“Laugh-out-loud humor & top-notch mysteries! Absolute MUST-READS!” —Darynda Jones, New York Times/USA Today Bestselling Author of the Charley Davidson Series“Smart, entertaining, and laugh-out-loud funny!” —Liliana Hart, New York Times Bestselling AuthorIn her first action-packed mini mystery, beautician Valentine Beaumont is stalked by an escaped felon she once helped put behind bars. As she … once helped put behind bars. As she strives to stay one step ahead and stop this maniac before he kills her, she stumbles onto a dead body, unearths secret plots, struggles with family obligations, and is tackled in more ways than one.
With a string of beauty disasters, two sexy heroes, a ticking clock, and a little help from her friends, can Valentine solve this case before the killer gets his revenge, or will this be her last?
Murder, Curlers & Kegs is book 4 in the Murder, Curlers series and the first in Valentine’s shorter-length mini mysteries.
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Murder, Curlers, and Kegs is extremely well written. The adventures of Valentine within one day are beyond my imagination, but still managed to make me go through an array of emotions. This book was such a delight to have in my pile of books to have read. I’m sure that anyone reading this series will thoroughly enjoy this one.
Where do I begin? Wow, what a story. So much is happening with Valentine. Jock and Romeo are still vying for her attention, Phyllis is going to school and experimenting on a few, and Val has an escaped psychopath, murderer and/or serial killer after her. Ziggy, who brought Val to fame as the “Local Beautician Valentine Beaumont Uses Perm Rod to Curl Murderer’s Gonads” made front page headlines in the Rueland News, escaped from prison and threatens to kill her.
On top of all that, Jimmy bought the Wee Irish Goat and renamed it the Wee Irish Dude and was going to have his cousin, Dooley be his cook. Unfortunately, Dooley is murdered and as they were preparing for the grand opening, Dooley’s body is discovered. Val gets into so many things including getting shot at while at the grocery store. This is a must read to find out all of the shenanigans she gets herself into. This was a great read and look forward to the next book.
This was a fun book and the first one I have read in this series. I found I was able to easily follow along without having read the previous books. The characters were entertaining and the storyline was interesting. Valentine manages to get herself in more trouble in one day than anyone I’ve known. A man that she helped put in jail has escaped and has possibly murdered the cousin of one of her friends. Now he seems intent on coming after her. The end had a surprising twist to finding out the killer. I look forward to reading more of this series and hope to see the relationship develop more between Valentine and Romero. I have to say I am definitely Team Romero at this point and not Team Jock. 🙂
Ziggy is back!! He had escaped from jail so
Valentine Beaumont beware!!! He said he
will come for you.
Valentine owns & runs a Beauty Salon plus
plays amateur sleuth on many murder cases.
Valentine uses her beauty tools as a means
to catch the culprits. Now that she knows
Ziggy is on the loose she aims to capture him.
While helping a friend get the new Wee Irish
Dude establishment ready to open. A keg to
be used as decor, falls and breaks open. To
everyone’s surprise a dead body falls from
inside. Who put the body there? How did they
get into the establishment?
Come along with Valentine as she discovers
gifts left on her porch, finds her salon window
painted, discovers she was being stalked, gets
shot at taking her Aunt to the European Deli,
manages to give the escaped killer a helicopter
ride, uses pizza dough as resource to curb the
perp and more. Meanwhile Max, one of her
employees becomes fixated with a bread machine.
Then her nightmare of an employee actually
cuts the escape convicts hair in the closed salon
without knowing who he really is.
One laugh after another combined with drama,
suspense, thrills and chills plus add some
romance.
The characters are very well created, colorful,
vivid, quirky, relatable, scary and dangerous.
The author pulls the reader into the story from
the first word until the final word.
This is book #4 in the Valentine Beaumont Mystery
( The Murder, Curlers series). It can be read as a
stand alone as the author presents the past and
present together effortlessly.
A Highly Recommended Read!!
Valentine and her crew are so much fun. I always love their zany adventures. When Valentine finds a “gift” on her front porch, she knows that there will be trouble. While she and the others are helping a friend, she finds a dead body and then she finds out that Ziggy escaped from prison (where she put him) and is looking for revenge. Did Ziggy commit the murder, leave her the “gift” and draw on her store window? She needs to find him fast. Romero is trying to keep her out of the investigation and Jock is trying to help her forget her troubles. What can she do?
Valentine Beaumont is known around town not only as an excellent hairdresser and aesthetician, but a fiery young woman who solves mysteries and catches the bad guys with whatever styling product at hand. This is the first mini-mystery, 4th story in the series; each is progressively funnier than the last. Much of the humor is irreverent, showing it to be more of a chick mystery than a cozy mystery. The author is adept at packing a full tale into the a mini-mystery format!
