by Sandra Murphy & Mary Karnes

This week we have a review of Wedding Bride and Doom by Mary Karnes, along with a fun guest post by Mary about being a wedding planner. Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of the book and a link to purchase the book from Amazon.

Wedding Bride and Doom by Mary Karnes
Review by Sandra Murphy

Kate Ludlow was a part-time wedding planner in California—until she dumped her cheating husband, that is. With her teenage daughter, she moves to the East Coast and becomes a full-time wedding planner to support them. It’s not easy starting over but if she can land the bride of the year, Marcy, she’ll be set.

It seems Marcy’s mother is more involved in making the decisions than Marcy is. Everything has to be the best and has to be perfect. There’s one glitch. Marcy wants to wear a ring one of her ancestors wore. The problem is, it went missing years ago and no one has been able to find it—but they expect Kate to have better luck and her planning the wedding seems to ride on her ability to find the ring as well as make everything perfect for the big day.

Kate’s luck doesn’t seem to be running that way. The florist is an old frenemy which makes things difficult. Of course, finding the florist dead in her shop can definitely put a damper on the whole event, especially when Kate becomes a suspect. It gets trickier. The detective is an old flame of Kate’s.

So, find another florist, find the ring, find the killer, or find herself out of business before she can even get started. Kate is what is called motivated.

This is the first in a new series. Karnes herself was a wedding planner so she knows all the pitfalls and possibilities that can happen when dealing with brides. The book ends with a bit of a cliffhanger which will leave readers wanting more. At the back of the book find tips on bridesmaid’s duties, how to be a good guest or host, buying the dress online, who and how to invite guests, recipes for spicy meatballs in sauce, moon rock muffins, and cream cheese brownies.

Sandra Murphy lives in the shadow of the Arch in St. Louis Missouri. She’s editor for Peace, Love, and Crime: Crime Stories Inspired by the Songs of the ’60s, with twenty-two cozy stories. She also edited A Murder of Crows, twenty-one stories featuring animals and crime (no animals were harmed). She also writes for magazines, newsletters, and the occasional guest blog. Both anthologies are available at the usual outlets, print or ebook.

Becoming a Wedding Planner
By Mary Karnes

I love being a wedding planner. At the age of sixty-three, I have found my calling. Well, that and being an author. I started my professional life as an elementary school teacher. When my first child was born, thirty-five years ago, I became a stay-at-home mom. We were relocated so frequently for my husband’s career; it was next to impossible to return to teaching.

Once the kids were grown and out of the house, I realized it was time for me to explore my own career options. I started writing a mystery about a wedding planner but soon realized I didn’t know much about the occupation. So what did I do? I became a wedding planner and then wrote that mystery. The first in my Wedding Planner Mystery Series, Wedding Bride and Doom, from Level Best Books, was born. That’s my back-story. Is the job as rosy as I make out? Heck no. I have more bloopers than I can write in one blog post. Here are a few of my most interesting that I’d like to share today.

Mary Karnes

My first major wedding day blooper was for my own daughter’s wedding. My Mother of the Bride dress was sleeveless, and I was wise enough to try it on a week before the wedding. I noticed that I had a farmer’s tan, meaning I had been wearing short sleeved shirts in the sun, and my upper arm and shoulders were creamy white while the rest of my arms were very tan. No problem, I thought to myself. I’d use some of that great sunless tanner my daughters were always raving about. Naively, I waited until the night before the wedding to apply the tanner. Huh, I thought after application. Absolutely no color. I applied more and went to bed.

I awoke the next morning with extremely dark upper arms. I’ll just wash if off, I assured myself. Nope, didn’t come off. I called every department store, cosmetic store, drug store. No one had a product to remove it. FYI, Comet and a little water works wonders, although very drying to the skin.

I did myself no wedding favors when, at the same daughter’s wedding, I didn’t practice walking in my wedding shoes with pantyhose. I needed some sort of friction on my shoe sole to prevent my feet from sliding out of my dress sandals. When I reached the first pew in my walk down the aisle, my feet were all but out of my shoes.

By the time I was a professional wedding planner, I was ready for the more potentially disastrous occurrences that invariably happen at a wedding and was equipped to fix them. Take the wedding with the fainting groom. I kid you not, on a hot July day, in the most beautiful Rose Garden in Hartford, CT, my groom passed out. I saw it begin to happen but couldn’t catch him. I called 911, tracked down a passing nurse, and made sure the bride and groom said their vows before they left in the ambulance for the ER.

A fainting groom wasn’t my only medical emergency. At one barn wedding, the event’s DJ passed out right next to me. Luckily, I knew one of the guests was a medical doctor. He attended to the DJ right away, and I again called 911. I’m a little embarrassed to admit this next part, but a wedding planner has to do what a wedding planner has to do. As our DJ was being loaded into the ambulance, I leaned over him and asked for his equipment password. He gladly gave it, so the show could go on. One of the bridesmaids stood in as DJ until the entertainment company could send a replacement.

I love a good wedding!

To enter to win a copy of Wedding Bride and Doom, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “wedding” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen September 30, 2023. U.S. residents only, and you must be 18 or older to enter. If entering via email please include your mailing address in case you win. You can read our privacy statement here if you like.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section. And join our mystery Facebook group to keep up with everything mystery we post, and have a chance at some extra giveaways. Also listen to our new mystery podcast where mystery short stories and first chapters are read by actors! They are also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify. A new episode goes up next week.

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Mary Karnes, a college English major and former teacher, is the mother of four who raised her family though six corporate moves. She always dreamed of being an author and dabbled with writing throughout the years. Once the children were grown and out of the house, she started a wedding planning business, while simultaneously chasing her dream of being a traditionally published author. Her ‘Wedding Planner Mystery Series’ was born, with her business providing delicious subject matter for her books.
Mary resides in New England with her husband, Ken, and her mini-dachshund, Lucky. Her door is a revolving one with her children and grandchildren visiting frequently.

Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.