Tex’s Family Brings Murder to Town
In a mystery series, it’s a given that we get to know the main character. How well we get to know the supporting players depends on the author and how long the series goes. I always enjoy it when we see more about the supporting characters, however, so I doubly enjoyed Please Don’t Push Up the Daisies, the eleventh book in Diane Vallere’s Madison Night series.
If you haven’t met Madison yet, she’s an interior decorator in the Dallas, Texas, area who specializes in Mid-Century Modern designs. This specialty is fostered by her love of all things Doris Day.
Madison has been dating police captain Tex Allen for a while now, but she’s never met the little bit of family he has. That’s about to change because his sister, Lily, and her four sons are moving to Dallas. Her husband is finally granting the divorce she’s been asking for, and part of the settlement is a house in the area.
Madison is doing her part to Lily with the move, including going along for moral support when Lily goes to pick up the divorce papers. There’s just one problem – when they arrive, they find Lily’s husband dead in his office. With Tex sidelines by his nephews, can Madison figure out what happened?
As always with this series, there are some nods to the Doris Day movie that book title is riffing on. I always have fun with that, but if you aren’t familiar with the movie, you’ll still be fine reading this book.
The mystery starts out well with lots of suspicious behavior and questions that pulled me into the story and made me want to read more. The pace didn’t let up with plenty more twists along the way. It’s only when we reach the end that everything falls into place.
Unfortunately, as often happens with this author, this book does get a little sloppy with the timeline and some other details in the second half. No, it wasn’t anything that keeps the story from making sense, and if you enjoy Diane Vallere’s books, you’ll be fine.
As I hinted at earlier, we get to see a different side of a couple of the characters. Obviously, Tex is one of them. I’ll leave you to discover who the second one is. In both cases, I really enjoyed it. And this isn’t to say that we don’t also get some growth for Madison. In fact, that was my favorite part of this book. The entire cast, returning or new, are all great.
Along with the murder and the character growth, we get some laughs as well. This series isn’t quite as funny as the author’s Samantha Kidd mysteries, but there are also some great moments.
This series isn’t just for Doris Day fans. While those Easter eggs provide some fun bonus things, if you enjoy a good mystery and great characters, you’ll find this series fun.
Please Don’t Push Up the Daisies is another great case for Madison. If you are behind, now’s the time to catch up before the newest comes out next month.
Enjoy the rest of the Madison Night Mysteries.
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