Murder Under the Covered Bridge by Elizabeth Perona - #review

Working on a television taping to promote the Parke County Covered Bridge Festival, the ladies decide to use their access to the Roseville Bridge to cross an item off Charlotte’s bucket list: #39) Be a Sexy Calendar Girl. But the photo shoot is interrupted by gunshots and Francine’s cousin William stumbling down the riverbank followed by a man with a gun. William sustains life-threatening injuries, but is it homicide?

Francine and Charlotte go into detective mode to uncover the secret William knew about the shooter. Their success, however, depends on surviving two arson events, a séance, a shortage of Mary Ruth’s wildly popular corn fritter donuts, memory-challenged nursing home residents, and a killer who refuses to go up in flames.

GoodReads * Amazon * Barnes & Noble

~~~oOo~~~

MY REVIEW

WAHOO!  Those bucket-list conquering grannies are back with new adventures, new intrigue(s) and new ways to cause embarrassment to their membership!  You see, Charlotte always wanted to be a sexy calendar pinup girl.  Now, her friends, and some of their menfolk, are helping her out with that bucket list item.  They have some old-time costumes and use a nearby covered bridge (whose numbers are dwindling rapidly) as a backdrop.

Some of the shots are getting quite steamy, and some of the ladies are glad that the resulting photos will remain sealed in envelopes in secret compartments of their desk, only to bring secret smiles to their faces when neighbors pull out their (bland by comparison) vacation photos - again.  Yeah, like the grannies are going to leave it at that! *ROFL*  But the solution at which they arrive is inventive...score one for the 'Skinny-Dipping Grannies' on that one.

Unfortunately for the ladies, when they get up to somethin', other people sometimes get up to no good.  In this case, Francine's cousin William comes tearing out of the dark, followed by someone with a gun.  William goes down - not dead, but critically injured nonetheless.

The close relationship the grannies have with each other is heartwarming, like bundling up in an antique quilt on a cold winter's night.  When Mary Beth keeps running out of corn fritter donuts at her food booth for the covered bridge festival, the ladies pitch in to help her make more.  They've all already been helping Charlotte with her calendar bucket list item. They are friends as close as sisters - sometimes they squabble, naturally, but nobody circles the wagons faster in times of crisis.

Murder Under the Covered Bridge is a worthy follow-up to Murder on the Bucket List, the first of the "Bucket List Mysteries".  The action starts out with just the ladies doing their thing, but quickly balloons out of hand.  When the situations get to some quantum level, the threads of the story begin to make a pattern that becomes clearer as the story goes on.  There is much to consider and many puzzles to solve, all of which are brought to a satisfactory conclusion; we are not left hanging at the end.

I love these grannies.  In real life, I did not really get to know either one of my grandmothers, so I would 'adopt' any of these ladies in a heartbeat.  Heck, I want to be them when the time comes!

~~~oOo~~~

MEET THE AUTHORS

Elizabeth Perona is the father/daughter writing team of Tony Perona and Liz Dombrosky. Tony is the author of the Nick Bertetto mystery series, the standalone thriller The Final Mayan Prophecy(with Paul Skorich), and co-editor and contributor to the anthologies Racing Can Be Murder and Hoosier Hoops & Hijinks. Tony is a member of Mystery Writers of America and has served the organization as a member of the Board of Directors and as Treasurer. He is also a member of Sisters-in-Crime.

Liz Dombrosky graduated from Ball State University in the Honors College with a degree in teaching. She is currently a stay-at-home mom. Murder on the Bucket List was her first novel.


Author Links

• Webpage –Tony www.tonyperona.com
• Webpage – Elizabeth www.elizabethperona.com,
• Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/authorelizabethperona/timeline

~~~oOo~~~

GIVEAWAY!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

~~~oOo~~~

Click on the banner to go to the tour page, where you will find links to more reviews, as well as a guest post by the authors.  You can also find out how to become a blog host for future book tours while you are there!

(Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book from the author and publishers via Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.  This post contains affiliate links.)