THREE DIRTY WOMEN AND THE BITTER BREW by Julie Wray Herman

THREE DIRTY WOMEN AND THE BITTER BREW by Julie Wray Herman
A Silver Dagger Mystery
Overmountain Press - May 2001
ISBN: 1570721793 - Trade Paperback
Amateur Sleuth

Reviewed by Tom Walcher, MyShelf.com
Buy a Copy

Two members of the landscaping partnership Three Dirty Women, Korine McFaile and Janey Bascom, and Janey's husband J.J., the chief of police in their hometown of Pine Groove, are in Savannah for the Small Landscapers Convention. Korine is rooming with Dodie Halloran, the cousin of the woman who is in charge of the convention. For some reason Dodie is determined to make Korine's life a nightmare while they are together. Then Dodie turns up dead and Korine becomes the primary suspect. Korine, Janey and J.J. all get involved in trying to figure out who actually committed the murder.

Korine also has to discover what is bothering her son while dealing with being a murder suspect. Also, one of the other organizers of the convention, Leo Gilcrest, seems familiar to her and she wants to figure out how. J.J. feels that the Savannah police consider him a small town policeman and unable to help them. He also feels that Korine is the only suspect under consideration. Knowing that Korine and Janey will get involved gets him involved too. He also has to deal with Janey's desire to be a mother.

Herman's first book, THREE DIRTY WOMEN AND THE GARDEN OF DEATH, was nominated for an Agatha for best first novel. I feel that her second book is even better than her first. I enjoyed how she develops her characters, especially Korine and J.J. It was hard to put this book down since I wanted to see what would happen. I feel that this is one of my favorite books of the year so far and hope to see it nominated for an Agatha as best novel.