"Great new series set in a trailer park"

Melvin, Wanda Nell's boss at the Kountry Kitchen restaurant, has been arrested for murdering Fayetta, another waitress. They had been dating. He asks Wanda Nell to help clear him because she helped clear her son recently when he was charged with murdering his dad. As if Wanda Nell didn't have enough to do.

Fayetta wasn't a nice person. She and Wanda didn't get along, but no one deserved to die the way she did. So, Wanda Nell decides to try to help Melvin in any way she can. She runs the Kountry Kitchen in his absence, hires Tuck as his lawyer, and does some snooping on her own.

She discovers that Melvin wasn't the only man Fayetta was dating. Plus Wanda Nell finds a bankbook with a large sum in the savings account. There was no way she made that money as a waitress. Wanda Nell works to uncover more about Fayetta's life and those she "worked" with, including a club where it didn't appear she was delivering food. But can Wanda Nell discover the truth without putting herself or her family in jeopardy?

I love this series. Wanda Nell is such a terrific character. I love how she interacts with her kids and grandson, as well as her best friend Mayrene. Tuck is a wonderful character as well. Wanda Nell's mother-in-law is as cantankerous as they come, but that makes it work so well.

The fact that Wanda Nell lives in her double wide mobile home with her 2 daughters and her 16 month old grandson lends a lot of credibility to the story. So does the fact that she has to work two jobs to make ends meet, and then it's still tough.

The setting is great and the plot has plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing who did it until the end. I highly recommend this book and the series.

Reviewed by Dawn Dowdle
Courtesy Mystery Lovers Corner
Posted August 18, 2006

Summary

New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris called the first Trailer Park Mystery, Flamingo Fatale, "a down-home treat." Now, Jimmie Ruth Evans's feisty heroine must put her own life on the back burner when a co-worker is permanently disabled...

As if Wanda Nell Culpepper didn't have her hands full juggling two jobs and herding her kids around, Melvin Arbuckle, her boss at the Kountry Kitchen, has been arrested for murder. The victim was Wanda's fellow waitress, a woman with the personality of a snake and the reputation of a minx. She also had expensive taste in men—including some of Tullahoma, Mississippi's big-shot businessmen. Convinced of Melvin's innocence, Wanda Nell puts herself on the trail of a ruthless killer—and almost gets her goose cooked...