Reporter and bridge player Wendy Winchester once again plays ace detective when a country club member is murdered in a hot tub . . . Now an investigative reporter for the Daily Citizen in the Mississippi River port of Rosalie, Wendy still likes to unwind over a game of cards. Following the demise of the Rosalie Bridge Club, she’s started her own group at the Rosalie Country Club. During the … Country Club. During the first meeting of the Country Club Bridge Players, the dummy has barely been laid down when another dummy gets in a scuffle at the bar across the room. Bridge player Carly Ogle’s husband Brent is at it again.
After the club’s new female golf pro breaks up the fight, Brent storms off to soak in a hot tub. But the bartender soon finds the bullying Brent dead in the water, clubbed over the head with the pestle the barkeep uses to crush leaves for mint juleps.
Racist, sexist, homophobic, and an all-around lout, Brent made enough enemies to fill a bridge tournament. So Wendy has to play her cards right to get the story—and stay out of hot water long enough to put the squeeze on the killer . . .
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It has been about a year since the Grand Slam Murders and Wendy Winchester is working with the new director of the Rosalie Country Club to organize another group of bridge players. Initially, the group will be Wendy, Dorothy Hornesby, the RCC Director, Mitzy Stone, the RCC Golf Pro, and Hollis Hornesby, an artist and the son of Dorothy Hornesby. The fourth member of the group will be Carly Ogle, the wife of Brent Ogle. Brent is a huge donor to the Country Club, in addition to being a very arrogant and disagreeable person.
While the Bridge Bunch is starting their first round of bridge, Brent and two others are playing a round of golf. Stormy weather cuts their golf game short after 9 holes, with Tip Jarvis and Connor James both coming out ahead of Brent. Needless to say, Brent is fit to be tied and is creating quite a ruckus as a result. Following his blow-up, Brent decides to relax in the club’s hot tub. A short time later, a power failure plunges the club into total darkness. Unable to play bridge, Carly decides to check on her husband. Unfortunately, while returning to get Wendy, she is bumped by an unknown person and falls. When Wendy and Carly return to the hot tub, Wendy realizes that Brent has a massive gash on his forehead and is quite dead. Wendy calls 911 and also sends texts to her father, the chief of police, and her boyfriend, Ross Rierson to alert them of the issue. With no shortage of enemies, the police have a massive job trying to solve this mystery.
Who killed Brent Ogle? Why was he killed? Can Wendy solve the mystery of Brent’s death? Will Wendy be able to get the Bridge Bunch off the ground?
R.J. Lee does a great job of creating a very complex mystery with plenty of suspects, in addition to major twists and turns. This mystery is guaranteed to keep the reader guessing clear to the end.
This is the first book I’ve read by R.J. Lee, though it is the second book in the A Bridge to Death mystery series. The mystery is something of a throwback to a locked room mystery, with a limited number of suspects in a concentrated, limited space (though the investigations take place in other locations as well as at the scene of the crime.)
Wendy Winchester is back at it again, continuing her quest to learn how to play bridge, and she has gotten together with a group of friends for a Sunday afternoon game. The afternoon turns sour, however, after the husband of one of her fellow players confronts his friends and verbally attacks everyone at the country club that afternoon. Things get even more strange when the husband is later found dead in the hot tub. Wendy knows she’s innocent, and it doesn’t take much to convince Ross Rierson, the lead detective and her boyfriend, and Bax Winchester, Wendy’s father, likewise. However, they need to find out which of the other suspects did do the deed.
It was a different take, having the main character’s father also (in addition to the boyfriend) be part of the police force investigating the crime. In real life, I feel that both Ross and Bax would have needed to recuse themselves from the investigation, because Wendy technically was a suspect. Maybe they are the only two detectives in Rosalie? (They’re not. Other police officers are mentioned. One other, at least.) I know nothing of official police procedures, though, so I’d take what I think with a grain of salt.
The little I know of police procedure is mimicked by how little I know about bridge. Bridge is talked about a lot in this book (understandably) and I feel it would be more enjoyed by someone who knows how to play already when reading the book, though I still found it readable and understandable enough so I didn’t get disheartened by the amount of bridge knowledge that I did not have while reading.
