery series-- "Death on Demand," "Henrie O," and "Bailey Ruth Raeburn"-- prove more cozy than not. Hart simply doesn't truck in four-letter "bombs." The Death on Demand series, which now numbers twenty volumes, thanks to this title, has emerged as Hart's most popular group. largely owing to a well-developed cast of returning characters and sense of place. (For a fuller account of both characters and setting, kindly refer to the earlier review of "Dare to Die," the previous Death on Demand entry.) Broward's Rock, South Carolina, is fictitious, but it is certainly indicative of many such sea islands in the state, which now serve as much as communities for year-round residents as resort destinations. One of the pleasures of reading this series is the feeling it gives of returning to a favorite summer vacation house, or similar locale. Make that minus a murder or two. Here, there are two, and Max(-well) Darling is having a deuce of a time convincing the constabulary (as island resident and famed novelist [eighty-six-- whew!-- Marigold Rembrandt mysteries] would put them) that one of his agency's-- Confidential Commission's-- clients is not guilty of either. Well, she could be, but we trust Max's judgment, along with that of his wife, Annie, owner of the Death on Demand mystery bookshop on the island boardwalk. Thankfully, she has good, ol' reliable Ingrid to ring up sales and to keep the espresso machine at the in-store coffee bar whirring, because Annie is up to her summertime shorts (it's July, and every bit as hot and muggy as you'd expect) in the murder investigation. Actually, the constabulary attributes only one of the deaths to foul play-- more of a chore for Annie and Max to convince them otherwise. Max also has a further depth of concern with the murders in that he serves on the board of the island's youth center, whose director (his client) is the principal suspect. The youth center is also the common denominator for both deaths. Hart doesn't stuff in a lot of padding to puff out her story twice as long as it ought to be. Rather, she sticks close to her plot and its advancement, building it to the revelation of "whodunit," inviting the reader to solve the case before the principals-- and Emma's dreaded "constabulary." "Laughed 'Til He Died" is a Broward's Rock-solid entry in Hart's Death on Demand series, which may not make it to Emma's enviable eighty-six volumes, but could easily sail along twice as far as it has to date.
From Reading with Tequila
Carolyn Hart's Death on Demand series has been a favorite cozy series of mine for many years. Annie Darling owns a mystery bookstore (Death on Demand, obviously) and mystery is the main theme throughout the series, both up front with the murders and in the background through the books Annie sells. The novels are full of mystery references which is sure to delight fans of the genre. In Laughed 'Til He Died, the 20th installment of the series, Hart offers up a mystery that boggles the mind in the best way possible. by the middle of the novel, I was utterly convinced of the killer's identity. I was so off base, but looking back, the clues were right there. I have read all the previous books in the Death on Demand series and feel rather acquainted with Hart's style, so it was a fantastic surprise to find myself so far off base. The prime suspect in the murder comes to Max, Annie's husband, for help on another matter before the victim was killed. I loved how Annie and Max had a legitimate reason to be as involved in the investigation as they were. The island's famous mystery author, Death on Demand's best customer and Max's mom were all there to lend their specialized viewpoints as well. Oh, how I wish there was a real Death on Demand close to home. A store full of nothing but mysteries, the coffee in mugs adorned with mystery titles, a big stuffed raven; the image sound like a place I would never want to leave. A scene where Annie was setting up themed displays, mentioning both famous and new to me authors and titles made me want to be Annie. What fun it would be to own Death on Demand (you know, without all the murders.) Laughed 'Til He Died contains a great mystery surrounded by mysteries and was great fun. Actually, it was one of the very best in the series and if Carolyn Hart can entertain this well after 20 books, I would love to read at least 20 more.
