Up in Smoke

by Charlene Weir Narrated by Laura Jennings

Overview

Discover an utterly captivating Midwest murder mystery from a bestselling author.

Grieving Police Chief Susan Wren's never been so pleased to see her cousin, footloose reporter Sean Donovan.

He turns up out of the blue, reeking of whiskey and Irish charm, to tell Susan he's on to something big-a dark secret in Governor Jack Garrett's murky past!

But smooth-talking Sean might be hiding a secret of his own.

A woman's battered body is found, locked in the trunk of an abandoned Mustang. And Susan's pulled away from her cozy family reunion.

She scours the trunk for evidence-to find Sean's business card. Stained with blood.

Susan doesn't want to believe her cousin could be guilty of something so terrible. But this crime has his byline written*all*over it.

And if Sean didn't kill the woman, then who?

As squeaky clean Governor Garrett races for the US presidency,*someone*out there will do anything to keep the truth hidden...

Fans of Kate Carlisle, Ellery Adams, Sarah Yarwood-Lovett, Eileen Brady, Cathy Pickens and Dorothy Cannell will be hooked from the very first page!

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

In this engaging drama set against a political campaign, the sixth to chronicle the cases of Kansas police chief Susan Wren (after 2001's A Cold Christmas), Weir ably juggles a large cast of characters: Jack Garrett, the governor of Kansas, who's seeking his party's candidacy for the upcoming presidential election; Molly, his ambitious wife; Todd Haviland, his campaign manager; Cassilda Storm, his first love; Wakely Fromm, his oldest and best friend; and scores of other carefully drawn friends and enemies. Sean Donovan, a political writer for a prestigious periodical, thinks there's a story in the governor's relationship with Fromm, who's been in a wheelchair since the two fought a forest fire 20 years earlier. But when Donovan goes to interview Fromm, he finds Fromm dead in his bathroom, shot in the head, apparently by his own hand. Wren has her work cut out for her when suicide proves to be homicide and the evidence implicates Governor Garrett. A big black dog also figures in the plot. The suspense builds to the end of this convoluted mystery, which conveys to readers the agreeable sense that the survivors are going to find happiness. Agent, Meg Ruley. (Nov. 17) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Three grieving women collide during a hero's run for the presidency. Political reporter Sean Donovan, full of Irish charm and whiskey, is in Hampstead, Kansas, covering the campaign of Governor Jack Garrett and reuniting with his recently widowed cousin Susan Wren, the hamlet's chief of police. Equally stricken by depression are two other women, Cass Storm, a former lover of Garrett's, whose husband and daughter died in a car crash last year, and Em Shoals, whose daughter was murdered by an abusive husband years ago when attorney Garrett got him off. As the world turns, Em plans to assassinate Garrett at the nearest whistle stop; Cass gears up for suicide; and Susan tries to solve the murder of poor Gayle Egelhoff, a woman found stuffed in a car trunk, with Sean's business card nearby and 20-year-old ties to the candidate: Both her husband and Garrett were smoke jumpers who survived a forest fire that killed six and put Wakely Fromm, Garrett's best friend, in a wheelchair for life. Garrett's campaign staff tries to insulate him from the damage, but clues inexorably lead back to his inner circle, forcing a long-overdue admission, putting his campaign on hold, and finally releasing some pent-up grief. Enough melancholia to keep Dr. Phil and Oprah in ratings heaven. Like them, Weir (A Cold Christmas, 2001, etc.) will have you wiping at a tear or two and skimming the political nonsense to get back to the hankie brigade.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940192299449
Publisher:	Dreamscape Media
Publication date:	08/13/2024
Series:	Kansas Cozy Mysteries , #6
Edition description:	Unabridged