by Cynthia Chow

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of Murder at the Male Revue, and a link to purchase it from Amazon, and an indie bookstore where a portion of the sale goes to help support KRL.

In their continuing quest to check off experiences on their Sixty List bucket lists, the Summer Ridge Bridge Club of Brownsburg, Indiana, find themselves in the midst of a charity male revue show. This was as close as it was going to get to ticking off Joy McQueen’s #57 Go to a Male Strip Club, which was actually more a form of therapy for her post-divorce PTSD and fear of naked men. It’s not Joy but Mary Ruth who sets off a Rube Goldberg-esque disaster though, as the shock of seeing her grandson stripping has her dropping the cherry cobbler that leads to spilled roast beef, flaming napkins, and a power outage. Unfortunately, even those catastrophes don’t match the discovery of their Town Council President Camille Ledfelter stabbed to death backstage. Camille’s nephew Eric Dehoney was the one the lead dancers of the Royal Buckingham Male Dance Revue, and his desperation spurs Francine McNamara’s protective maternal instincts into overdrive. Cranky Charlotte Reinhardt has her own reasons for wanting to investigate, namely her competitive spirit and need to best the local police.

It seems the Town Council’s first female president made her share of enemies, one of whom included Charlotte herself. Camille’s propensity for delivering own form of justice had her milking sources for monetary profit, which is not only morally questionable but likely to have gotten her killed. Going through Camille’s files and bank accounts has Francine and Charlotte uncovering more than one secret among the Town Council, not to mention some of their closest friends. It’s an investigative path that leads them to an aspiring but incompetent stripper, through the veteran community, and the very competitive and ruthless world of community bingo.

This in third the Bucket List Mystery series focuses on the investigations by Francine, Joy and Charlotte, with Mary Ruth and Alice mostly out of town. Their antics are more than enough to keep readers entertained and detective Jud exasperated, and even though he doesn’t suspect them of murder, he is more than certain that they will give him headaches. While Francine’s guilty conscience and instincts as a retired nurse compel her to help whenever possible, Charlotte won’t hesitate to break the law in order to solve the murder and beat the cops at their own game. The road to hell is definitely paved with good intentions, as the attempts to do good cause the cascade of tragedies and regret. Never has murder been so much fun though, as the pratfalls and antics of the Summer Ridge ladies rival any of those of the Three Stooges. Love ultimately wins out in the end, be it for a senior citizen or a stripper.

To enter to win a copy of Murder at the Male Revue, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “revue,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen August 19, 2017. U.S. residents only. If entering via email please include your mailing address, and if via comment please include your email address.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section.

Use this link to purchase the book & a portion goes to help support KRL & indie bookstore Mysterious Galaxy:

Murder at the Male Revue

You can also use this link to purchase the book on Amazon. If you have ad blocker on you may not see the link:

Cynthia Chow is the branch manager of Kaneohe Public Library on the island of Oahu. She balances a librarian lifestyle of cardigans and hair buns with a passion for motorcycle riding and regrettable tattoos (sorry, Mom).

Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases using those links. 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.