Murder Carries a Torch

Southern Sisters #7

by Anne George

True love never dies. Well…almost never.

Though unalike as snowflakes, sisters Patricia Anne and Mary Alice share a sympathetic heart for their distraught cousin Luke—known affectionately in his boyhood as “Pukey Lukey,” because of his penchant for getting sick in moving vehicles. Luke is desperate to hunt down Virginia, his wife of forty years, who has run off with a housepainter/snake-handling preacher named “Monk.” And the sisters have graciously agreed to accompany their stricken kinsman on his search…in Luke’s car, of course.

But, while practical “Mouse” and flamboyant “Sister” are unable to find their runaway cousin-in-law among the asp-loving faithful on Chandler Mountain, they do manage to stumble upon the corpse of a pretty young redhead who was prematurely sent to her eternal reward. And before you can say “anaconda,” they are hot on the serpentine trail of a killer who’d like nothing better than to sink a pair of poisonous fangs into two meddling Southern sisters!

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Humor, Audiobook, Cozy, Southern

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Anne Carroll George was an American author and poet. She was Alabama's 1994 state poet. George died in 2001 of heart surgery complications.

Anne George was an Agatha Award-winner and a former Alabama State Poet. She was a cofounder of the Druid Press, and a regular contributor to literary and poetry publications. She was nominated for several awards, including the Pulitzer for a book of verse entitled Some of It Is True.

Series:
* Southern Sisters Mystery

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sister and Mouse in this outing run up against a murder in a snake handling folks's church. They aren't sleuths in the strict sense of the word, but they figure out whodunit in their smart and funny way. I love how they two sisters interact with each other, and their very different personalities. A fun series by the late Anne George is one of my favorite cozy mystery reads.

[Mary Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 STARS! This has to be one of the best cozy mystery series out there. The sisters are hilarious. Patricia and Mary Alice are sisters and they solve mysteries. They received a phone call from their cousin Luke (whose nickname is Lukey Pukey because he had car sickness when he was a child) and he is frantic because his wife Virginia ran off with the painter /snake. handling preacher. He wants them to track down Virginia who has disappeared. They find out where the preacher lives. Virginia is no where to be found but they do find a dead body of a pretty red head at the church on Chandler Mountain. The search goes on for Virginia. I laughed and kept on guessing who the killer was until the end of the book. What a crazy family!
Miss George is a gem of an author and it is a shame she has passed away. I recommend to read this series from the beginning, because the southern sisters are hilarious!

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm going to put up this same review for the entire series. Instead of reading this set of books, I listened to the audiobook versions of the entire series. The series is about a couple of sisters that bumble onto murders and wind up solving them. I don't know if it's the books, or the reader that I liked the most. By the time I had finished a couple of the books, I felt like the reader and the characters were old friends. The stories are light, easy to follow, and not terribly complex, but to me, they were thoroughly enjoyable. I only wish Anne George had lived long enough to write a few more.

[Tiffany Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

These sisters really know how to keep you guessing and worrying about what is happening next. This time there are thrown in knee deep with a snake handling church that goes sideways and people die with snakes in the cars and end up going on a long chase on the interstate heading to Chandler Mountain and almost being killed again with a kidnapper who was a friend. These sisters are so good at getting themselves in a pickle but know how to get out of it each time. Can't wait to read the next adventures with our Southern Birmingham babes.

[Luann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently read an old interview with Anne George where she gives a great summary of Murder Carries a Torch: "Patricia Anne and Mary Alice's cousin, Pukey Lukey, is in trouble. His wife has run away with a snake handling preacher from Chandler Mountain who has been been found dead. The girls to the rescue."

This would be in my top two or three favorite of the Southern Sisters mysteries. I found myself bursting out with laughter quite a few times while reading this. Patricia Anne and Mary Alice were in great form - and even Fred got in some great dialogue. Highly recommended for fans of cozy mysteries with a southern flair. Although I honestly don't read these for the mysteries. It's the relationships between the characters that I enjoy the most.

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cousin Lukey's wife of forty years, disappears with a snake-handling preacher, Monk, and the sassy, senior sisters offer to help find her. During the ensuing hilarity, more than one person will be snake bit, flamboyant Mary Alice will add a new beau to her inventory, and there WILL be baby birthing (labor time cut in half by use of an Einstein testicle). What's not to love about this zany addition to Anne George's series.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am very sad that this author has passed away. This is the last one that I get to read - and probably the best. There are snake handling religious folks, a wife that leaves her husband to go to a dance competition with and Internet acquaintance and another love interest for Aunt Sister. Both sisters are so interesting and the family is so warm and close. I'll miss reading about them.

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love these books. Sad to think there’s only one left in the series. Going to really miss all the characters.

[Diane Justice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only have one more in this series. I hate for it to end. I know the people in these books. They live in my town.

[Paula Hambrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book!

[Jane Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cozy mystery about two elderly sisters. Not what I like, but it might fit your mood.

It reminds me of the Steel Magnolias movie - women in a small southern town who get together and laugh, cry, and discuss their lives. Although instead of crying, there is a mystery to solve. It’s a folksy story about two sisters in their 60s and their families and neighbors. Lots of everyday dialogue with humorous conversation.