From Publishers Weekly
In Agatha-winner Hart’s winning 19th Death on Demand mystery set in Broward’s Rock, S.C. (after 2008’s Death Walked In), Annie Darling and her PI husband, Max, invite Iris Tilford, a troubled young woman who used to live in the island community and has recently returned, to a party they’re giving at the Broward’s Rock pavilion. The party ends in tragedy with Annie and Max’s discovery of Iris’s strangled body on a path in the surrounding pine woods. Annie promises police chief Billy Cameron she won’t meddle in the investigation, but when the killer targets her and Max, she breaks her vow. The plot neatly builds to an exciting climax in the Agatha Christie tradition, with all the suspects gathered near the scene of the crime, each with a strong motive for murder. Hart assembles her usual distinctive supporting cast, including wacky celebrity mystery writer Emma Clyde. Readers will enjoy the many allusions to actual mystery authors and their books, from the classic to the contemporary. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
David Marshall James for Shine
By the off chance you have strayed from Broward's Rock, S.C., or never visited in the first place, then it's high time for a return visit or a maiden encounter. In either event, you've been missing the natural wonders of wildlife-laden marshes and beaches lined with dunes covered in sea oats, lapped by the jade-green waters of the Atlantic. Vessels great and small dock in the marina, near a boardwalk featuring specialty shops to delight both locals and visitors, all of whom must cross by ferry from the mainland. After a fried oyster sandwich at Ben Parotti's Grill-- and what's an oyster sandwich without cole slaw, curly fries, hush puppies, and a sampling of Jolene Parotti's dessert du jour-- you'll want to check out those shops, particularly Annie Darling's Death on Demand mystery book store, an oasis within an oasis for afficionadoes of the whodunit. Annie, who inherited Death on Demand from her Uncle Ambrose, cannot seem to keep her hands off a good mystery, whether it's stacked on her shelves or whether she's embroiled in the midst of it. Sometimes, that's the fault of her husband Max, who operates a business called Confidential Commissions, also on the boardwalk. Occasionally, a case will literally drop on his desk. True to his to-the-manor-born roots, Max-- and Annie, of course-- are planning to move into Franklin house, an island manse complete with columns and double verandahs. However, as this novel opens, Franklin house is more than a mess, owing to a plumbing crisis, so Annie and Max are ensconced in a cabin at the Nightingale court, a throwback to the days of beachside motor courts set in glades of live oaks draped with Spanish moss. Trouble descends in the form of a woman in her late twenties, arriving in the rain on a bicycle. The economy may be going green, but not as fast as Annie's Volvo when she's tailing a wailing police cruiser. Therefore, the woman on the bicycle draws plenty of attention. A native of Broward's Rock, she fled a decade ago after two tragic deaths involving her high-school classmates. She cannot help but wonder, however, if those two deaths were purely accidental. Therefore, she's returned, determined to dredge up the past. Good-hearted Annie invites her at the last minute to a party that she and Max are throwing at the Harbor Pavilion. More than six people from the bicyclist's past are in attendance, and another death occurs. Author Carolyn Hart maintains a steady flow of action in her nineteenth Death on Demand mystery. Moreover, she has developed a larger-than-usual (for a mystery series) cast of returning characters. Such characters are indispensable if an author expects readers to make repeat engagements with her/his works. In addition to the Darlings and the Parottis, the ensemble includes Max's eccentrically ethereal mother, Laurel, and mystery-novel connoisseur Henny Brawley. In this volume, Laurel has moved her tai chi class to Death on Demand, and Henny begins implementing her ideas in the store while she and Laurel sub for Annie, who is in turn subbing for the proprietors of Nightingale Court. Local law enforcement supplies a half-dozen returning characters, all of whom are largely supportive of Annie and Max. The crowning glory of the cast, however, is Hart's delightful dabble in metafiction: famed mystery writer Emma Clyde, proud owner of a Rolls-Royce, a sumptuous mansion, and a seemingly endless array of stylish caftans. Although Emma's "Marigold Rembrandt" mystery novels sell like Parotti's jalapeno cornbread at Death on Demand, Annie is reserved in her opinion of the series, which she believes relies too heavily on far-fetched plot contrivances. Not so Hart's work! The central clue is planted carefully, and, if you pick up on it, you'll have the mystery solved about halfway through. Nevertheless, the author pitches in one surprise after another until the end, and the reader leaves this latest excursion to Broward's Rock feeling neither cheated nor deprived.
