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Totally Buzzed

(A Miller Sisters Mystery #1)

Gale Borger

3.82 · Rating details · 38 ratings · 17 reviews

Trouble seems to follow Buzz Miller, and this time it finds her outside the town of White Bass Lake, Wisconsin, where the dead body of a neighbor woman turns up stashed under her mother's house! The retired detective is reluctantly roped into finding out "who dunnit." In order to snag the bad guy, Buzz, along with her Biology teacher sister Mag, "The Maggot" Miller, have o ...more

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ebook, 270 pages

Published (first published August 1st 2010)

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· 38 ratings · 17 reviews

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Jul 28, 2011 Cathy rated it really liked it

Shelves: kindle-books

Hilarious and murder don't usually appear in the same sentence but they have to when describing this book.
Buzz Miller is a retired cop. That doesn't stop her from getting in the middle of murder investigations especially when the body is found under her parents' house. Her three sisters begin by falling on the corpse. Their involvement escalates from there.
Compound this with a mother and her cohorts - the Senior Women's Action Team or SWAT - who insist on putting out picnic lunches, including va ...more

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Apr 09, 2011 RoloPoloBookBlog rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-suspense

Let’s just call a spade a spade: I’m a funny person and I know funny when I see, hear, or read it. I also hate being told something is funny and/or good and it turns out not to be. I was told Gale Borger’s Totally Buzzed was quite funny and no one lied to me about this! The first Miller Sister’s Mystery, Totally Buzzed is an excellent read that is both funny and very cleverly written.

As a reader I’m generally looking for solid and interesting characters, witty in a book, right? Borger delivers Let’s just call a spade a spade: I’m a funny person and I know funny when I see, hear, or read it. I also hate being told something is funny and/or good and it turns out not to be. I was told Gale Borger’s Totally Buzzed was quite funny and no one lied to me about this! The first Miller Sister’s Mystery, Totally Buzzed is an excellent read that is both funny and very cleverly written.

As a reader I’m generally looking for solid and interesting characters, witty in a book, right? Borger delivers on all fronts! Totally Buzzed opens with two chapters of introduction: the introduction of the Miller clan and the introduction of the dead body that sets up the entire novel. There were several moments in these first two chapters that I laughed out loud. In many ways, these two inspired introductory chapters set the tone for the entire novel. Here’s the skinny: news travels fast in a small town and before the Miller sister’s know it, the entire town is gathered (with food) at the Miller’s to check out the dead lady. From this point forward, Borger weaves a fascinating tale of murder, champion horses, exotic plants, drug running, and a little romance on the side. All of which features two of the four Miller sisters, Buzz (DUH) and Maggie.

While it may seem like none of these elements really go together, Borger makes them work in an interesting and convincing fashion; nothing feels forced or out of place. It helps immensely that Borger knows how to write good dialogue: the story moves forward through the dialogue and the interaction between the characters rather than the author simply explaining everything. Each and every character, both major and minor, has distinct characteristics and personalities that the reader can really grab on too. With the exception of the bad guys, there is really not a character in the book that is not likable or the very least interesting. Again, to beat a dead horse, this is accomplished through the author’s ability to write good dialogue.

Where Borger really grabbed my attention was in her attention to detail and how she presents that detail. Very often authors fail to realize that their readers are not experts in every field imaginable; their failure lies in the fact that they try to inundate the reader with details that are complicated and, to be frank, boring. Borger does not fall into this trap! She easily and simply explains the details of the case so that the reader is intrigued rather than put off. By novel’s end, the reader has learned a little something about police work and forensic botany – both of which are punctuated by scenes of humor and budding (HA!) romance.

All in all, Totally Buzzed is a very entertaining and satisfying read. None of my questions about the characters or the plot were left unanswered and the ending was absolutely perfect. There wasn’t a rush to the end to tie everything up in four pages. In fact, Borger took her time with a wonderfully paced unraveling of events that explained everything. ...more

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Oct 25, 2011 Karen Syed rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: echelon, humorous-mysteries, mysteries

If you haven't been to White Bass Lake, WI and met the Miller sisters, you are really missing out.

