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I am happy to share my thoughts today about Dead as a Duck
About Dead as a Duck
Dead as a Duck (A Washington Whodunit)
Cozy Mystery
7th in Series
Setting – North Carolina
Publisher: Camel Press (July 14, 2021)
Paperback: 230 pages
ISBN-10: 1942078323
ISBN-13: 978-1942078326
Digital ASIN: B08WTPNBD6
Congressional staffer Kit Marshall is looking forward to a much-deserved summer vacation in the Outer Banks. When the mayor of the beach town turns up dead, Kit and her friends need to put their fun and relaxation on hold to help solve the crime.
August has been a busy month for congressional staffer Kit Marshall. She hit the road with her boss, Congresswoman Maeve Dixon, who is considering running for the United States Senate in North Carolina. After endless town halls and meet-and-greets, Kit is happy to end the tour in Duck, an upscale beach town in the Outer Banks.
Before Kit can relax on her much-deserved vacation with her husband Doug, brother Sebastian, best friend Meg, and beagle mutt Clarence, the body of Duck’s mayor is found floating in the shallow waters of the Currituck Sound.
Kit’s brother Sebastian, who got in a public kerfuffle with the victim the day before, becomes the prime suspect. Solving the mystery takes her to popular hotspots in the Outer Banks, including a private tour featuring the wild horses of Corolla.
Kit must sacrifice sun-filled days of relaxation to clear her brother. In the end, Kit and Sebastian put their own lives on the line to secure a confession from the killer and make sure justice is served.
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Congressional staffer Kit Marshall has hit the road for a listening tour as her boss, Congresswoman Maeve Dixon, considers a run for Senate. The tour’s last stop is the town of Duck and Kit is looking forward to sticking around and vacationing in the outer banks with her husband, friends, and her brother. Oh, the dogs have come along too. The last town hall meeting gets out of hand when the mayor is put in the hot seat to answer questions about some of the plans he has initiated and his future plans. Congresswoman Dixon doesn’t get much time at all as the event breaks up when things get out of hand.
Kit barely gets to wind down and start her vacay when she finds the now dead mayor of Duck floating in the Currituck Sound. Because her environmental activist brother Sebastian got into it with the mayor at the town hall meeting and has no alibi matching the time of death he becomes the police’s number one suspect. So instead of hitting the beach Kit hits the town’s businesses and residents to find the real killer and clear her brother’s name. It isn’t an easy task and both she and her brother could end up dead instead of catching the killer.
The author takes her wonderful characters out of Washington D.C. to Duck, North Carolina and I enjoyed that very much. One of our best family vacations was in North Carolina. We did stay on our namesake Caswell Beach but did visit the outer banks on a day trip. We have wonderful memories of the area and I felt bad that Kit’s vacay was marred by murder. She did get to visit a few places but clearing Sebastien was her main focus.
It was fun to see the characters out of their high-pressure element and be able to kick back and relax a little bit. The dogs had a good time too but one enjoyed the beach much more than the other. They did have to deal with the murder and a couple of characters are faced with a vital decisions so it wasn’t all sunshine and beaches. These characters are all very strong and well-developed. Their interactions are all believable. They really are a fun group of people.
The mystery is very well written. The mayor had ruffled a lot of Duck feathers and it really made sense that the suspect pool was drawn from its residents rather than a tourist after just one meeting but the police seemed remiss about pinning it on a member of the little town. With a more open pool Kit’s snooping lead to some nice twists and turns. I was really kept guessing right up to the very end.
I really enjoy Ms. Shogan’s writing style. It is comfortable and makes her books easy to escape into. Even though politics to a backseat to the mystery this time there was enough for those readers who like the political theme.
Dead as a Duck
Your Escape Into A Good Book Travel Agent
About Colleen J. Shogan
Colleen J. Shogan has been reading mysteries since the age of six. A political scientist by training, Colleen has taught American politics at numerous universities. She previously worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative staffer in the United States Senate and as a senior executive at the Library of Congress. Currently, she’s a Senior Vice President at the White House Historical Association. A member of Sisters in Crime, Colleen splits her time between Arlington, VA and Duck, NC.
Authors Prior titles: STABBING IN THE SENATE,
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Praise for the Series
“The mystery is perplexing—for Kit and company, and for me—and well done. I was impressed by the complexity of the murder plot. I enjoyed the political theme, and all the details about lobbyists.” —Jane Reads
“To someone who has mastered that uniquely Washington skill of bobbling two cell phones and a glass of wine without spilling a drop, solving a murder is practically child’s play.” —HillRag
“A solid choice for political junkies and readers of Maggie Sefton, Fred Hunter, and Mike Lawson.” —Library Journal
“The fourth volume in author Colleen J. Shogan’s simply outstanding ‘Washington Whodunit’ series, K Street Killing is a consistently entertaining read with many an unexpected twist and turn by a true master of the genre.” —Midwest Book Review
“Shogan does a good job depicting the creaky, squeaky wheels of government, and Marshall plays politics and sleuth with equal dexterity in this capital Capitol Hill mystery.” —Publishers Weekly
“Loads of inside scoop about the workings of Senate offices—complete with all the gossiping, back-stabbing, and procedural maneuvering—plus an appealing young sleuth, sprightly pacing, and an edge-of-your-seat showdown on the Hart-Dirksen underground train.” —Literary Hill
“An excellent whodunit…. I was really impressed with this very smart story. The author is a former Senate staffer so she is writing what she knows, less the murder, I hope.” —Escape with Dollycas Into a Good Book
“Readers who enjoy amateur sleuth mysteries written in the style of Agatha Christie will enjoy this promising debut mystery.” —The Washington Independent Review of Books
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
This series looks interesting.
What a great giveaway! Thank you! I have not read this series, but it looks interesting.
This series sounds good. I love that dog. It looks like my friend’s old dog.
This sounds like a real page turner that I would enjoy reading.
Merry
What an intriguing book! I enjoy books set in the Outer Banks of North Caroling and this mystery sounds like a great summer read.
Thanks for the giveaway. The book sounds great.