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Flower Power Trip: Murder at the Masquerade Ball (Braxton Campus Mysteries Book 3) Kindle Edition
Who killed the strange man staying at the Roarke and Daughters Inn?
At a masquerade ball to raise money for renovations to the Memorial Library, Kellan finds a dead body dressed in a Dr. Evil costume. Soon after, a stalker targets school president Ursula.
With a special flower exhibit in town and the arrival of strange letters, Kellan can't decide which mystery in his life should take priority. Every lead seems to trace back to the Stoddards: a new family who recently moved in.
What Kellan doesn't know is that the biggest mystery of all has yet to be exposed.
Praise:
★★★★★ - "A story with remarkable characters and irresistible charm."
★★★★★ - "The characters are dynamic and memorable. The dialogue is snappy and witty. An excellent read."
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateMarch 30, 2019
- Reading age13 - 18 years
- Grade level8 - 12
- File size3203 KB
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Product details
- ASIN : B07NDK76WF
- Publisher : Gumshoe - A Next Chapter Imprint; 3rd edition (March 30, 2019)
- Publication date : March 30, 2019
- Language : English
- File size : 3203 KB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 339 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,195,727 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #885 in Contemporary American Fiction
- #2,488 in Mystery Series
- #9,606 in Amateur Sleuth Mysteries (Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
James is my given name; most call me Jay. I grew up on Long Island, lived in New York City for over a decade, and currently live in Stamford, CT, but I've traveled all across the US (and various parts of the world). After college, I began working in technology and business operations in the sports, entertainment, media, retail, and hospitality industries. Although I enjoy my job, I also want to re-focus on my passions: telling stories and connecting people through literature.
In 2017, I published my debut novel, Watching Glass Shatter, a contemporary fiction family drama with elements of mystery, suspense, humor, and romance. The sequel, Hiding Cracked Glass, released exactly three years later in 2020. I've also written another family drama novel, Father Figure, and created the Braxton Campus Mysteries, a light investigation series about a humorous thirty-something guy dealing with murders and the drama of a small town. I've also co-authored a book, Weathering Old Souls, with the wonderful Didi Oviatt.
Most of my books are available in hardcover, paperback, electronic, and audiobook formats, as well as in a variety of bookstores. We've begun translating into Portuguese, Spanish, German, Greek, and Italian for some of the books too. To see samples or receive news from my current and upcoming books, please subscribe with your email address at my website: https://jamesjcudney.com.
Outside of writing, I'm an avid genealogist (discovered 2,500 family members going back about 250 years) and cook (I find it so hard to follow a recipe). I love to read; between Goodreads and my blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, I have over 1,000 book reviews which will give you a full flavor for my voice and style. On my blog, I share several fun features, including the Book Bucket List, Tips & Advice, Author Spotlights & Book Alerts, and the 365 Daily Challenge, where I post a word each day that has some meaning to me, then converse with everyone about life. You'll find tons of humor, tears, love, friendship, advice and bloopers. Lots of bloopers... where I poke fun at myself all the time. Even my dogs have segments where they complain about me. All these things make up who I am; none of them are very fancy or magnanimous, but they are real and show how I live every day.
A bit of humor: Everything doubles as something else when you live in NYC. For me, it’s the dining room, my favorite space in the apartment, where more than just my cooking is on display! As I look out the windows onto a 12th floor terrace, various parts of nature (trees, bushes, flowers, bugs & animals) inspire me to write. Baxter, a two-year-old shiba inu, constantly tries to stop me from writing so I can play with him and keep him amused. How else can you pen the best story possible without these things by your side?
Customer reviews
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Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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Complex, but believably presented, the main threads tie up in a neat bow by the time the end arrives. Getting there, however, is quite the rollercoaster ride with suspects presenting themselves at every turn (there is also a few ongoing threads that carry over the series, but in no way leave the reader unsatisfied).
Highlights for me: Kellan’s grandmother “Nana D” is a scene stealer, though there are so many colorful characters in this series, each is given multiple moments to shine. The dialogue is witty and the writing crisp.
An absolute highlight is the masquerade party held to raise funds for renovations to the library. The theme is Heroes and Villains, with guests attending dressed as their favorite hero or villain from literature. I want to go to that party!—minus the murder, of course. Also of note is Kellan’s frenemy relationship with Sheriff April Montague, who finds his meddling in police business, annoying to say the least. It’s fun seeing the progression and changes to their relationship.
