Love and Mayhem at the Francie June Memorial Trailer Park

by Karen G Berry

Welcome to the Francie June Memorial Trailer Park, just outside Ochre Water, California. The annual talent show is imminent and the residents are restless. On a night when tempers keep rising and the wind won’t settle, a body is found face-down by Space 48. Who killed the Right Reverend Henry Heaven? County Sheriff Memphis LaCour is determined to find out. As he makes his methodical way through the decaying doublewides, he uncovers secrets that might break apart his community, his family, and his own sober heart.

290 pages, Paperback

First published May 6, 2014

Reviews

[Janet]

It’s a murder mystery, complete with clues and an investigating police officer, but it’s also funny as hell, has heart, and great writing. For example, “Rhondalee stepped smartly out on the little porch thirty minutes later, as carefully arranged as a lunch packed in Tupperware.” The characters are quirky, but never one-dimensional. As much as you laugh at Rhondalee, you also sympathize with her. The humor of the community meeting, the suspense of the talent show, and the fierceness and joy in the little girl being raised by her grandparents and loving a visit from her truck-driving mother. I inhaled it. I came away from this book knowing the backstory, loves and hates of the characters, but I never choked on an info-dump. How I wish more writers would learn how to do that!

[Dottie Gariti]

I don't understand the five-star ratings for this book. with lines like "Her biceps moved under her shantung sleeves as powerfully and invisibly as dolphins, guiding the car despite winds that tried to keep outsiders at bay." good gravy.