I was not drawn in. Characters and events were not unexpected or unusual enough for me. This is a personal preference, and I don’t want to rate it down when it can be good for others. There is no blood and guts, if that matters.

I liked what Mary Alice did in the car at the end.

This is book 7 in the 8 book series.

DATA:
Narrative mode: 1st person Patricia Anne/Mouse. Story length: 260 pages. Swearing language: mild. Sexual content: none in the half that I read. Setting: current day southern U.S. Copyright: 2000. Genre: mystery.

[Dharia Scarab · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since I don't normally write reviews unless I have something specific to say, here's the break down of how I rate my books...

1 star... This book was bad, so bad I may have given up and skipped to the end. I will avoid this author like the plague in the future.

2 stars... This book was not very good, and I won't be reading any more from the author.

3 stars... This book was ok, but I won't go out of my way to read more, But if I find another book by the author for under a dollar I'd pick it up.

4 stars... I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be on the look out to pick up more from the series/author.

5 stars... I loved this book! It has earned a permanent home in my collection and I'll be picking up the rest of the series and other books from the author ASAP.

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I continue to love this series; in this one, sisters Mary Alice (Sister) and Patricia Ann (Mouse) are trying to help their cousin Pukey Lukey track down his wife, who has run off with a house-painter/snake-handling preacher. Now the preacher (Monk) is dead, and the wife (Virginia) is missing. The bantering between these two sisters, ages 61 and 65, sometimes sounds like the sibling spats I had with my sisters when we were kids--these two continue their love/irritation for each other even as they share love for their families and friends.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another enjoyable read in the Southern Sisters Mystery series. While this one is not as good as the books in the beginning of the series, it is still a lot of fun to ride along with Mouse and Sister as they bumble their way through murder mystery after murder mystery. I am looking forward to seeing what happens with the family in the next book since I know that it is the last in the series. Gonna miss these two characters and their families when I am done.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots to laugh at and lots to worry over. Snake-handlers? Who would have thought? Two murders. Everyone assumes they are connected, although occurring some distance apart. How do Patricia Anne and Mary Alice get involved in so many bizarre circumstances? This time I really thought they were going to avoid getting involved, but as Patricia Anne comments, "Sometimes the mountain comes to Muhammad".

[Peggy Sinden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, the southern sisters are in for duration of this storyline. Runaway bride, snake handlers, snake handlers dying, rattle snakes in the back seat of the car, Debbie has a healthy baby boy, Haley in in Rome with the Pope and Patricia Anne and Mary Alice are right there in the middle of it all. You got to read it!

[✨ Gramy ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

.
Cozy mystery filled with wit, humor, and fun.

[Patty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this serie, they are laugh out loud funny.

[Bookjazzer2010 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4+. Love all these books by Anne George, especially because I know all of the Birmingham locations.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love these books as they make me laugh out loud! Unfortunately Anne George passed away so there will be no more. What a loss as they are great mysteries and a laugh a minute!

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I looked at the Kindle ebook suggested purchase selection in complete shock. An Anne George Southern Sisters Mystery that I hadn't read! Anne George died in March of 2001 and four of her novels still grace my bookshelves. This was a special opportunity to spend a little more time with Patricia, Mary Alice, their cousin Luke, and the rest of the very eccentric characters that populate these novels. This novel is an easy and fun read.

It is set in the Birmingham, Alabama area, St. Clair County, and Blount County. I could see in my memory all the roads that they traveled, the towns they visited, and restaurants where they ate because I had been there in real life. It was almost like being in a time capsule because although some things are the same, others have changed a lot. Vulcan was renovated. Some of the restaurants closed. Malfunction Junction was even given a makeover to prevent so many accidents. This novel was such a trip for me that mystery was secondary. I remembered being in the Blount County Hospital myself in 1982 with a serious bout of the flu. I remembered going to the festivals at Horse Pens Forty on Chandler Mountain and the other times that I was just down the road from there at the United Methodist Church Camp Sumatanga. I don't know if the famous snake handlers are still handling snakes there.

This was by no means the best novel in the series. The mystery is silly and meant to make us laugh. It succeeds at that. I am so grateful to have found this novel. I miss reading Anne George's novels with all her outlandish characters and ridiculous goings on because there was always so much truth about who we are and what we do as Southerners. We recognized it and laughed at ourselves.

[Laura Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much better than the previous installment. Anne George had a real gift for depicting the relationship between sisters. All the things that annoy each other even after all the years and the same fierce loyalty and devotion, no matter how different sisters can be. The mystery was also better than the last one, if a little too easy to solve. As soon as the murderer was introduced into the story, I knew he did it and the reason.

I am a little sad to see, however, that the lives of the sisters and their children were just reaching such an interesting point as the series is ending. I would love to have seen the journey Anne George would have taken the family on. I look forward to the next, and last, book. I'm also quite sure I'll miss this series.

