Charlotte Douglas, Wedding Bell Blues

Wedding Bell Blues

Charlotte Douglas

Harlequin Next, Dec 2006, $5.50

ISBN: 0373881193

In Pelican Bay, Florida, fortyish former-cop-turned-private-investigator Maggie Skerritt and her business partner (and first police partner on the Tampa force) Bill Malcolm are planning to get married at a quiet affair. However, Maggie's selectively deaf socialite mom has other plans for the nuptials that she wants to be Florida's wedding of the year. Soon the guest list reaches 800 and counting.

Her mother's antics are driving Maggie crazy so when two cases surface she and Bill jump on them though both coincidentally relate to marriage. Wedding planner Wanda Weiland and mother of the bride Jeannette Langston hire Maggie to locate the missing bride Alicia, but only to insure she is okay not to force her back for her wedding in case she is a runaway bride. The other case makes the Capulets and Montagues, and the Hatfields and McCoys seem like kindergarten spats as the Florida equivalent, the Bakers and the Burns are having dinner together at Sophia's to celebrate the wedding between Linda Burns and Kevin Baker; Maggie and Bill are hired to provide security, which means refereeing a battle royale.

The latest Pelican Bay private investigative tale is a delightful blending of mom devastating the heroine's personal plans for a small intimate wedding with a fascinating investigation into what seems like a skittish bride running away and an over the top amusing extended family feud marital celebration. The three subplots merge nicely into a delightful contemporary.

Harriet Klausner