Fort Myers Florida Weekly

Comedy and compassion fuel a fine new mystery series

FLORIDA WRITERS



 

 

Jean Harrington’s new “Listed and Lethal” mystery series shares some features with her five-part “Murders by Design” series (recently reprinted by Harlequin). The main similarity is that the protagonist in each series is a professional woman who teams up romantically with a law enforcement officer and then cannot avoid becoming involved in his investigations.

In the earlier series, Deva Dunne, lives and works in the interior design trade in upscale Naples. In the “Listed and Lethal” stories, Honey Ingersoll is a real estate agent in rural Arkansas. Differences in education and social class also distinguish the two characters.

As Honey pursues a real estate deal on the outskirts of Eureka Falls, she chances upon the corpse of an attractive, flashy young woman she had seen at Ridley’s Real Estate just recently. Though Tallulah Bixby is dressed to kill, someone got to her first.

HARRINGTON

HARRINGTON

Soon after, the owner of property in the same neighborhood as Honey’s corpse discovery is also found murdered. You guessed it — discovered by Honey. Hmm. She might be a suspect, except for the fact that she is the narrator.

And speaking of discoveries, Honey finds a couple of uncut diamonds near the crime scene.

The novel’s two main centers of interest are the murders and Honey’s love life. With respect to the murders, there seems to be an orchestrated buying-up of properties in the area surrounding the murders, suggesting the need to keep the purchases secret. Or maybe it’s the rumors concerning the diamonds lying about. Murder is one way of shutting someone up. When readers find out that a major casino project is being planned, they might surmise that some in the town are against it.

 “Murder on Pea Pike” by Jean Harrington. Camel Press. 264 pages. Trade paperback, $15.95.

“Murder on Pea Pike” by Jean Harrington. Camel Press. 264 pages. Trade paperback, $15.95.

Honey’s love life? Up until now, a series of poor choices. But what’s an attention-needy, somewhat insecure girl to do? These days, Honey is idealizing her attractive boss, Sam Ridley, who is among those showing an interest in those rundown properties. She has imagined getting a dazzling kiss from him for a long time, but now can Sam possibly be on Honey’s suspect list?

She’s been an invaluable employee, but he has plenty of cause to worry about her recent strange behavior.

At the same time, Sheriff Matt Rameros has been giving Honey a lot of attention, even while trying to take a professional stance toward her.

One of the most enjoyable elements in “Murder on Pea Pike” is the growth of the Honey/Matt relationship, especially as dramatized through their conversations. His frustrations at her lack of caution and her strong-mindedness are amplified by how much he cares for her and wants to protect her from real dangers as well as from her own impulsiveness.

Enjoyable secondary characters include Mrs. Otis, an older woman who works in Sam’s real estate office and becomes more and more a mother figure for Honey. She is wise, caring and less stodgy than she seems at first. Others include banker Cletus Dwyer, with whom Honey has a mild flirtation; Lila Lott, scheming femme fatale daughter of Senator Lott; and Saxby Winthrop, Honey’s marriage-shy former beau.

Ms. Harrington does just enough to give us a cultural snapshot of Eureka Falls without becoming heavy-handed. She makes good use of Josie’s, a popular diner: “The sausage and hot cakes aroma spilling out onto Main Street lured in anybody who had the price of a greasy good breakfast.” Snatches of conversations inside the eatery interact with the ongoing portrait of the physical place.

The author Harrington has an eye for the ridiculous in human nature, and she takes advantage of her characters’ foibles to concoct a spirited, suspenseful tale with equal measures of comedy and compassion.

About the author

A former English and writing teacher, Naples resident Jean Harrington burst out of retirement once her passion for writing possessed her. Before the two mystery series mentioned above, she published two historical novels set in Ireland: “The Barefoot Queen” and “In the Lion’s Mouth.” She has won several fiction awards and served two terms as president of the Romance Writers of America Southwest Florida chapter. Read more about this fine author at www.jeanharrington.com.

— Phil Jason, Ph. D., United States Naval Academy professor emeritus of English, is a poet, critic and freelance writer with 20 books to his credit, including several studies of war literature and a creative writing text.

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