A Dyeing Shame: A Myrtle Clover Mystery, Book 2

By: Elizabeth Spann Craig

Narrated by: Jean Ruda Habrukowich

Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

When Beauty Box beautician Tammy Smith is discovered with a pair of hair shears in her back, there are suspects and secrets aplenty in her small Southern town.

Octogenarian Myrtle Clover, bored by bingo and bridge, is intrigued by the crime...and her neighbors' secrets. But discovering, and blabbing, secrets got Tammy killed and Myrtle soon learns her sleuthing isn't just dangerous...it's deadly.

©2011 Elizabeth Spann Craig (P)2013 Elizabeth Spann Craig

Pleasant Surprise

This was a fun and entertaining cozy mystery. It's well written and flows at a quick pace. The characters are well developed and you feel you know them. I prefer the narrator from the previous book because she sounded more like a cranky old lady, but this narrator is also ok. I would recommend this book.

Great character

Don't give up on this one. Starts slow but finishes strong. Myrtle is a hoot.

Snockered Beautician Meets Sharp Scissors

I enjoyed this cozy murder mystery on a recent road trip . . . just what I needed . . . at a time when a heavy, serious book just wouldn't have done . . . and Myrtle . . . oh, my goodness . . . does she ever make me smile . . . and laugh . . . she's been everyone's school teacher at one time or another in the small town of Bradley, North Carolina . . . where everyone knows everybody else's business . . . or so they thought . . . where the local Beauty Box salon and its owner, Tammy has long been the go to place for young and old alike to get their hair done, where they could get the latest "scoop" on what's going on, yet trust Tammy to keep their deepest secrets . . . until Tammy fell into the bottle . . . then all bets were off . . . and one by one, Tammy begins to spurt out those dirty little secrets . . . not to mention her hair styling skills have gone to h*** in a hand basket . . . seems she's ticked off one too many people . . . until one morning, when her body is found at the bottom of the stairs of her beauty shop with a pair of hair shears in her back . . . the local police know Tammy's been murdered, but aren't close to finding her killer . . . but with Myrtle . . . and sidekick, Miles on the case . . . things soon start to heat up . . . love . . . love . . . love, this feisty almost ninety-year-old crime stopper!

Life after 80 in a cozy mystery?

Everyone knows everyone in eighty something,Myrtle Clover's small southern town. Myrtle finds her excitement a little lacking these days. She has already inserted herself in her policeman son, Red's, last murder case. He worries about his mom and would like to see her in a safe assisted living home.

Unfortunately, there's another murder, the owner of the local beauty salon as become verbally abusive in her too frequently drunken states. So when she's found stabbed with her hairdressing sheers, at the bottom of her shop's stairs, there are a lot of potential suspects. Myrtle just wants to "chat" with the towns folks to "help" Red with his investigation. She and her male friend don't sleep well at night, and tend to roam around at odd hours too. Will this get her into trouble with the killer, or help her find a murderer?

Cute mystery with all typical townsfolk range from toddlers to the octogenarian; singles and married; flashy and totally prudish. Does life really begin after 60?

THE DAME OF DEDUCTION

THIS A GREAT STORY BY ELIZABETH SPANN CRAIG. SO CLEVERLY WRITTEN AND NARRATED BY JEAN RUDA HABRUKOWICH. WHAT IS A SHAME IS THIS IS THE LAST BOOK OF THE SERIES FOR ME TO READ, WHICH IS DISTRESSING, AS IT GAVE ME MANY HOURS OF PLEASURE. I DO NOT BELIEVE THIS WILL BE THE LAST OF MYRTLE CLOVER, SHE IS WAY TO SMART AND CLEAVER CHARACTER TO LET DRIFT AWAY INTO THE MIASMA OF THE UNIVERSE. I THINK RAYMOND CHANDLER SAID IT BEST: "There is something about the literary life that repels me, all this desperate building of castles on cobwebs, the long-drawn acrimonious struggle to make something important which we all know will be gone forever in a few years, the miasma of failure which is to me almost as offensive as the cheap gaudiness of popular success."
-Raymond Chandler

SO, PLEASE ELIZABETH, MORE BOOKS OF MYRTLE SOON, PLEASE. I WILL BE WAITING.

Elderly Woman in Cozy NC Murder Mystery

While the first third of the book, pre-murder, moved too slow for me, I enjoyed this cozy mystery, set in NC, which features a senior citizen sleuth, mother to the local police chief.

A Myrtle Clover Classic

I enjoy all of these mystery stories. I didn't get to the killer before Myrtle this time but I still enjoyed the reading of this book.

Acting dumb doesn't work

Got it from the get go;but, it was great to hear how it unfolded in the end. Never lost interest.!

Gossip in the Beauty Box? Dead Salon Owner

Another book in the Myrtle Clover Mysteries Series, and it is just as fun as the first two. I really love this series, and I’m glad there are so many books already written about Myrtle and Miles and Red and Elaine. The great writing and realistic dialogue really draws me in, and I love how many secrets are in this small town.

In this third book, things get interesting for Myrtle during a routine trip to the beauty salon. Owner Tammy has fallen off the wagon, and she is guzzling alcohol even on the job. That’s unfortunate because half the town has disclosed their deepest, darkest secrets to Tammy, and though she has kept them for a long time, the booze is loosening her tongue. After insulting almost everybody in the shop and teasing about secrets from several prominent members of the community, Tammy is found dead the next day. And the police say that the evidence points toward a premeditated crime. But with most of the town of Bradley ready to kill Tammy, how can Myrtle and Miles figure out who is to blame before more bodies pile up? And are they next?

This book was a fun addition to the series. We are introduced to even more interesting characters, and they all have secrets. The mystery was intriguing, and there was no shortage of suspects. Myrtle goes around and tries to find out the secrets that Tammy teased about on that fateful day, and some are truly shocking. But which is the true motive for the murder? The one whose sneaking around behind her husband’s back, or the church lady with some steamy books under a pseudonym?

If you love Myrtle, add this case to your collection. With her usual wit and bite (as well as terrible cooking), Myrtle is just as entertaining as her previous adventures. And there is just something so fascinating about her relationship to her son (and the garden gnomes that usually speak for her). There are decades of knowing each other, and I love learning more about Bradley and the secrets embedded in the fabric of the town’s society. A good mystery with plenty of appeal and no cursing, this is one I loved.

Good

Enjoyable cozy with good narration, sets the plot in a small town with a retired English tescher. She loves gardening and decorating with the gnomes. When a body is found murder by shears of the beautician, she is more than ready to solve. . The narration was good, clear voice and added to this story. Good series. Given audio for my voluntary review