Booty in the Backseat

 

High-heeled tow truck driver, Delaney Morran, is shocked to discover bags of money in the backseat of a Volvo she was hired to tow. She’s even more amazed to find a severed hand in one of the bags. She learns the car belongs to the aunt of her friend, Rory. The booty in the backseat, amounting to half a million dollars, raises questions, but more mysterious is the disappearance of Rory’s uncle. Spruce Ridge, Colorado is home to the rich and famous, and the uncle is a well-known movie producer. With that much money…and a severed body part…and the uncle gone AWOL…Rory fears a kidnapping. When his aunt finally admits to receiving a ransom demand but was warned against calling the police, Delaney agrees to help. Is the kidnapper a drug kingpin seen with the victim? His neighbor who has reckless parties? Someone connected to his new film? Or, perhaps the victim’s spouse trying to cover up the murder of her husband? When a dead body turns up next, and it’s not the kidnapped victim, Delaney has two crimes to solve.

my review

Who would mix high-heels and a tow truck driver? Somehow Karen Whalen gets away with it in this cozy mystery. Delaney Morran, our truck driver in high heels, finds bags of money in a car she is supposed to tow. From that point on her life is a whirlwind of mystery solving and uncovering one small town unknown secret after another.

To be totally honest, the humor made this story. I love writers who can make a character serious and yet funny, even somewhat sarcastic. I could see Delaney, high heels and all, in my mind. In the midst of all this was an enjoyable suspenseful mystery.

Booty in the Backseat (I love the title) is the 5^th book in a series titled “The Tow Truck Murder Mysteries”.  It’s the first I have read in the series, and it can obviously be read as a stand-alone. Think I might have to go back and read the other books in the series. The titles alone are worth looking up. Great job by Karen Whalen.

 read an excerpt... 

“You need a nickname. How about Del?”

 My dad’s name. I was happy when my customers called me Del. A lot of them did, since that was the name of my business, Del’s Towing.

 “Sure, I’d like that, but why do I need a nickname?”

 “Cause you’re an honorary member of the TKs, the Thunder Knuckles Gang.”

 I tried to keep a shocked expression off my face, but couldn’t help the heat flooding my cheeks. “You’re kidding, right?”

 “No, ma’am.” He leaned back in his chair and tucked his thumbs into his pockets.

 

I’d met Lance last year when I discovered the bullet-ridden body of a member of the Thunder Knuckles Gang in a car on the side of the road. Lance had considered the victim his brother, and when I solved the crime, Lance considered me his friend. I didn’t know I was also one of the gang now.

 “What’s it mean to be an honorary member?”

 “It means, I got your back, Del.” He shot an imaginary gun. “Pow, pow, pow.”

 “Excuse me?” I glanced over my shoulder and all around. “Someone might hear you.”

 “I get it, I get it. Kill the noise. But Del, you need a tattoo.” He tapped his head where the dark blue lightning bolt colored his skin. “I know just the place where you can get the ink done.”

 I said, “Hard to pass up, but no.”

 “It’s part of the gang initiation.” He looked disappointed.

 “We can talk about it later.”

 Or never.

about Karen C. Whelan...

Karen C. Whalen is the author of two mystery series for The Wild Rose Press: the Dinner Club Mysteries featuring Jane Marsh, an empty nester who hosts a gourmet dinner club, and the Tow Truck Mysteries starring Delaney Morran, a super feminine shoe-a-holic who drives a tow truck. Both are cozy mysteries about strong friendships and family ties set in Colorado. The first book in the Dinner Club series tied for First Place in the Suspense Novel category of the 2017 IDA Contest sponsored by Oklahoma Romance Writers of America. In the Tow Truck series, Eyes on the Road was a Second Place winner of the 2023 Firebird Book Awards in the Cozy Mystery category. Whalen worked for many years as a paralegal at a law firm in Denver, Colorado and was a columnist and regular contributor to The National Paralegal Reporter magazine. Whalen loves to host dinner parties, entertain friends, ride bicycles, hike in the mountains, walk on the beach, and read cozy murder mysteries. Murder at Sea Oats Beach is her first book published as an indie author.

 

Website: http://www.karencwhalen.com/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/karen-c-whalen

Twitter: https://twitter.com/whalenkc

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karen_c_whalen_author/

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Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Booty-Backseat-Truck-Murder-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B0DGQS1W1R/ref=sr_1_1

 

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