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Dead Days of Summer | 
 enlarge | Manufacturer: HarperCollins e-books
Category: EBooks
List Price: $6.99
Buy New: $5.59
You Save: $1.40 (20%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 19749
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
ASIN: B000OVLJQO
Publication Date: March 27, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Annie Darling, owner of the Death on Demand mystery bookstore, is understandably upset. It isn't like her p.i. husband Max to abruptly disappear and homicide is definitely not his style. But when his car is found abandoned on a remote road with a brutally slain, once-beautiful young woman nearby and the murder weapon stashed in the trunk, Annie's worst fears seem justified. The police have Max all but tried and convicted-except for Chief Billy Cameron, whose unshakable belief in his friend's innocence prompts his removal from the case. And as a media circus descends on tiny Broward's Rock, Annie will have to place her own life in jeopardy to clear her husband's name. But time is running out and she has only one slim chance to unmask a killer who just may have committed the perfect crime.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
Probably the best in this series! December 21, 2007
Hart has crafted a great story here. The plot is tight, and of course the characters are believable. In this book Annie struggles to free her beloved Max as he's being framed for the murder of a beautiful young woman. She is dealing with a truly crafty and cold-blooded murderer, but she does not hesitate to put herself in harm's way if it will get her to the truth. Ms. Hart builds up the suspense throughout the book right up until the end when he is finally caught. It is easy to see why Caroline Hart has won so many awards. She is truly gifted. I really do enjoy this series.
 The end of the affair? October 31, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I feel this may be the death knell of my love for the Death on Demand series. The previous book was disappointing as well. The "Max-in-peril" plot has been used twice before. And in those cases, Annie did not react like she did in this one. She was too serious, intense, morose. Not that I can't sympathize, but I guess my point is, the whole book was too serious, dark, etc. I like the lighter, funnier books Carolyn Hart used to do. I want Laurel being zany; Emma being intimidating; Henny channeling fictional detectives. And where's Miss Dora? I love her! Hasn't been in a book in ages. Plus, there weren't enough suspects in this one. It was pretty easy to narrow down 'who-dun-it'. I still give 3 stars cause Carolyn Hart is great, but I hope she returns to form in the next books.
Draws even a new reader of the series in... October 15, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Max Darling, a murderer? Annie Darling knows there isn't a chance Max is a murderer, but all of the evidence is stacked against him. After all, his car is found with the murder weapon inside and Max himself was covered in blood with no memory as to what had happened. Annie is willing to do whatever it takes to clear Max's name, even if it means putting herself in harm's way. Will Annie and her friends clear Max's name or will Max forever be branded as an adulterous murderer?
DEAD DAYS OF SUMMER is Carolyn Hart's 17th book in the series, but it is my first foray into her world. Needless to say, it will not be the last Carolyn Hart book I read! Ms. Hart draws even a new reader to the series into her vastly entertaining world, populated by the most colorful characters. Annie and Max have a variety of quirky friends and Ms. Hart makes the most of each individual's unique skills in this clever mystery. In fact, the characters are the true heart of this tale as the mystery itself is fairly easy to figure out. It is the characters who keep the reader turning the pages. After all, who knows what crazy plan this group will come up with next in their quest to clear Max's name?
Carolyn Hart does a beautiful job at establishing the community on Broward's Rock, South Carolina. Not only are the inhabitants vividly portrayed, but one gets a real sense of the layout of the island. Generally, the further a series progresses, the harder it is for new readers to jump in the midst of the storyline as the characters and settings are fairly well established. Instead, Carolyn Hart easily welcomes new readers into her Death on Demand series with DEAD DAYS OF SUMMER. Count me in as a new fan!
COURTESY OF CK2S KWIPS AND KRITIQUES
'Dead Days of Summer': Finest of a fine series July 29, 2007
This is Carolyn Hart's 17th mystery in the Death on Demand series alone. She can't turn them out fast enough for me. I loved it, all the way through.
I had only two problems with the book: (1)I really relate to Max Darling -- what loving husband wouldn't? -- and he is incapacitated and powerless virtually the entire book. (2)For more than a hundred pages I believed I knew the identity of the murderer; I was wrong.
What a fine read. And when is No. 18 coming out?
No Dead Days Here June 6, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Dead Days of Summer
Carolyn Hart
If you like murder mysteries or the author Sue Grafton, you will love Carolyn Hart's Dead Days of Summer. The book is one is a long series called Death on Demand. I have no idea where this book fits into the whole picture, but I never once felt that I was left out of the loop because I had not read any of the others. The book does not have a strong Christian base, but it does speak of the Lord, church, belief, and faith. There is even a character who quotes scripture. As a Christian you would not feel weird, or wrong reading this book.
The story opens up on the slow side, and introduces you to a lot of characters right off the bat. This is definitely one that you have to pay attention to from page one or you could get lost in the mix of all the mayhem.
Annie Darling is the main character. The story revolves around her and her husband Max. Annie is the owner of a mystery book store called Death on Demand. Max is a private detective, but cannot call himself one because of the laws of the island that they live on. Broward Rock is the name of the island that they live on. It is one of the islands off of South Carolina.
Annie and Max had lunch together and are walking back to their offices, Annie insists that Max go to the office today and maybe someone will come in. Annie goes to her bookstore and immediately picks up where she left off on planning Max's surprise birthday party. Her mother-in-law Laurel is helping with the planning. It is almost close of business time when Max calls and says that he has a client and will be home later and call if it is going to be real late.
The client that hires Max is a beautiful woman who says that she is looking for her brother who disappeared the previous year. She shows Max pictures of him, and a note that states that he is seen most nights at a place called Dooley's Mine, which is a sleazy bar, that not many people would be caught dead at. They plan to meet there later that evening to scope the place out and see if he is there.
Max never calls and Annie freaks out. She goes to Max's place of business and finds and intruder. She then calls the police. Nothing is making sense, and just as a precaution a missing persons is released, just on a hunch because there is not enough evidence to go on. Annie calls all of their friends and they all start looking for Max. The friends that she calls are a mystery writer, and ex-military woman, an ex-editor, an ex-reporter, an actress, a newspaper man, and others.
The next morning they find a woman who has been murdered, and Max's car just outside the cabin that she has been murdered in. They don't find Max though. Annie knows from gut instinct that this is the person who hired Max. When they don't find Max, the search is on even harder. One of the friends Emma, who is the author, hires a great attorney for them, since it now looks like Max is wanted for murder.
Later on the same day that they find the dead woman, they find Max. He wakes up, confused, sick, and covered in blood. When the police find him they take him into custody for the murder of Vanessa Taylor, who is the woman that they found dead in the cabin. Max has never heard of Vanessa Taylor, and cannot remember anything that has happened. The police chief ends up having to put Max under arrest for the murder of the woman. While he is in the cell, Annie enters the jail and they talk. She vows to find who set him up, and get to the bottom of all of this mess.
Annie, her mother-in-law and her friends do just that. The majority of the book is them sleuthing around and getting information. They follow leads and end up unraveling the whole set up. Max is freed and life goes on as usual.
The book on the whole is good. It takes a long time for the story to develop and get into the action. If you are into meat and grit from page one this one will leave you wanting. If you have patience and don't mind a long build up and climax, then this is the book for you. Ms. Hart has wonderful characters and many of them. She also finds a way to keep them all tied to the story, even if it is just a sentence in the middle of the book. That is a definite gift, and I am glad that she does not leave the reader wondering what happened to so and so even if they were a minor character. Not a bad read at all, life as usual...until the next Death on Demand book.
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