Enjoyable to read!
Lowcountry Bordello by Susan M. Boyer is the fourth book in the Liz Talbot Mystery series. Liz Talbot and Nate Andrews are getting married on Christmas. They are working to finish up their last case so they can enjoy the days leading up to their wedding. Then Liz receives a call from Robert Pearson. He is a local attorney on Stella Maris (an island near Charleston, South Carolina). Robert wants to hire Liz to follow his wife, Olivia (who is Liz' best friend and a bridesmaid). Robert says that Olivia has been acting strange lately. Liz refuses the job. Then that evening Liz receives a frantic call from Olivia. Olivia insists that Robert is dead inside a house Olivia co-owns with her Aunt Dean (Willadean Beauthorpe). Liz rushes to Olivia (takes about an hour since she has to take the ferry to the mainland) and they enter the house. There is no dead body. When Liz calls Robert, he is very much alive. Did Olivia really see a dead body?
Olivia refuses to call the police. The house is a secret among the rich men in the community. Originally, Aunt Dean and her deceased sister rented out rooms in the house to college girls. They needed the money to keep the house. But then the men started keeping their "nieces" (aka mistresses) in the rooms (and the men can visit them discreetly). Liz and her fiancé, Nate believe that Liz might have imagined the dead man until a dead body is found in a nearby park the next day. Thurston Middleton is a local real estate developer and was getting ready to enter the political arena. Thurston looks a lot like Olivia's husband Robert (explains why Olivia mistook him in the dark room). Who killed Thurston? Was he killed in the house (If so, then who moved the body)? What was Thurston doing in the house? Liz and Nate agree to investigate (and then they can turn it over to the police). Can they finish in time for the wedding?
Lowcountry Bordello was delightful to read. It is the fourth book in the series, but it can be enjoyed without have read the other books in the series (though you will want to read them). It is told from Liz' point-of-view. I normally do not enjoy books written in the first person, but I felt it suited this book. It had just the right blend of romance, humor (there is a very funny scene near the end that will have you laughing out loud), and mystery. In addition, there is a fun paranormal element in the form of a ghost. Colleen is a deceased friend of Liz'. She protects Stella Maris and Liz. The mystery was very good (nice and complicated). It was not an easy mystery to figure out. There is a sweet ending with a lovely Christmas wedding. I liked the author's nice conversational type writing style. It makes for an easy to read book. I just wish that there had been more clues. We get a lot of information and suspects, but not real clues that can help the reader figure out the mystery. The book also felt a little rushed. Everything was crunched into just four days. There is a lot going on in the book. There are the preparations for the wedding (with a controlling wedding planner), the murder mystery, Christmas, and much more. I wish it had been spaced out a little more over a couple of weeks instead of days (leaves a person feeling a little anxious). I liked the paranormal element, but I felt there was not enough of it. I wanted more (I liked what there was though). I give Lowcountry Bordello 4 out of 5 stars. I will definitely be reading more books by Susan Boyer.
I received a complimentary copy of Lowcountry Bordello from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
