Lowcountry Boil

I read (and first reviewed) this book eight years ago. My deci­sion then was: Great mys­tery. Loved the plot, the char­ac­ters, the sit­u­a­tion, the, um, every­thing about it? Liz returns to the Car­oli­na island home­stead after her grand­moth­er dies, and she learns it was mur­der. So, why would any­one kill a sweet old lady? There are con­spir­a­cies afoot, and a ghost who con­fers with Liz, look­ing to save the island from the bad guys.

At that time the pub­lish­er, Hen­ery Press, was new. They said, if you like one of our mys­ter­ies, you’ll like them all. I dis­cov­ered that was close to the truth, for I sam­pled sev­er­al of their authors. I also read sev­er­al more of Susan M. Boy­er’s Low­coun­try mys­tery series.

This fits the “cozy” mys­tery since it takes place on an island, Liz’s broth­er is the local police chief, and Liz knows every­one she sees. Where it might veer a bit off “cozy” is Liz, her­self. She’s a pri­vate inves­ti­ga­tor, and car­ries her Sig 9 in her Kate Spade hand­bag.  Her gold­en retriev­er, Rhett, rides shot­gun in her hybrid Escape. But then, pos­si­bly that’s the dif­fer­ence with this pub­lish­er’s mys­ter­ies. Cozy with a twist that is not baked yum­mies (although some are def­i­nite­ly encoun­tered) or hand­i­crafts (or does refur­bish­ing a house count?).

Not to wor­ry, there is a mur­der, a killer, and dan­ger to Liz and fam­i­ly, as well as a some­times help­ful ghost. Who could ask for more?  (Maybe win­ning an Agatha for best first mystery?)