Beatles Cover Band Member Murdered
I’ve had Sally Carpenter’s books on my radar for a while since she’s a Southern California author. I finally got my hands on The Baffled Beatlemaniac Caper, her debut mystery, and I really enjoyed it.
This is the first in her series featuring Sandy Fairfax, a former teen idol. Sandy had a recording career backed up by a hit TV show, Buddy Brave, Boy Sleuth. But that was back in the late 1970’s, and now, in 1993, Sandy is trying to rebuild his life after his slide into alcohol has cost him his family and most of his money. His first stop is a Beatles fan convention in a small town in Indiana over Labor Day weekend. His connection? Ringo guest starred in an episode of his TV show.
When Sandy arrives, he realized just how small the convention is, but he’s only planning to be there long enough to make his appearance. That is until he goes to check on one of the members of the Beatles tribute band and finds him murdered. The detective who arrives at the scenes thinks Sandy had something to do with it. Can Sandy figure out what really happened before he makes headlines for a crime he didn’t commit?
I know the alcoholic detective can be a cliché in mysteries. Of course, usually that’s a professional detective, not the main character is a cozy. When we meet Sandy, he’s just started to put his life back together. We do get a couple of stories about his drinking days, and he struggles to stay on his new path, but I didn’t feel like this fell into those cliches. It does help that Sandy was partying, not trying to escape from a depressing life.
Instead, this background gave us a strong main character. I really liked Sandy, and I wanted to root for him to get his life figured out. He rang true as a celebrity and a real person, and I enjoyed the fictional glimpse into that life. He’s honest about his struggles, but he’s also trying to move forward with his life. We didn’t get to know the rest of the cast quite as well, but they still felt real for the amount of page time they had. Obviously, the one or two that played a larger part in the story were more fully fleshed out.
And the mystery was strong. There was a lot happening to keep me engaged, and I always wanted to know what was going to happen next. We reach a logical and suspenseful climax that perfectly wraps things up. I did find the detective and his focus on Sandy to be a little tiresome, but that was a minor issue.
The Beatles theme is well used. I’ve got to admit, I never did get into their music. However, the author did a good job of explaining things so that I could easily follow along with what the characters took for granted. And we managed to get some clues from Beatles lore, which I thought was great.
I’m not normally one to catch or even look for mistakes in books, even semi-historical ones like this, but I did note that the author made a reference to a TV show that didn’t premier until a few weeks after this book was set. But that was minor.
On the other hand, I really enjoyed the humor of the book. Yes, we laughed some at the fan stories and Sandy found humor in some of the situations he found himself in as he worked. We even laughed some at his career in the 70’s. This wasn’t a laugh on every page book, but it did add to the fun.
I will definitely be back to find out what happens next to Sandy. These books were published with a small press, so they didn’t get a wide exposure. If you’ve missed them, you’ll be glad you picked up The Baffled Beatlemaniac Caper.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for stopping by. In order to combat spam, I moderate most comments. I'll get to your comment as soon as I can.