Deborah Donnelly You May Now Kill the Bride

You May Now Kill the Bride

Deborah Donnelly

Dell, Feb 2006, $5.99, 304 pp.

ISBN 0440242843

In Seattle someone knifes wealthy Owen Winter shocking visiting wedding planner Carnegie Kincaid, who was soon to be his daughter-in-law when he married her mom. The San Juan Island, Washington cops assume the killer is a family member, business associate or friend with a grudge.

Carnegie agrees with their assessment, but still ponders who the killer is even as she really knows no one except her best friend whose wedding she was working on and her mom. She rules both of them out as she could never love a killer. However, she considers Owen's obnoxious daughters or his former lover in between consoling her mom, working with a horde of unknown support players needed for a successful wedding, and pondering her future with boyfriend Aaron Gold (see DEATH TAKES A HONEYMOON).

As usual the mystery tales a back seat to the zany cast especially the heroine whose diatribes are worth the price of admission even without some of the usual suspects performing in the fun story line. Carnegie competes with the police investigating the who-done-it with her as a stumbling bumpkin vs. their professionalism. That and her asides make for a terrific Puget Sound cozy.

Harriet Klausner