Book Review: Murder Under the Covered Bridge by Elizabeth Perona (Bucket List Mysteries #2)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Fun, wonderful characters, surprises and twists

Cons: A tad slow in the beginning, one niggle with the ending

The Bottom Line:

Delightful grannies

Back with another fun case

Pages turn quickly

Wrong Place, Wrong Time Thanks to a Photo Shoot

One of my favorite books last year was the first Bucket List Mystery by father/daughter duo Elizabeth Perona.  I was so happy to get to revisit the characters in Murder Under the Covered Bridge.

The series focuses on a group of sixty-something friends who have created bucket lists and then help each other fulfill these items.  They developed a certain level of nationwide notoriety after they found a dead body while skinny dipping in the first book, and it’s not looking like they will be curbing that notoriety that in this book.

See, the group are taking advantage of the covered bridge festival in Indiana to knock off an item from Charlotte’s list – be a sexy calendar model.  Francine and her husband are taking some pictures based on an old family story on one of those covered bridges when they hear gun shots.  Moments later, a man stumbles out of the nearby fields, slides down under the bridge, and collapses.

The man turns out to be Francine’s cousin William, and his injuries are life threatening.  While he lies in the hospital, Francine begins to poke around to find out what happened to him.  As she does, she starts to learn more about her own family.  However, when a fire breaks out, Francine begins to wonder just what is going on.

While I’ve just mentioned Francine and Charlotte, trust me, all of the members of the group are back.  Still, Francine and, to a lesser extent, Charlotte are the main characters here.  I love them.  They may be older than the normal main character in a book I read, but they are feisty and resourceful.  In fact, I like them because they are a break from the normal main character.  The rest of their group are just as fun.  And, naturally, we get to meet some great new characters as well.

The book takes a little time to reintroduce us to the characters and set up the book, but once it does, the story is off and running.  There are plenty of twists and surprises before we reach a perfectly logical solution.  I read most of the book on a plane ride home from a business trip, and I was glad I could sit down and immerse myself in the plot because I didn’t want to stop reading.  I did have a small niggle with part of the end of the book, and I’m certainly wondering how it will impact the next book in the series.

And the humor of the first book is back.  While there weren’t as many of the top funny scenes, there were still plenty of laughs at the situations the characters got into as well as their interactions with each other.  Honestly, I just love watching the friendships between these women and how they support each other in their goals and the new ventures their goals have gotten them.

While you could certainly read Murder Under the Covered Bridge without reading the first in the series, why would you?  Both books are fun, and you’ll wind up wanting to read both of them anyway.   Let these Grandmas show you how to have a great time while solving a murder today.

Be Sure to cross the rest of the Bucket List Mysteries off your list.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.