Valentine and Michael Romero, the handsome police detective, have finally begun dating after exasperating him through helping solve several mysteries even as she fascinated him. Jock, one of her stylists, is also interested in her, which raises the tension between Valentine and Jock, and Romero and Jock. Has she “really” already decided which of the two guys she likes best, or is there still a competition…or is the competition only in the minds of the guys?
Valentine’s salon is closed on Sunday and Monday, so she and her staff help her old friend, Jimmy O’Shea. An inheritance from his aunt took him from being a ticket scalper to owner of the new Wee Irish Dude. They are helping him get ready for the grand opening the following weekend when one of the guys dropped a heavy keg that was supposed to be empty. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. As the keg broke open, they were horrified to see the murdered body of Jimmy’s cousin Dooley, recently released from prison and starting over as the chef at Jimmy’s pub.
As if that isn’t enough, a “gift” was left on her porch early that morning, a reminder of the first creep she put away who she seriously injured with one of her salon products. Then she learns that the bad guy, Ziggy, escaped from prison. Despite Romero’s orders to her, Val won’t be told what to do. Instead, she finds nasties painted on her salon window and gets shot at when taking her great aunt to the European Deli.
This fast-paced, action-packed mystery shows Val as a strong, independent woman who won’t hide and let the menfolk handle things. She could never be accused of being a shrinking Violet! Even though she takes outrageous chances, she analyzes the information she learns about the bad guys and tries to solve them ASAP. Not only does her life depend on it, but the lives of her staff and customers, and her livelihood at the salon.
This tour de farce seems to have a lot of unrelated clues but hang onto your hairdryer and see what’s coming! This is a hard mystery to solve. Keep an eye out – people aren’t necessarily who they say they are. The end brought more than one surprise of bad guys and motives. I wouldn’t consider this a cozy mystery due to strong, frequent sexual innuendos. It is quite funny, however, and if one doesn’t mind some of the references, I think it would keep most who appreciate chick mysteries in stitches. I recommend it to those who appreciate challenging mysteries, very likable characters, LOL humor, and romance.
From a thankful heart: I received an e-ARC of this from the author, and a positive review was not required.
The things that Valentine Beaumont can get into in one day drives sexy Detective Romero to distraction! Not only is she a magnet for dead bodies but she tries to solve cases on her own and he sure wishes she would leave the “policing” to him! However, it just might make him fall in love with her too! In another installment of Valentine’s murder mysteries, she just can’t seem to stay away from a situation where a murder has taken place. That girl is definitely always in the wrong place at the wrong time! This time she is innocently helping a friend get his new restaurant ready to open when a keg breaks open and there is a dead body inside! Talk about BIG SURPRISE!!!!! Then begins a very long day that sees her experience her life in danger everwhere she turns BUT she actually puts herself in that danger! She is trying to solve the murder and doesn’t take any precautions, just runs headlong into danger! Everything she does is hilarious and you’ll find yourself laughing yet rooting her on to find the killer! There are twists and turns everywhere. The secondary characters are fantastic and absolutely make this book worth reading. Valentine has two “suitors” but I am “Team Romero” all the way….I love their chemistry! I recommend this book – two thumbs up!
In this fourth installment of the series, a mini-mystery, Valentine Beaumont almost single-handedly takes on her nemesis from the first story, Ziggy Stoaks. You remember that she had stopped him short with a perm rod which she wrapped arounds his family jewels. In fact, Valentine’s beauty bag has helped her catch her fair share of bad guys and gals!
There’s a killer lose, and with Ziggy having escaped from prison, Valentine is intent on catching him. Much to the frustration of her boy toy, Romero, a local cop. And then there’s Jock, the hunk who works in her salon and makes her heart, and other parts, throb.
The story chases all over town and we bump in to some of our favorite characters. McFarlane likes to have fun with us and has given us several comic characters: Phyllis who works in the salon and is just awful, Mom and Dad who are naïve and very funny, Max, also works in the salon but is easily distracted. Quite frankly, I didn’t see enough of these guys!
There are some fun episodes, like the helicopter, the bread machine, and the unmentionable Val found on her porch. The mystery is well crafted and surprising. I just wish the story had been longer so we could spend more time with the nuts Val has in her life!
Who would have thought owning a beauty salon could save your life? When someone is out to kill Valentine, she gets pretty crafty with using her beauty supplies to subdue her stalker. But when a blast from the past comes back to stalk and try to kill her, will she be able to keep herself safe once again? Valentine seems to have the worst luck when it comes to dead bodies showing up. While helping a friend get ready to open his restaraunt, one shows up!!! In this story, she must get her stalker. Even though sexy Det. Romero is handling the investigation, he cant be there every minute to protect Val. Can good ole Max or her hunky employee ,Jock help to keep her alive? You will have to read this book to find out and enjoy the antics that they create trying. Such a good book with “laughter,” and ” catch your breath moments” !!