Broward's Rock, South Carolina, is again the setting for
the latest adventure involving married sleuths Max and
Annie Darling. Max has tried to stay out of island
politics, but when Jean Hughes, director of the island's
youth center, Haven, approaches him for help, he jumps in
with both feet. Everyone knows Jean was brought to the
island and given the job because of her relationship with
board member Booth Wagner. Though thought of as Booth's
bimbo by many, Jean gives the job her all, and is
successful on many levels. She's certainly the most popular
director Haven has seen in years. Unfortunately, Booth soon
tires of Jean and decides to have her dismissed, leading
Jean to seek Max's assistance in keeping her job.
Where Max leads, Annie soon follows, and the couple begins
a campaign within the community for Jean to keep her job.
Pressure is added when a Haven youth turns up dead, with no
clues to the identity of the killer. When Booth is murdered
the night he plans on handing Jean her walking papers, at a
benefit attended by most of the community, and his teenaged
stepson disappears, it seems like an open-and-shut case.
But Max and Annie believe the two murders might be
connected and set out to prove it, setting the real killer
on their trail.
LAUGHED 'TIL HE DIED by Carolyn Hart is a cleverly
crafted whodunit. Max and Annie are a likable pair of
amateur detectives, devoted to one another and to their
island community. Ms. Hart's writing style makes for an
enjoyable read as she sets up the story by introducing her
cast of characters before leading the reader into the
story. This latest in the Death on Demand mystery series
will delight both longtime fans and those new to the series.
A teenager well-liked at the island youth center dies in an
accidental fall. A wealthy businessman booms with laughter
at those around him until a shot rings out at the center's
annual program. Max Darling suspects a connection between
the two deaths. Another teenager is attacked. The center's
director faces arrest which will separate her from her dying
sister. Annie and Max Darling race against time to prove her
innocence and scramble to solve three inter-locking puzzles:
the pulled-out pant pockets of one victim, three guns that
appear and disappear, and the disappearance of a teenager
who may have seen too much.
Intrigue and foul play are no strangers to the idyllic South
Carolina sea island of Broward's Rock. Mystery bookstore
owner Annie Darling and her husband, Max, who specialize in
solving problems, plunge into a startling web of danger and
deceit when a trio of deaths is linked to the island's youth
recreation center.
With the evidence mounting against her, the center's
director seeks out Max to clear her name. When it comes to
intrigue, where Max goes, Annie isn't far behind. To save an
innocent woman, the pair scrambles to unravel three complex
interlinked puzzles: the mystery of three guns, the
pulled-out pant pockets of one victim, and the disappearance
of a teenager whose stepfather always had the last
laugh—until he died.