There are times as a publisher that you wonder what you have gotten yourself into, this is one of those times, for a different reason. "Totally Buzzed" by Gale Borger is totally kick-butt whimsical. The story is solid with a good plot and a nice little mystery, but it's the characters that shine in this humorous romp.

You really have to wonder if murder should be so dang funny, but Gale knows her stu ...more

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Dec 26, 2011 Sophie rated it liked it

Once I figured out this is a parody of the small town police procedural, and that the Miller sisters are supposed to be goofy and dysfunctional, then Totally Buzzed became less annoying and more enjoyable. And when I started understanding that the references to modern detective clichés were intentional, I would laugh out loud. This book is not for the serious at heart. And in order to enjoy the crime-solving aspect of the novel, you will really need to stretch the boundaries of your suspension o ...more

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Oct 27, 2011 Jen Wylie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

My entire life has been spent between the covers of fantasy and sci fi novels.Though I've read a few mysteries, I've never read one that got me laughing as hard as this one did. I read it from cover to cover in one night and not only could i not put it down, I couldn't stop laughing. I had no idea mystery novels could be so much fun. I'm looking forward to reading more from this author! ...more

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Dec 01, 2010 Tanya rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, mystery

OMG the characters were too funny! Reminded me of my sisters :)

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Jun 18, 2011 Jane Stewart rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: humorous-paranormal-mystery

Lighthearted mystery with bungling acquaintances. Unfortunately the humor didn’t work for me.

STORY BRIEF:
Buzz is probably in her 50s, a retired small town cop. She has three single sisters, Fred owns a pet store, Mag is a high school biology teacher, Al is a bossy, self-absorbed publicity seeking librarian. Buzz’s mother and her geriatric friends listen to police scanners and gossip and show up at crime scenes bringing food and turning them into picnics. Buzz has two dogs who sometimes accompany Lighthearted mystery with bungling acquaintances. Unfortunately the humor didn’t work for me.

STORY BRIEF:
Buzz is probably in her 50s, a retired small town cop. She has three single sisters, Fred owns a pet store, Mag is a high school biology teacher, Al is a bossy, self-absorbed publicity seeking librarian. Buzz’s mother and her geriatric friends listen to police scanners and gossip and show up at crime scenes bringing food and turning them into picnics. Buzz has two dogs who sometimes accompany her and create spills and messes.

When looking for something else, Buzz discovers a dead body under the crawl space under her parents’ home. Buzz investigates with her sister Mag. Since Buzz is no longer a cop, she has no problem sneaking around, breaking and entering, and taking evidence. Her sister Mag does stupid things like talk too loud and use a flashlight when they are sneaking around at night. If the bad guys are there, they would hear her and see the flashlight. Mag also trips and falls a few times. The local constable Ted causes problems due to his extreme stupidity.

The bad guys are killing people, horses, and are involved with drugs.

REVIEWER’S OPINION:
I’m labeling the genre as humorous mystery because it’s meant to be funny, but I didn’t laugh. I prefer a different kind of humor. It has a slapstick quality. Buzz is a smart cop with psychic visions which are supposed to help her investigate. She’s surrounded by bungling family members and acquaintances. She has a good relationship with the sheriff. He’s smart. She’s attracted to him. There may be a future romance for them in a future book. For now he rubs the top of her head which bugs her.

This was ok as a mystery. Things get solved. There is a happy ending. Think of it as a wacky collection of a dozen different types of people and pets. The character definitions were interesting. I just wish I would have laughed out loud at something. That would have made it more stars for me. I think mystery lovers might like it. There was an interesting and complex bad guy plot.

Buzz had psychic visions when she worked on cases. Upon seeing the dead body Buzz has a vision showing exactly what happened to cause the death. She took notes about her vision and discussed it with the sheriff, but then she and the sheriff never again referred to any of those details. They slowly uncovered evidence that proved her vision, but they acted as if they hadn’t known these things. The vision was ignored during the rest of the book which bothered me.