Kimbery for Coffee Time Romance and More
Iris Tilford left Broward Rock ten years ago under suspicious circumstances. Now she is back, hoping to find answers to a few questions she has and right some wrongs. Somebody does not want her to remember what happened at the pavilion before Iris left the island. Annie Darling is the owner of Death on Demand, the local bookstore on Broward Rock. A lover of mysteries, Annie finds Iris to be just that, mysterious. When Iris is found murdered after the oyster roast, Annie and her husband, Max, hold at the pavilion, Annie decides to help solve the mystery. A lot of people are unhappy to see Iris has returned to Broward Rock. This little community is filled with people who remember what happened the night Jocelyn Howard died. The ruling was accidental drowning, but the medical examiner suspected suicide. With the death of Iris Tilford, the residents may find they are harboring a murderer. Is it a friend, a neighbor or a spouse? Broward Rock is about to be rocked to its very soul. So much mystery trapped within the covers of this book, I was suspecting every character I met from the first chapter. I had a hard time closing it in order to go to sleep at night. Ms. Hart kept my mind working throughout the day, trying to figure out who Broward Rock’s murderer could be. This is an incredible book filled with some very colorful and funny characters. It is the dark side of these characters which can send chills down your spine. Dare to Die is part of the Death on Demand series. I would recommend adding this one to your shelf.
From Publishers Weekly
Annie Darling, proprietor of Death on Demand, "the finest mystery bookstore north of Miami," once again proves a resourceful sleuth in Hart's scintillating 18th Death on Demand mystery set in the South Carolina island community of Broward's Rock (after 2006' Dead Days of Summer). When Annie's devoted PI husband, Max, who's busy renovating historic Franklin House, puts off returning a frantic phone call from a prospective client, Annie later discovers the caller, Gwen Jamison, dying of a gunshot wound in Gwen's house. It appears Gwen wanted to tell Max that after finding on her property eight gold coins worth nearly $2 million that were recently stolen from Gwen's employer, island civic leader Georffrey Grant, she had hidden the coins at Franklin House. When Gwen's dropout son, Robert, is implicated in both the theft and the murder, Max believes Robert's been framed and works to clear his name. This tight, Agatha Christie-style puzzler will keep readers guessing to the end. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Joe's View
I didn’t know about Carolyn Hart’s long-running series of “Death on Demand” mysteries until last year when I was trying to come up with a wide variety of material for a special beach books round-up we ran in the features section of the paper. My taste leans more toward urban hard-boiled mysteries than what the book trade calls “cozies,” but after reading only a few pages of Hart’s “Dead Days of Summer” I was hooked. The gore quotient in the novel was low but there was nothing cozy about Hart’s approach to character, setting and, yes, murder. The Oklahoma City-based writer follows in the footsteps of Agatha Christie who knew how to build a great mystery plot around her acute studies of psychology, romance and the relationships in small communities. Hart’s “Death on Demand” series is set on a seemingly idyllic island off the coast of South Carolina — Broward’s Rock — where the author’s amateur sleuth heroine, Annie Darling, runs the Death on Demand mystery bookstore (“the best mystery book store north of Miami”). Annie is not a sweet old spinster in the Miss Marple mold, but a vibrant and very smart thirtysomething woman madly in love (and in lust) with her handsome husband, Max, who runs a private investigation service. In “Dead Days of Summer,” Max was falsely accused of murder and the shadow of that experience hangs over the new book “Death Walked In,” which William Morrow is publishing Tuesday. The Darlings are in the process of restoring a wonderful old mansion in a rather remote part of Broward’s Rock when they are sucked into a terrible case involving stolen coins and the murder of Gwen Jamison — an African-American woman who worked in the mansion where the theft took place. Although it appears the woman had no direct involvement with the theft, it becomes clear that the coins came into her possession and she hid them somewhere in the Darlings’ partially restored home just before she was killed. The mystery deepens as it becomes obvious to Annie and Max that someone related to the wealthy owner of the coins, Geoff Grant, stole them and then murdered Gwen. The narrative takes us into the complex relationships in the Grant house where a series of marriages by Geoff has created a tangle of dissolute and very jealous step-brothers and step-sisters. Hart’s ability to introduce and fully develop such a wide array of characters — male and female, young and old — is quite remarkable. She is more sympathetic to some than she is to others, but manages to empathize with all of them on some level. The book also shows us how the Darlings have come to have deep reservations about the island police force as a result of Max’s harrowing experience of being railroaded on a murder charge. That experience causes Max to back Gwen’s son Robert when