Death by Rum Balls

The New Orleans Go Cup Chronicles, Book 4

By: Colleen Mooney

Narrated by: Alyson Krawchuk

Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Flying Solo, Brandy Is Still Determined to Make the Best of the Holidays

This will be Brandy’s first Christmas without Dante, but she is determined to enjoy the holiday going to parties and even a “Yappy Hour” with Jiff and both of their schnauzers. Brandy stops to deliver mistletoe for Julia’s party that night when Frank, Julia’s handyman, drags her into the mayhem surrounding the guest list. It seems everyone Julia invited has a grudge against her, and they all confirmed they are coming to her party.

Why Is Everyone Suddenly Out to Get Julia?

It seems Julia’s neighbors, her cooking club, the business association, members of her Pilates class, her brother, even some of the ladies from her church group, all have a reason to dislike Julia, a lot! When gifts with strange contents start to show up the day of the party, Frank sees it as an omen of things to come. Is someone only trying to embarrass Julia or will that someone take it a step further to even a score?

There’s no place like New Orleans to have a good crime, and the holidays are no exception!

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©2017 Colleen Mooney (P)2020 Colleen Mooney

Fabulous

This was an outstanding lighthearted suspense by a talented writer. Loved the characters and their interactions. The narrator was easy to understand.

Delightfully charming and funny

Right off the bat, just finding out how the main character, Brandy Alexander, got her name, I knew I was in for a clever, adorable, well-written read. Brandy works for a major telecom company, analyzing call patterns. Her days are filled with spreadsheets of dialed numbers and her specialty, analyzing irregularities. Dante, Brandy’s childhood sweetheart and newly promoted to police supervisor, is more into homicides than their relationship and leaves her with silences for weeks and months at a time.

Meanwhile, Brandy’s connected to a new man: Jiff. A lawyer for his father’s firm, he is thoughtful and receptive to her. “He always knows the exact right thing to say and he is there to say it.”

Her friend, Julia, however, is spoiled, controlling, difficult, cantankerous, and so majorly into fashion, Brandy calls her a “bling on demand fashionista.” She’s also rescued numerous dogs, and has met her new boyfriend with a 10 gallon hat, LB, at a speed dating event.

Julia’s handyman is Frank, who is small, delicate, resentful of being bossed around all the time, and fully aware of everything that goes on in Julia’s grand house. Including the makings of a big upcoming Christmas party. And getting threatening notes from the neighborhood association who claims her outdoor, overly done Xmas lights are making their neighborhood look like “a cheap amusement park.”

When Julia gets a note and several rats in a box, because she is so unpopular Brandy and Frank are worried. Meanwhile, Julia gets a surprise visit from her brother, Larry, and his new wife, Donna, another speed dating participant. That’s not all. Numerous boxes filled with chocolate rum balls have been ordered for this gathering, specially made and gloriously wrapped. And then comes murder…

There’s quirky humor galore in this book, wonderfully narrated by Alyson Krawchuck, whose New Orleans lilt is just perfect. Chock full of southern type expressions and places well described, solving a different kind of murder just adds to the nonstop page turning. Highly Recommended!

Murder At A Christmas Party

It's Christmas in New Orleans, and if Brandy Alexander is involved, there's sure to be a dead body around somewhere. That's why I love Colleen Mooney's New Orleans series, and this one might be the best one yet.
Brandy is at once the savviest and the most hapless sleuth alive. Fortunately, she's just an amateur and doesn't have to make a living finding killers, but it sometimes seems like the NOPD including her sometimes boyfriend couldn't solve a case without her.
Full of quirky characters, Death by Rum Balls is a wild ride and great entertainment.

Festive friendship matched with Murder

In this Christmas story set in NOLA Brandy Alexander finds herself & her friend Julia entangled in a festive but felonious fiasco. Hoping to take her mind off a holiday dilemma involving both her beaus, Brandy helps Julia plan & participate in a elaborate gathering of friends & adversaries. Add arecent relationship for Julia with a mysterious man from out of town & Julia’s barely seen brother to the mix to create a complex set of cunning characters at the Christmas party. An anonymous cooking contest comparing rum balls placed in similar boxes results in poisoning one of the people participating at the party. The detectives on the case include a new friend & her newly assigned partner to piece together clues involving murder, money & misconceptions surrounding Julia’s family & fair weather friends. Brandy helps Julia come to terms with how she’s living her life haphazardly. In the process Brandy gains insight into her own issues with family, as well as, loving herself & the two men in her life. A better understanding of the feisty friend Frank who works for Julia adds an alternative aspect to the action. As the case is being solved Brandy gets chance to know Jiff & his family better during holiday happenings. All the different personalities & perspectives of the people present throughout this frosty fiasco provide a transformative tale to tickle your fancy & funny bone! Each book in this New Orleans To Go Cup Chronicles is full of fun, friends, family & the lighter side of how to solve a murder. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!

Laugh out loud holiday murder romp with colorful

Coleen Mooney's "Go Cup" cozy mysteries are a hoot. The tales are populated with colorful New Orleans characters that include a ditsy Frankie who is a girl trapped in a guy's body, with a great fashion sense, Julia who is the impossible to get along with catalyst to murder and mayhem, and Brandy Alexander (but not a stripper) who ends up in the middle of murder investigations. And Brandy's love life is so complicated that even she doesn't understand it. Death by Rum Balls is set in a wild and crazy New Orleans Christmas where Julia goes over the top with tacky decorations at her mansion B&B and hosts a large party. Half her neighbors and friends want to murder her by then so you knew something bad would happen. I do not want to spoil the complicated plot, but it involves rum balls, rats ,inheritance and the gourmet cooking club. This episode focused more on the Christmas traditions and decorations and the murder took a backseat at times, but it was a good case once it got rolling. You will literally laugh out loud over this story!

Holiday Mayham

Death by Rum Balls is Book 4 in a New Orleans Go Cup Chronicles by Colleen Mooney. It is the holidays and Brand's first Christmas without Dante. Brandy takes some Mistletoe to Julia's B and B when Frank tells Brandy about the problems with the guest list for Julia's party. This begins a wild time for Brandy and Julia. Julia has a new boyfriend, she is having an affair with a married man, her Christmas decorations are over the top, her brother shows up with a new wife, and.... drum roll please, people are dropping dead from the rum balls. This fun holiday book has wonderful characters that I truly enjoy reading about their adventure. The narrator's is Alyson Iraq him and she brings the audio book to life. Brandy and Jeff are growing closer. Brandy is surprised by Dante. I can't wait to listen to book5!

Laughs and trouble continue for Brandy Alexander

This was another fun installment in the New Orleans Go Cup Chronicles. A Christmas Party in New Orleans, deadly rum balls, and an inheritance all wind Brandy Alexander up in another murder investigation. Narrator brings the different characters to life. I received a free copy of the audiobook from the author at my request and am leaving this review voluntarily.