Murder Carries a Torch (A Southern Sisters Mystery)

by Anne George

2001

Status

Available

Publication

Avon (2001), 288 pages

Description

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!… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member TheLibraryhag
Mouse and her husband, oh and Sister, have barely gotten back from Poland, when cousin Pukey Lukey enlists their help in finding his wife who has run off with a snake handling, house painting minister. Fighting jet lag, the sisters search for the missing wife turns up a couple of dead bodies and
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(cring) snakes.

I hope you will try this series. It is less about the mystery and more about the wonderfully fun and a bit crazy family. Enjoy
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LibraryThing member madamejeanie
Sister and Mouse, the Southern Sisters from Birmingham, are at it again,
finding dead bodies where they least expect it. This time, they are looking
for their cousin, Pukey Lukey's (so named from an unfortunate case of car
sickness when they were all kids) wife of forty one years, Virginia, who has
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apparently left him for a preacher they hired to paint their house. Their
search leads them to a small mountain church where an odd group of
snake-handlers meet. Of course, they find a body, this time a beautiful
woman with a broken neck, laid out nicely on the front pew, but no Virginia.
The mismatched sisters (Mouse -- or Patricia Anne -- is a sensible petite
retired English teacher and Sister -- Mary Alice -- is the six feet tall,
flamboyant and impulsive three-time widow with dyed hair) are off and
running to find Virginia and get the other side of this strange story. When
Virginia's car is found in Tennessee with the dead body of the itinerate
preacher draped across the front seat, a victim of multiple snake bites, the
plot thickens and it becomes obvious that they have to find Virginia while
she's still alive. What in the world was she thinking to fall in with a
bunch of kooks like these snake-handlers?

These two sisters are what my mother always
called "as common as cornbread" (which means home folks) and I quickly felt
that I'd known these ladies for years. The book is written with humor and
not a whole lot of suspense, but it makes for a nice little cozy read and I
enjoyed it. I'll give it a 4, since I figured out whodunit before they did.
LOL
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LibraryThing member dukefan86
This story got off to a slow start for me, but by the end I liked it. The sisters make a pretty good team, and I liked the Alabama backdrop. The narrator did a good job with the voices and accents.

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2000-07-03

Physical description

288 p.; 4.19 inches

ISBN

0380809389 / 9780380809387

Barcode

1601737
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