the cops assume the young man with a record of pot smoking and petty crime killed his mother for drug money. Max saw Robert’s face when he first learned of his mother’s death and the investigator has no doubts that the young man is innocent of the crime. “Death Walked In” makes Broward’s Rock and the widely varied people who live there seem as real as the city block that I live on. Hart wrote a good piece for The Washington Post last fall in which she gracefully — but forcefully — dealt with the many misconceptions that surround authors who have chosen to work in crime fiction. She said people who ask her “When will you write a real book?” or “Why do you want to write about murder?” probably haven’t read mysteries. “Murder is never the point of the mystery,” Hart stressed. “Mysteries are about the messes people make of their lives and how they cope…Every day we see proof that evil can triumph. But there is a world, too, where goodness prevails, where justice is served, where decency is celebrated. I and so many readers find that world in the mystery.” When I go on vacation this summer, I plan to take a pile of earlier Hart books so that I can completely catch up with the work of this modern master of the mystery. How lucky I am to have 16 unread “Death on Demand” novels yet to be savored. Reviewed by Joe Meyers
From The Sherbrooke Record (HarperCollins, 2008) Broward's Rock, an island off the coast of South Carolina: the tranquility of the small community is shattered when a woman is shot. She tells bookstore proprietor Annie Darling that she has hidden something of great importance in Annie's house, but before she can tell her what it is, or where, the woman dies. When the woman is linked to a nearby home where a valuable collection of rare gold coins has gone missing, Annie and her husband Max focus on the family living there. There are plenty of grounds for suspicion: the dysfunctional family includes the most-recent, materialistic wife of the coin collector and a shiftless stepson who dropped out of college and is looking forward to his inheritance. There are other assorted ne'er-do-wells in the village as well, including the victim's troubled sons. Lingering over the case is the question, what was hidden in Annie and Max's home, and where? A search of Annie and Max's home turns up nothing, but when Max surprises an intruder he is shot at for his trouble. There will be other attempts, and another death, capped by the proverbial gathering of suspects in a library, before more than one villain is unmasked. My Recommendation Definitely at the cozy end of the spectrum, Carolyn Hart is often com-pared to Agatha Christie, but incorrectly, in my view. In Christie's novels the puzzle element is always front and center, the clues not just cleverly, but fiendishly, concealed; in Hart's novels character and setting are uppermost. A more apt comparison to Carolyn Hart's novels would be the Botswana-based stories of Alexander McCall Smith: in both, the puzzle element is secondary, and the moral setting takes on a life of its own; readers are immersed in a gentle, civilized world of mostly virtuous people where the natural order has been upset. But we can be sure that, in the end, justice will prevail. Characteristic of Hart's other novels, Death Walked In is exactly what it purports to be: a leisurely-paced, gentle tale involving a likeable pair of amateur sleuths up against an equally-amateur criminal in an engaging (if somewhat idealized) setting. When asked about the underlying symbolism latent in everyday objects, Freud is reputed to have said, 'Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.' With Carolyn Hart's novels the reader in search of a pleasant, entertaining read will not be disappointed. It is what it is; nothing more, nothing less. ~ Jim Napier
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Hart pulls out all the stops in the fast-paced 17th installment of her acclaimed Death on Demand cozy series (after 2005's Death of the Party), set on the South Carolina island of Broward's Rock. When bookstore owner Annie Darling's PI husband, Max, accepts a new case and fails to come home, she's frantic and calls in all her friends, including the police. The authorities organize an effective search that leads to the body of an attractive woman near Max's abandoned car; in the trunk is the murder weapon. Portrayed by the press as an unfaithful husband and killer, Max is arrested as soon as he surfaces. Annie goes undercover, determined to clear Max's name even if it means putting herself in a cunning murderer's path. Lovable supporting characters, notably Emma Clyde, resident mystery author and Annie's best friend, help make this one of Hart's finest offerings. Hart has won multiple Agatha, Anthony and Macavity awards. (Apr.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Hart has other cozy series, but her most popular remains the "Death on Demand" series. Annie Laurance sells books and solves murders with equal flair at her small town bookstore, Death on Demand. In true cozy style, Annie's first brush with death causes her to become the prime suspect in the murder and, with the help of her friend Max Darling, she must solve the crime before she is arrested. Fans eagerly await the mystery-painting contest that starts each book, as puzzling out these clues is an added bonus for the true mystery buff. - 
Dead Days of Summer