Most mysteries are far too serious with serial killers, police procedurals and the like; there are few that dare to be both funny and murderous. Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing I love more than a really good James Patterson, John Sanford, Kathy Reichs, or Patricia Cornwell book but every now and again you run across a mystery that just either makes you laugh out loud or quietly giggle. The Saucy Lucy Murders is one of those gigglers.

After years of dealing with her ex-husband’s constant cheating and abuse, Lexie Lightfoot packs up herself and her daughter Eva to move back to her hometown of Moose Creek Junction, Wyoming. Starting over isn’t easy for Lexie, especially when starting a new business at the same time. After Lexie’s parents die in a car accident, Lexie and her sister Lucy renovate their parent’s home into a café with an apartment upstairs for Lexie and Eva.

Lucy, a churchgoing woman, firmly believes that for Lexie to enter the kingdom of heaven, she must remarry. So now with the help of her matchmaking sister, Lexie finds herself thrust back in the dating pool. But there’s a slight problem: while they may not be winners and Lexie may want them gone, she doesn‘t want them dead, and yet all of her dates wind up at Stiffwell's Funeral Parlor just that—dead. So as the gossip spreads the townsfolk begin to fear that the sisters, Lexie in particular, are killers. The café business is fast going down the drain and, Lexie‘s opinion is that if the police can’t get the job done, it’s time to take matters into her own hands before she loses both her livelihood and her home. As Lexie ignores the warnings of both her brother-in-law and the new hunky detective and begins sleuthing, she has no clue as to the danger she places herself and her partner in crime, her sister Lucy, in.

Gabe Stevenson, a New York City detective who has recently relocated to Wyoming in hopes of finding a much simpler way of life, finds himself embroiled in the middle of a multiple murder investigation. Gabe has enough to deal with, namely Lucy’s inept husband Sheriff Otis Parnell, without having to bail the two sisters out of trouble.

Here begins the lighthearted tale of amateur sleuths Lexie and Lucy. Follow them through their often hilarious and half-baked investigation of The Saucy Lucy Murders. One of the most enjoyable elements of this story was the budding romance between Lexie and Gabe, something that you know is waiting in the wings but never seems to bloom, so you sit in anticipation. With the underlying sense of humor, the sly puns like "Stiffwell" and its strong characters The Saucy Lucy Murders and Cindy Keen Reynders provide an enjoyable frolic through murder most foul.

Reviewed by Theresa
© April 2008