"solid regional amateur sleuth tale"
In Tullahoma, Mississippi Wanda Nell Culpepper works two
on your feet jobs to keep food on the table for her three
children and her grandchild. When she finishes her shift
as a waitress at the Kountry Kitchen she comes home to
take a nap before working graveyard stocking the shelves
at the Budget Mart. This time she comes home to find her
deadbeat ex-husband Bobby Ray inside their trailer home;
since he never pays child support, Wanda Nell is shocked
to see him give five one hundred dollar bills to their
daughter for her to use on his grandson. Wanda Nell
tosses Bobby Ray out of her home with many of the trailer
park residents witnessing the ugly scene. The next morning Wanda Nell finds Bobby Ray dead just
outsde her trailer with the family pink flamingo lawn
ornament shoved through his body. Sheriff Department
Officer Elmer Lee Johnson, Bobby Ray's friend, leads the
investigation. He assumes Wanda Nell killed Bobby Ray;
she realizes she better uncover the identity of the killer
or between Elmer and her former mother-in-law she could
end up in prison. FLAMINGO FATALE is a solid regional amateur sleuth tale
that uses the backdrop of the rural south to provide a
fine who-done-it. Wanda Nell feels strongly that she has
no choice but to solve the murder of her former spouse
because the lead investigator only looks her way. Jimmie
Ruth Evans provides a wonderful Mississippi mystery that
stars a fabulous protagonist, a delightful eccentric
support cast that brings Tullahoma especially the diner
and the trailer park alive, and a surprising final peck. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted June 28, 2005
Includes Kountry Kitchen Recipes!
SummaryAfter a full day slinging hash at Kountry Kitchen and then
surviving the graveyard shift at Budget Mart, the last
thing Wanda Nell Culpepper needs is to find her no-account
ex-husband, Bobby Ray, flashing cash and stirring up
trouble. Things can't get much worse—until the next
day when she finds her missing pink flamingo stuck in his
very dead body.
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