Murder Take Two

Susan Wren #4

by Charlene Weir

The last place that Chief of Police Susan Wren expects to find herself is in the middle of a real-life soap opera. But when a Hollywood film crew comes to the small town of Hampstead, Kansas, there seems to be more drama off the stage than on it. On a film shoot one day, a fatal accident befalls stunt-double Kay Bender. A dead-ringer for the stunning screen star Laura Edwards, Kay may have been the unfortunate victim of a murderous plot to get rid of the much-disliked actress. As Susan investigates, she finds that almost everyone has a motive for wanting to sabotage the film or to kill Laura. The film is running far over budget, and the temperamental director appears to be a likely suspect. Susan also uncovers a steamy affair between Laura's boyfriend, narcissistic actor Nick Logan, and Laura's rival for the part, actress Sheri Lloyd, who makes no effort to conceal her dislike for the beautiful and talented star. To top it all off, Susan discovers that Parkhurst, her deputy, was once married to the now-famous actress. Susan must battle both her jealousy of Parkhurst and Laura's past relationship and her attraction to this darkly mysterious officer whose feelings she is unable to guess.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery

336 pages, Hardcover

First published February 15, 1998

About the author

Charlene Weir was born in Nortonville, Kansas. She grew up in Hutchinson, Kansas. After graduating from nurses' training she attended the University of Oklahoma and worked as a public health nurse. She is the creator of "Susan Wren", police chief in Hampstead, Kansas.

Reviews

[Inspector Penny · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this series would improve, but not so far, unfortunately.
The plotting is poor, for one thing. There are a lot of issues not tied up by the end of the story. We learn about characters' life stories, but it doesn't lead anywhere. In a few of the earlier books, some characters could have been inserted into later books because the characters were interesting or seemed worth using again, but that hasn't happened. We learn facets of characters' personalities, their inner thoughts, but to no purpose. It's all just suddenly solved towards the end.
Secondly, the detectives don't solve anything. They question suspects, but people just keep getting murdered. They consider people as suspects who obviously are not, but pay no attention to others. The detectives accidentally stumble upon the murderer.
The main character needs a personality. She's pretty flat. Her second-in-command is a little more interesting, but still rather one-dimensional. In fact, in this book, many of the characters are just stereotypes, especially the people involved in the movie being filmed. One teenager has possibilities and one of the police officers and his family seem intriguing, but we'll probably never see them again. The setting is a small town. Shouldn't more people re-appear as the series continues?
I guess I'll keep reading the series, but only because I get them free.

[Vicki Gooding · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a big Hollywood fan. I love this series, but this one is filled with Hollywood games that took some of the glitters from a KS Sheriff. Pity. Still looking for more in books from this series to follow, I hope.

[Suzette Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murder takes Two

Everyone has a past rather good or bad.. Parkhurst ex was a piece of work. Susan kept her feelings in check. I was so surprised who the killer was, your past always have way of catching you!!

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent mystery. This is s new to me author. I have the set and am thoroughly enjoying it. It was written at the start of cell phones and before the internet. Procedures were different. Very exciting. Susan is a compelling character.

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting series. Keeps me coming back for more.

[Mireille · Rating 4 out of 5]

more like 3.5
kind of a weak entry in the series. did enjoy learning more about Yancy's family.

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series just keeps getting better. Chief of Police Susan Wren is still in Kansas and wondering if she should go back to San Francisco. Then Hollywood comes to town and people start dying, on set or from the cast of the film. One of Susan's younger cops, Yancey, is assigned to the film crew for the duration and soon is embroiled in the mystery. There are all kinds of interesting twists and turns in this one, both with the mystery and will all the personal relationships that get tangled up while "Hollywood" is visiting. I'll admit I didn't figure out who the killer was but I was pretty sure it wasn't the obvious suspect!

I'll be reading the next in the series.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chief Susan Wren # 4