The infamous Puzzle Killer stops by Pineapple Port in a mystery both hilarious and heart-stopping!Book THREE of the series that keeps readers (and their spouses) up at night with snorty laughter! Wall Street Journal and USA TODAY Best-Selling author Amy Vansant provides the perfect blend of humor and thrills as amateur sleuth Charlotte Morgan tries to track down a notorious killer. After years … down a notorious killer.
After years dormant, the infamous Puzzle Killer returns to Charity, Florida, in search of a rival murderer out to claim the all-time murder record. When two serial killers battle for the throne, Charlotte, her boyfriend Declan, and a naked cat find themselves on the chopping block!
This is the author’s personal favorite in the series (to this point!)
The Pineapple Port Mystery Series are clean mysteries with edgy twists that will keep you guessing and ready for more. Fans of Agatha Christie, Dawn McKenna and Gina LaManna won’t be able to get enough of this fabulously funny, puzzling world!
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The author has come up with a marvelously convoluted plot for her already constructed characters to play against, and the results are amusing. Once again, everything revolves around Charlotte, Declan and Sheamus. When you throw Stephanie into the mix, the plot line begins to wrinkle a lot. We can add in Simone in the retirement community next door and the plot wrinkles start to knot up. There are an awful lot of bodies piling up around Pineapple Port, and some of them have died in creative ways. At the bottom of it all is the Puzzle Killer, who has been operating for many years and who always leaves a calling card of a jigsaw puzzle piece around the corpses left behind. Throw a naked hairless cat into the mix and you have a plot line as wrinkled as the cat’s pajamas. I loved this book!
This review is for the audio book.
Wow, I loved this book. I enjoy a good puzzle and I would say most mystery fans do but I loved the way the killer puzzles out a way to kill someone and make it look like an accident, very inventive but the author wasn’t done, she then added in some twists to throw you off. I read the book and gave it a four star rating because I enjoyed but it is a whole different experience listening to it, now it’s a five, despite knowing how it turns out I couldn’t stop listening. The characters are what makes this a loveable series and the one i turn to when I need cheering up because I know the author packs her little adventures full of laughs and mischief from ex girlfriends, serial killers and even unusual pets. Bring on the next book.
There have been a number of deaths in the Pineapple Port area that have been ruled as accidents, with one worrying detail. A puzzle piece is found at the scene. Is the famous Puzzle killer back? And what happens when two serial killers are in town and want to start a game? Charlotte and the Pineapple gang are going to have to keep there wits about them if they don’t want to get caught in the middle of a deadly game. And with Declan, Charlotte’s boyfriend, ex girlfriend involved and passing on secret messages. Can Charlotte keep her man as well as her life?
I really liked the narrator and thought she added something special to the reading of this story.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
This installment was a bit problematic for me, but I adore the cast, and found the storyline to be unique and thrilling at points so I’m still 5 staring it.
I love that Charlotte is having to work at being a PI. Being observant, finding clues, etc. isn’t coming easy to her and it makes the storyline so realistic. She had a crazy career idea and is having to work for it. Each mini case around the port that she gets is simple yet, a learning experience. I excited to watch this skill of her develop as the series goes on.
Now to the problematic stuff.
The entire Stephanie storyline is so hard to buy. I kept thinking “but why” throughout most of her chapters. I am not looking forward to her being a main character. Who just casually lets their crazy cheater ex come over, or speak to them?? I’ve been puzzling over this since she appeared in the last book, but now it’s clear that her being allowed to stay had to happen because she needed to be in the picture to be in this book. After the scare in the last book, any logical person would have ex communicated her, not just giggled off her crazy behavior.
The added POVs to give the reader spoilers were also ugh for me. It’s like the book couldn’t decide who was the main character and what the main plot line was. Is it adorable Charlotte, hunting down her port mysteries. Or is it Stephanie redacting just like her redacted?!?
While I loved the shocking reveal in Jamie’s storyline, the connections revealed between Stephanie and Jamie were over the top for me. Like it was done for pure shock value.
I don’t know, this book book left me with thoughts. lol I know I’ll continue onto the next because i am curious who is lead, and the cast gives me a good laugh, but this book, and any where Stephanie’s over the top storyline dominate won’t be favorites of mine.
I’m also now rooting for Charlotte to leave Declan because no one has time for someone who can’t push off an ex. She deserves better.
This series is a great one. I have read every book in the Pineapple Port series (12 so far) and can’t wait for each new adventure. Amy Vansant keeps the stories and characters fresh, so their storyline never gets stale. These are great little mysteries that are fun to read.
4 stars
I purchased Pineapple Puzzles A Pineapple Port Mystery: Book Three by Amy Vansant and this review was given freely. Read March 2017.
The scene is set with recently retired Alex from Philadelphia, PA meeting the bartender and famous wooden jigsaw puzzle maker Pat. A gruesome killing spree ensues with a puzzle piece left at each scene. Charlotte who is interning with Sheriff Frank to gain hours towards her PI license becomes embroiled in solving the mystery of the puzzle killer but also has to contend with the return of Declan’s less than nice ex the lawyer Stephanie. Action packed and sometimes gruesome with comic relief from a hairless cat, the sheriff’s dispatcher Ruby, Declan’s new employee Blade, and the ladies who love Charlotte.
This is a humorous mystery with two serial killers playing off each other. Charlotte is working with the police to find the two tricky murderers. The murders are made to look like accidents or suicides. So, for Charlotte, finding the tricks is fun. I like the characters and the humor.
definitely a different kind of story, enjoyed it as fun read,
Great read!
“Pineapple Puzzles” earns 5/5 Jellybean Puzzle Pieces!
Ok, what do you think of when someone says Florida? Retirement communities? Alligators in a swimming pool? Convalescent homes? Murder? Amy hits us with her best shot with a series of murders that just may be too clever to actually appear to be a murder. Leaving puzzle pieces at the scene of the crime has law enforcement on the trail of the serial killer dubbed the “Puzzle Man.” Charlotte, with her adopted uncle Sheriff Frank and her PI mentor Seamus, is trying to gain experience and hone her detective skills and finally become an official PI herself, but this may be a greater challenge than she is prepared for. And when it appears a second killer may also be active, Charlotte is going to have to up her game. It is a page-turner and I was so engaged by the clever cat and mouse between “Puzzle Man” and his victims, the second killer, and law enforcement. What an ending! Of course, I am again entertained by the “55+” characters, especially Aunt Carolina, who offer comic relief, and Charlotte and Declan continue to work on their relationship with an ex as the monkey wrench in the deal. Hooked!
It really isn’t a bid surprise that nasty Stephanie turns out to have ties to a serial killer. Is she one too…? Not much to wonder at in the end. She is the kind of ex girlfriend you love to hate, and it looks like it was no accident she ended up that way.
The mystery of the Puzzle Killers is a pretty twisted, edge of your seat story as it unravels. Not a lot of romance to this story, but quite a bit of suspense.
It begs the question : what happens to two girls orphaned or abandoned. Is Charlotte’s loving circle of friends and family as crucial to who she becomes, as Stephanie’s twisted shattered family is key to her and her development?
Or would their natures have been the same no matter the nurture surrounding them?
Declan didn’t seem to do much to help Stephanie learn to value love without hurt. Maybe Charlotte should learn from her example, but does she really know how dark Dylan’s ex truly is?