If you like cozies and whodunits, with vibrant characters and snappy dialogue, this is a series for you! I read this book without reading the first two in the series, but given how enthralled I am, I want to read them all!
James J. Cudney has written another masterpiece. The characters are dynamic and memorable. The dialogue is snappy and witty. The mystery is top notch. It keeps the reader guessing till the very end. The red herring kept pointing in key directions. I was sure I knew who the murderer was, then Woops! it turned out to be someone I wasn't considering. Excellent job, Jay! And, of course, that's not all. The cliffhanger will have us all sitting on the edge of our seats until the next book, Mistaken Identity Crisis, is published this summer. Kudos, Jay, for an excellent read.
A fund-raiser for the library is planning a mask a ball. At It Kellan is hoping to find out who is stalking Ursula, instead he finds a figure, dressed as Dr Evil dead and Helena standing over him holding a bloody knife. Kellan now is exploring the murder to clear Helena's name. What is Ursula secret? Why she was stalk? I highly recommend this book and series.
You could read this story as a stand alone because the author provides a helpful guide to the characters in the opening pages. Fans of academic mysteries should definitely read this series, although I'd recommend beginning with book one.
I have never been a big cozy reader, but this series has definitely pulled me right in! Kellen Ayrwick is a Dad of young girl,a nice guy to all and has a wife all believe is dead after a car accident..But she is Not..His family are an interesting bunch, with his Nana D the 'grand marshal' of all she surveys. A great friend is receiving death threats and asks Kellen to help her find out just what is going on!
Lots of action with laughs and tears as a certain ' stranger' turns out to be closer to his prey than anyone could imagine!
Top reviews from other countries
We also need a steady supply of suitably plausible suspects with a sufficiently strong reason to off our murder victim. And this is why cosy murder mysteries are often set within small communities, where there are a pool of people at hand. Cudney is very good at this aspect – far too often the mystery component is rather neglected. But every single one of his books has been exceptionally well plotted.
The other tricky part of this demanding genre is ensuring that despite the fact we are dealing with a murder, the tone doesn’t get too dark or gritty – yet, neither can the mood be unduly flippant or descend into outright comedy. After all, there has been a murder. This balance is far harder to negotiate than Cudney makes it look – largely thanks to his knack of writing a varied cast of characters who are largely likeable, yet with edges that mean they aren’t too cute or unrealistic. And once again, the murder mystery part of this story is nailed, with plenty of twists and turns.
I also love the ongoing progression of the story, which also puts this series a cut above many others. Kellan’s relationships with some of the key characters in this community continues to evolve and develop, which gives readers of the series an extra reward that isn’t there for those who crash into it. That said, if anyone wanted to, there is no reason why this one wouldn’t work perfectly well as a standalone, or a prospective entry point. Although there is an ongoing major issue that Kellan is wrestling with regarding his personal life. And I was delighted to see that it is creating a fair amount of havoc – and leaves this story on a doozy of a cliffhanger. Fortunately, the fourth book, Mistaken Identity Crisis is available, so I will soon be diving back into this engaging world. Highly recommended for fans of well written cosy mystery murders.
9/10
Alarmingly, the person standing over the body, clutching the knife, later proved to have killed the man, is a family friend. She professes her innocence to Kellan and, even though he believes she didn't kill the man, he keeps getting the feeling that she is hiding something. But he is adamant to get to the bottom of the problem and find the real killer and prove she is innocent.
However, along the way, there are times when he wonders whether he might have been wrong - maybe the person he was defending was guilty after all. Nevertheless, he continues on his quest to get to the truth, often irritating April, the County Sheriff. But he is beginning to get used to that.
This is a most enjoyable read. I had already read and enjoyed the first two books in the series, so I was sure this one would be just as good - if not better. And, yes I was right. The story-line continues to run well. James J. Cudney has done it again. I thoroughly recommend this novel.
James Cudney is adept at creating realistic and interesting characters who you easily come to care about. We are faced with enough familiar faces from his previous books to give a feel of familiarity about the book, as if you are visiting old friends in a place you feel familiar with.
His ongoing love-hate relationship with April, the sheriff develops further, but he still manages to get on her nerves with his 'amateur meddling' and yet they find themselves working towards the same goal, albeit from two different angles.
The author is developing his style and his characters more and more with each Braxton Campus Mystery and I'm very much looking forward to seeing his next installment.
I love the humour relationships and the mysteries occurring although, I must admit, Braxton does seem to be having a few problems on its Campus.
I am one going to order book 4 and hope Kellan gains a some peace in his life!