DATA:
Story length: 264 pages. Swearing language: moderate, including religious swear words. Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: one, 1 ½ pages long. Setting: current day small town in southeastern Wisconsin, with some Texas and Illinois. Copyright: 2010. Genre: humorous paranormal mystery. ...more

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Dec 19, 2011 Bob Sanchez rated it liked it

Totally Buzzed is a lively murder mystery that's full of humor and potential.

A body turns up in the crawl space underneath a Wisconsin farmhouse, and the vic turns out to be a local woman named Carole Graff. Who killed the poor woman, and why? Luckily, retired investigator Buzz Miller takes on the case. She's smart but a little crazy, just like the friends and family who get mixed up in the case.

The story has all the elements of an intriguing mystery and contains plenty of interesting detail abo ...more

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Dec 21, 2011 Cindy Kerschner rated it liked it · review of another edition

Totally Buzzed by Gale Borger is classic mystery-comedy spoof in the vein of The Three Stooges romps and Police Squad antics.

If you like your murders mixed with folksy shenanigans then a visit to White Bass Lake, Wisconsin is the place to go. Buzz Miller can’t seem to retire gracefully (or do anything gracefully for that matter) from the town’s police force. When a body turns up under her parents’ porch, Buzz sees it as her duty to get involved by assisting her ex-partner, Sheriff James J. Green ...more

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Apr 22, 2011 Nan Sampson rated it liked it · review of another edition

This is a fine first novel from Gale Borger. I really enjoyed riding shot gun along side the main character, retired smalltown cop, Buzz Miller, and her collective family of odd balls, as she works to find the killer of a local greenhouse owner and finds herself embroiled in a case with international criminal implications. Set in the small, southeastern Wisconsin town of White Bass Lake, the story explores such varying topics as horse racing, gardening, and forensic botany, which Borger handles ...more

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Apr 07, 2016 Scott rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This was an entertaining story that could have used some paring and some focus, in my opinion. I enjoyed the characters and was intrigued by the mystery. But sometimes it seemed to ramble. Maybe it's just me. I like my mysteries a little more focused, less distractions from either character development or from the plot. It had a number of very funny scenes and it was a well-plotted story.

I would consider reading other books by Gale Borger in the future if the opportunity presents itself. An asi ...more

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Oct 19, 2014 Purple Osprey rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Well, in chapter 1 we meet characters and find the body, in chapter 2 we see in a psychic vision what happened. So what is the rest of the book for??
It's full of lame physical comedy, some fart and butt jokes and seemingly endless descriptions of what the dogs are doing at the moment.
The constable is brain-dead stupid and the bad guy is more evil than Satan himself, the ending is really bad.

Don't they employ editors or something these days?

...more

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Dec 19, 2010 Gale Borger added it

If you like murder, mayhem and hilarious characters, try this book on for size!

White Bass Lake: where the body is under the house, the brats are on the grill, the beer is in the cooler, and the Miller Sisters bring police procedure to an all new low!

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May 27, 2014 Jane rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2014, life-is-too-short

think this was supposed to be funny. don't care for nonstop slapstick antics. read half, then was tired of it all. ...more

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Apr 27, 2011 Jennifer rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: true-crime-mystery

Review on Criminal pages coming soon!!

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Apr 15, 2018 Melissa Neuberger added it · review of another edition

I loved this. I read it for the book challenge prompt about a local author. I thought it was fun/funny and reminded me of the Stephanie Plum series but not annoying. I appreciated the landmarks that I know, State of WI, Palfrey's Glen, Highways, etc. I am going to read more in the series. ...more

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About Gale Borger

Gale Borger

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Gale Borger is the author of the hilarious Miller Sisters Mystery Series. Gale brings to life the small town of White Bass Lake, Wisconsin and its wacky inhabitants in Totally Buzzed, a madcap romp through murder and mayhem. Second in the series, Totally Fishy is an uproariously funny tale complete with a pole dancing granny and two bumbling hit men who can't seem to bump off the right guy! Gale's ...more