If It's Not One Thing, It's a Murder

Skye Donovan Photographic Mystery #1

by Liz Wolfe

Skye Donovan has a life of structure and predictability after 22 years of marriage. Upon discovering another woman's underwear in her home, she suspects her husband is fooling around. She realizes her suspicions are both right and wrong when she walks in on him—and his boyfriend. Skye now finds herself confronting a new reality—she needs to start life over, find a new job, move to a new place, break the news to her teenage daughter, and worst of all, start dating again. Just when Skye thinks she has her best friend to help her through it all, corpses begin turning up—and that same friend is the prime suspect. To make things worse, she soon finds herself dealing with a handsome detective, a sexy writer, a pagan wedding, an unexpected pregnancy, and a new career. Now, amidst the chaos, she must exonerate her friend before the murderer strikes even closer to home.

Genres: Fiction

330 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 2008

About the author

Liz Wolfe lives in the beautiful northwest with her husband, an elderly wolf named Bear and two demented felines, Weird Willie and The Cat Formerly Known as Prince.

Series:
* Parker Investigations
* Skye Donovan Photographic Mystery

Reviews

[Spuddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

#1 Skye Donovan "photographic" mysteries, although I have to say for most of this book, the main character was Skye Williams (she gets divorced and takes her maiden name back) and doesn't even pick up a camera til the last quarter of the book. Skye Williams nee Donovan is a woman who discovers her husband is cheating on her--with another man. While all that drama is going on, her best friend Bobbi Jo is accused of murder, then Bobbi's husband dies after having a massive stroke, and her other best friend Lily has a relationship crisis AND a daughter's wedding to plan also.

At first I wasn't sure I was going to finish the book. It was really scattered with a bunch of different subplots, there was too much going on, not enough details about the mystery--which almost seemed to fall through the cracks as the book went on--and I had a hard time relating to Skye, who struck me as just another SUV-driving yuppie suburbanite trying to stave off boredom with various hobbies, clubs and friend-activities. There was a lot of set-up, a lot of going 'round and 'round in circles, and while the main character did grow on me somewhat after awhile, there are too many relationship/romance-like sides to the stories for my taste.

I'm going to try the second one in the series (probably from the library though, rather than acquiring it) and see if things have improved. I didn't really feel as though this was a mystery--more like chick lit with sort of a mystery (I figured it out well in advance) attached. If you like that sort of mystery, you will probably enjoy this more than I did.

[Roxie Gallinger · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cute book with some laughter as well

[Audra · Rating 3 out of 5]

funny and quirky. I have questioned with my peers in the past this exact dilemma!! Would you be more accepting or offended if you husband had an affair on you with another guy rather than a woman? Between finding amusement and sympathy in Skye's problems, here comes her friends with their unique sets of problems too. One friend whose husband just died is implicated in his murder as well as her personal trainer's girlfriends murder. Her other friend, who is a love child type, has two lovers...a husband and a lover who are okay with the relationship is torn between staying with two men who love her or dumping them for a new love interest. This book is a hoot and keeps you sucked in to its weird relationships and non stop humor. I love Skye's character and her friends.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Upon discovering another woman's underwear in her home, Skye Donovan suspects her husband is fooling around. She realizes her suspicions are both right and wrong when she walks in on him—and his boyfriend. Skye needs to start life over, find a new job, move to a new place, break the news to her teenage daughter, and start dating again. Just when Skye thinks she has her best friend to help her through it all, corpses begin turning up—and that same friend is the prime suspect. What happens next is amusing and lighter than your standard murder mystery.

[Lihsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting read. It takes a difficult topic--a marriage dissolved by a gay husband--and treated it with sensitivity and genuine pathos. It was pretty intense, not your usual chic lit fare, but I thought it was well done.

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quick light reading. A woman learns that her husband of 20+ years is more interested in men than her. She begins her life anew without him. Of course there are a couple of murders and attempted murders that get in the way, but Al's well that ends well.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

If a book says that it is a mystery one would expect that the mystery would be the main theme of the story. By the time I got to the end of the book I had forgotten what the mystery was.

[Samantha Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book Funny !!

[Melissa Herman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different, but good!