That said, the whole story line with Haley and Philip has thrown me for a loop. The last I'd heard from Philip, he didn't want children and it was the main reason Haley had doubts about marrying him. Then, in the last book and this one, everyone is making remarks about when Haley will wind up pregnant. Kind of odd. I guess Anne George changed her mind about this particular plot point somewhere along the line.

A quick aside. I did not read this book in ten minutes. I simply forgot to put it on my "currently reading" list and wrote the review right after I added it. Whoops.

[Russell Sanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anne George died after writing her eighth and, obviously, final novel in the Southern Sisters series. That’s a shame for many reasons, I’m sure, but it is definitely a shame for her loyal readers. Murder Carries a Torch is the seventh book in the series. Having read the first six, I can say that this book is the most mature of them all. Her quirky sisters are still the same, entertaining as ever, but the situation she puts them in is much more intriguing that the previous novels. Here, the sisters are caught up in the world of Southern mountain snake handlers, those religious folks who believe handling rattlesnakes as they proclaim their faith will keep them from being bitten. Whether you believe that or not, the whole milieu is entertaining and fascinating. There are two murders here, and I was almost to the end before I found if they were related or not and if they were committed by the same murderer. That’s the fun of a good murder mystery, and while George’s mysteries are never overly complex, they are always entertaining. This one, I found, was even more entertaining. I mourn that the eighth book will be the last.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though unalike as snowflakes, sisters Patricia Anne and Mary Alice share a sympathetic heart for their distraught cousin Luke—known affectionately in his boyhood as “Pukey Lukey,” because of his penchant for getting sick in moving vehicles. Luke is desperate to hunt down Virginia, his wife of forty years, who has run off with a housepainter/snake-handling preacher named “Monk.” And the sisters have graciously agreed to accompany their stricken kinsman on his search…in Luke’s car, of course.

But, while practical “Mouse” and flamboyant “Sister” are unable to find their runaway cousin-in-law among the asp-loving faithful on Chandler Mountain, they do manage to stumble upon the corpse of a pretty young redhead who was prematurely sent to her eternal reward. And before you can say “anaconda,” they are hot on the serpentine trail of a killer who’d like nothing better than to sink a pair of poisonous fangs into two meddling Southern sisters!

I love this series. These are all re-reads for me and it is nice to visit with old friends.

[Amy Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m usually a fan of cozy mysteries, and being a Southern gal myself, I expected to love this book. Sadly, I didn’t. There is some humor and some southern heart, but not much story. What few clues relate to the mystery get repeated instead of new clues being learned. Mostly, it’s emails exchanged between Patricia and her daughter in Europe, which doesn’t relate to the story. When the culprit is revealed, it comes out of left field, as if the writer remembered she needed to provide a perpetrator. The cuteness of the characters couldn’t save it for me. I can see how a lot of people like this, it’s light and not crass. But it wasn’t my thing.

[Elaine Hoffer]

I picked up this book, because i was going to join a mystery book club. I only had a week to read it and I finished it today. Tomorrow is book club. It was an easy read and I enjoyed the relationship between these two southern sisters. It involved two murders and how they figured out who the murderer was. I decided i wanted to read more of their books. I thought it was good that they explained their relationship and how each of them felt. I have read the Sue Grafton novels and started with O and it was the same, you realized who and what Kinsey was at the beginning of each novel. I thought this was a good clean read and I enjoyed it!

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5 stars) This is the 7th book in the series. The sisters are contacted by their cousin, “Pukey Lukey” to help track down his wife, who may have run off with a snake handling house painter named “Monk”. As they find the remote church where he handled snakes, they are stunned to find a dead body of a young woman. While Mouse keeps searching for the missing spouse, Sister has developed a flirtation with the local sheriff. But someone doesn’t want them investigating, as they find themselves face to face with a snake. Can the two sisters track down the missing wife and find out what is rotten in this small mountain town before it is too late?

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

#7 in the Southern sisters, Patrica Anne & Mary Alice, mystery series. Patrica "Mouse," narrates while Mary is referred to as "Sister." Both are in their 60's with Mary being 6' and 250 pounds and Patrica is 5' and petite.

The sisters agree to help their cousin Luke find his wife of forty years who has run off with a housepainter/snake-handling preacher and disappeared. While searching, they stumble upon the corpse of a murdered young woman and then the painter is found dead, both murdered, and Luke's wife remains missing.

[Camilla Harry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found a new author I like. Read this book for our book club. (Next month's book club actually). By that time I might have read the whole series. I'm already checking out another book in the series from our library system. So yes, I definitely enjoyed the mystery. Plus I can relate to being retired (now). Didn't used to enjoy this type, but now I'm not into ones where the characters are all in their early 20's. At least give me 30-somethings! Very fast read. But enjoyed it tremendously.

[Ann Boytim · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 7th book in this series the sisters Patricia Anne and Mary Alice have a cousin who needs their help. Luke reaches out to them to help find his wife who has run off with a painter/preacher. Luke is desperate and the sisters and Luke set out into the mountains to find his wife Virginia. The preacher named Monk has a church in Chandler Mountain and the women find out that this is snake handling country. On entering the church they find a woman's body and find Luke who entered first concussed from being attacked. No sign of Virginia but they will pursue this and beware of snakes.