I felt that the previous mystery in the series was brought up with great regularity. It’s expected in a series that the previous mystery/mysteries would at least be mentioned but I found this to have been done very often and it eventually grated a bit. I wish I had kept track of how many times but I didn’t. However, I’d estimate that in just under 300 pages, the previous mystery, and the fact that Wendy solved it when the police were unable to, was mentioned probably half a dozen times.
I found some characters attitudes towards people who are presumably different from them to be somewhat dismissive (I felt the characters were being dismissed and discounted because they were this certain different way) and this left me feeling similarly dismissed because I am a member of the group they seemed to look down upon.
However, despite the flaws I feel this story/book had, it really was an enjoyable way to pass a few days/evenings. I did guess the killer, though I do not view this as a detriment to Mr. Lee, but merely of being mainly a cozy mystery reader and therefore being possibly a bit more genre savvy than might normally be expected. However, I still like reading books that I’ve guessed the killer or the ending to because I like seeing how the writer takes the reader there, and that was a wonderfully related journey in this book. I would definitely read another book by this author and I look forward to looking into his other work(s).
Playing the Devil by R.J. Lee is the second tale in A Bridge to Death Mystery series. Wendy Winchester got together with Deedah Hornesby, director of Rosalie Country Club, to organize the Rosalie Country Club Bridge Bunch. To complete their first table is Carly Ogle and Deedah’s son, Hollis. They are enjoying their inaugural bridge game until Carly’s husband Brent causes a ruckus and then the lights go out courtesy of the storm. Thirty minutes later the power is restored, and Brent is dead in the club’s hot tub. Detective Ross Rierson is on the case and, of course, so is Wendy. Wendy, an investigative reporter for the local newspaper, is quick to dive into the case, gathering information and trying to fit the pieces together to solve the case. Playing the Devil can be read on its own if you have not had the time to read Grand Slam Murders. The information a reader needs to know about Wendy and the town is included in Playing the Devil. Wendy is the daughter of Rosalie’s police chief, Bax Winchester and is dating Detective Ross Rierson. She has a knack for getting information out of people and solving crimes. Wendy wants to be a top notch investigative reporter. Brent Ogle was an obnoxious and pompous man who was lucky not to have been killed earlier in life. It was only a matter of time before someone did him in. He went to far this time and the killer took advantage of a power outage to do away with the man. There were eight suspects (give or take) who all had good reasons for wanting Brent Ogle dead. There are pointed clues to help the reader solve the whodunit before Wendy arrives at the solution. I thought the mystery went with the story. Those who play bridge will like that aspect of Playing the Devil and a preemptive bid is explained as well as utilized. I found Playing the Devil to be a slow starter, but I felt the pacing picked up after the crime takes place. There are a variety of quirky characters in the small Southern town of Rosalie, Mississippi. I thought the author captured the feel of the south. Playing the Devil is a blithe cozy mystery with a loathsome lout, a mystifying murder, a surfeit of suspects, a dreamy detective, and a nosy newsperson.
I found this, the second in the series, a bit slow at the start. Bridge isn’t for me so I had to stick with it until more characters and the obvious victim where center stage. Once the very, very obnoxious, soon to be done in, husband of one of the bridge players was introduced the pace picked up. Brent had no redeeming qualities. He pushed somebody too far and the killer took advantage of a power outage during a storm to bash him over the head while he lounged in the club hot tub.
Wendy had a plan to start her own bridge club at the country club and Brent’s wife was present when the crime occurred. Then there was the friction between Brent and the bartender, Brent and his golfing partners, friends since high school. Lots of suspects and Wendy, having her career sights set on becoming a top notch investigative reporter, is ready and eager to uncover the killer. It helps that her father is the local police chief and her boyfriend is a cop. The mystery had enough complexity to keep me guessing (wrong every time) and there were the needed red herrings, too. If you haven’t read the previous book, that’s fine, this one works as a stand alone.