I was suffering from withdrawal symptoms due to the lack of a new Country Club Murders book to read, when I discovered that Julie Mulhern had started a new (hopefully!) series, featuring the very modern, capable and fashion savvy Poppy Fields.
Thanks to her Hollywood icon mother, Chariss, Poppy is never short of money, nor of socially well-connected friends and admirers. Recognised – and photographed – everywhere she goes, she finds herself in a Caribbean resort, mourning the death of her erstwhile boyfriend, Jake.
Like the author’s other heroine, Ellison Russell, Poppy seems to have a knack of finding dead bodies, but in this book, the murderer(s) are not the manageable Country Club folk, rather the much more intimidating international drug barons, their minions, and US drugs enforcement. As if that didn’t account for enough bodies, Poppy (unwillingly) adds a few to the count as well.
Poppy shows that she is not just a pretty, entitled face, trading on her mother’s fame, but a force to be reckoned with. Her long-time friends have their parts to play – Mia (handbag connoisseur) and James the father figure and Lear Jet supplier (“James was so deeply in the closet, he had one foot in Narnia”) – but special mention must be made of Poppy’s new sidekick, Consuela, who strikes fear into even the most dangerous of men.
So, an international tale of adventure, danger and excitement, all narrated with Julie Mulhern’s wit and humour. I cannot wait for the next instalment (please say there will be one!).