Review and Giveaway: The Sleeping Salesman Enquiry

The Sleeping Salesman Enquiry (Ivy Beasley - Book 4) by Ann Purser

Publication Date: May 7, 2013
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley Prime Crime
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Pages: 304
ISBN-10: 0425261808
ISBN-13: 978-0425261804

(Received for an honest review from Berkley Prime Crime)

Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, IndieBound

Ann Purser on the WEB: Webpage, Facebook, Goodreads

Books in the Series:

The Hangman's Row Enquiry (2010), The Measby Murder Enquiry (2011), The Wild Wood Enquiry (2012), The Sleeping Salesman Enquiry (2013)

Coverart: Click the image for a larger, clearer photo of the covers in this series.

Excerpt from The Sleeping Salesman Enquiry, courtesy of Amazon.

Synopsis:

From the author of the Lois Meade Mysteries...

Save the date: Ivy Elizabeth Beasley is ready to share her golden years and plans to wed Roy Vivian Goodman on the fifth of May. A spinster no more, the private eye is in for marriage, murder, and mishaps galore…   It’s the talk of Ivy Beasley's retirement community—her fiancé, Roy, has quite the hefty inheritance. She couldn’t care less about his fortune, but it has a way of luring long-lost relatives out of the woodwork. And when, against Ivy’s wishes, Roy asks his dubious nephew, furniture salesman Steven Wright, to be the best man, she cannot help but disapprove. After all, she suspects he’s out for his uncle’s fortune…   But after the banns of Ivy and Roy’s marriage are announced at the Barrington village church and an anonymous voice shouts out a protest, the wedding may be off. And with the discovery of a body in a bed in a nearby furniture shop, Ivy and her team of sleuths at Enquire Within may be closer to a dangerous reception than they realize.

Thoughts:

Ivy Beasley is once again up to no good. Well, not exactly, but she's up to some amateur sleuthing for sure. The Sleeping Salesman Enquiry is the fourth book in Ann Purser's, Ivy Beasley mystery series. This delightful English cozy will have readers thinking twice about what grandma and grandpa might be up to in their golden years. Purser has created a wonderful cast of characters and given them just the right circumstances to make them shine. Readers will find themselves knee-deep in this mystery in no time and putting those clues together in record time.

Ann Purser's direction in cozy writing is somewhat eccentric. Her characters aren't your typical amateur sleuths with ties to the police, or men and women with regular jobs. Purser's characters are senior citizens, who live in a retirement community. Ivy Beasley, heroine in this series is in her late seventies or early eighties. But Purser doesn't hold back even if her characters aren't exactly spring chickens. Ivy is about to get married. Certainly not what cozy readers would be expecting, but definitely worth their time.

Purser uses wit and some stunning banter to move her plot along and readers will love the whole wedding scenario added into this story. The groom having a hefty inheritance provides some unusual suspects. Ivy has a sharp tongue and a sharp eye and figuring out this crime hits close to home because the murder victim is the best man in her wedding. I loved the way Purser used Ivy's disposition to give readers insight into her character. Ivy is Miss Marple and Jessica Fletcher rolled into one, with a little more spice than sugar.

I enjoyed the whole English countryside setting as well. The retirement community that Ivy and her would be husband reside in, also gives her two other partners in crime. Together they operate Enquire Within, their own detecting agency. Purser just does an amazing job of giving the story what I like to call "place". That means it has atmosphere, ambiance if you will. This book and this series has such a good feel to it. Readers will fall in love with the characters and the surrounding town and its people.

A great addition to a wonderful series with eccentric characters and a different feel than a normal cozy.

The Sleeping Salesman Enquiry is available NOW at from your favorite bookseller.

I'm giving this one 4 out of 5 apples from my book bag!

About the Author:

Ann Purser is also the author of the Lois Meade Mysteries that ran from Murder on Monday to Sorrow on Sundayand now continue Lois Meade's sleuthing in Warning at One, Tragedy at Two, Threats at Three, Foul Play at Four, andFound Guilty at Five. The series featuring Ivy Beasley includes such titles as The Hangman's Row Enquiry and The Measby Murder Enquiry. She was born in Market Harborough in Leicestershire, and has lived most of her life in villages. She has turned her hand to many things, including journalism (as a columnist for SHE magazine), keeper of hens and donkeys, art gallery manager, clerical assistant in a village school, Open University graduate, novelist, mother of three, wife of Philip Purser, critic and writer. She is an avid reader of detective stories.

Giveaway Details:

The publisher is sponsoring a giveaway for one copy of The Sleeping Salesman Enquiry by Ann Purser.

~You must be a GFC follower or Email subscriber to participate.
~US addresses only (publisher request)
~The deadline to enter this giveaway is Midnight EST, June 5th. 

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