Parker Monroe is a tough-talking investigative reporter used to writing headlines, not being the subject of them. When a key source vanishes on a politically toxic story, this single mother of three finds herself at the center of a media storm and out of a job. Ready to reset, Parker moves her family back to the rural town where she grew up. But a gossip-filled PTA, a tyrannical school principal and a gruesome murder make adjusting to the “simple life” anything but. Parker Monroe is about to chase the story of her lifetime…
If you like your protagonists irreverent and bold, Parker Monroe is for you. She is confident and assertive, even in the face of the abject and complete failure she faces at the beginning of the story.
It’s interesting to see how the author takes the rough-and-tumble, take-no-prisoners Chicago journalist and plants her back in her small hometown where the most exciting and challenging project she takes on is reinstating the music program at her children’s school. Leave it to Parker Monroe, though, to turn that mundane task into something horrifying.
The story is a romp, full of larger than life characters. However, I found the author’s interpretation of how a woman speaks and behaves, even one as irreverent as Parker, to be a little off. I’ve been known to drop an F-bomb or two, but the author takes Parker to a whole other level of swearing that I find just a little unbelievable. Maybe I lead a sheltered life, but I have never said, nor heard any other woman exclaim “Are you butt-f-ing me” aloud in a coffee shop. Not even in Chicago. But despite the over-the-top vulgarity, this is still a fun and intricate story that will appeal to mystery readers.
Book Details:
- Book Title: Mayhem, Murder and the PTA by Dave Cravens
- Category: Adult Fiction, 434 pages
- Genre: Mystery / Thriller
- Publisher: Amazon
- Release date: May 20, 2019
Buy the Book: Amazon.com
Meet the author!
As a child, Dave Cravens planned to grow up to be a superhero, the first person to capture Bigfoot and Nessie on film, pilot experimental aircraft out of Area 51, develop cold fusion, and star and direct in his own blockbuster action movies so he could retire at the ripe age of twenty-five and raid tombs the rest of his life. Instead, he got a degree in journalism, which he hasn’t used at all other than to justify his incredibly insightful and valid complaints about the state of journalism. During his twenty-two years in the video game business, he’s written for award winning franchises, directed TV commercials and movies, sprained his ankles numerous times in ultimate frisbee games and published three original novels.
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Thank you so much for sharing this fun mystery!
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