is the perfect Southern cozy mystery I needed to escape from life for a little while! It is a delightful smorgasbord of favorite characters, laugh out loud humor, camaraderie resulting from being part of a campground, and of course, a mystery that is a challenge to solve.
This time, we get the added value of a unique race that will help rocket a skilled kayaker to the Olympic team, It is twelfth in its series and can be read as a standalone, Be prepared, though, as you will want to go back and bingeread the rest of the series, One of the best parts is you dont even have to be a camper, as Maes place already has everything, including bungalows,
Mae West, owner of the Happy Trails Campground in the Daniel Boone National Forest, planned Paddle Fest with other campgrounds in the National Forest that are on or near the river.
It is a weeklong festival that includes many activities, the primary feature being a kayak race, Paddle Fest was a regular event in Normal, Kentucky, years ago, and one of Maes friends was a state champion back in the day, She hopes to offer kayak lessons to festival attendees,
Many people coming to watch or participate are there to gawk at Bryce, a current state champ who is trying out for the Olympic team, He is handsome, and many of the girls there would do anything to garner his attention, One boy is so excited to see his hero that he spends much of the first couple days following him around, Fortunately, the night that he and current heart throb Angela had a little too much partying around the campfire, the boy was asleep, but Dottie, well, she saw it all.
And told all!
Mae hosts the opening ceremony on the first day of Paddle Fest, She then hurries to the board meeting of the national forest, where she has been invited to consider joining theperson group that is currently made up ofmen, They are barely getting comfortable when Dottie calls in a panic a murder has taken place at Happy Trails, sending her racing back to the campground to find out what happened to Bryce.
Maes boyfriend Hank is a detective for the sheriffs office, and he has grown to tolerate her involvement in helping solve murders, This time it effects Happy Trails Campground, the national forest, and her and Dotties future! She wants this solved as fast as possible, whatever it takes,
I like Mae and Dottie best, Dottie was the manager there before Mae became the owner, and I adore her seasoned, acerbic, attitude, The best thing about thiswoman is that everybody knows where they stand with her, Mae is young, energetic, with creativity and business smarts that have benefited most everyone in Normal, Even bullies have their value, I found Violet, the obnoxious reporter, to be an instant stress reliever when I considered appropriate ways to get back at her that just wouldnt be fitting in real life.
There are so many suspects! It seems that several of the men in the campground have something against the kayaker, Even a couple of the ladies had a bone to pick with him, I thought it was a tough murder to solve, and it was! I had it narrowed down to two, possibly three suspects, and while I didnt have the motive down, was partially right with whodunit.
The end was satisfying to me, without any loose ends, For those of you who are campers for real, this includes camping hacks and recipes,
From a thankful heart: I received an ARC of this novel a positive review was not required,
I love being back in Normal KY where nothing is normal is my escape I love this world, Mae West and all the other wonderful characters, This is another great installment I am never disappointed in Tanya's books
I highly recommend Mae is up to her eyeballs with another murder on her property, So much for being campsite of the year or being part ofvvthe town committee, She must solve this mystery to save the reputation of the campground, I would have liked for more of the laundry club girls included in the mystery solving, Though the author will have you stumped as to who dunnit, Overall an enjoyable story. I received a complimentary copy and I am voluntarily reviewing, This was another good mystery in the series, Mae is hosting a kayak competition, Everything is going good until the star ends up dead, Now it's up to her and her friends to figure out who did it, Luckily in the end the mystery is solved and everything is fine for now, Kickbacks, Kayaks, amp Kidnapping by Tonya Kappes
Campers amp Criminals bookofas of this date, Cozy mystery. Best read as part of the series in order but can be read as a standalone,
The coveted Paddle Fest Kayak competition is held in Normal, OK due to Mae Wests revitalization of the town, Unfortunately, bodies are more her thing and the Olympic kayak hopeful champion is the body found, Mae and her helpful Laundry club ask enough questions to figure out the killer,
Seems boyfriend detective Hank is used to Maes snooping now as long as he can keep an eye on her and keep her safe, Shes a handful though she always puts the right pieces together,
Entertaining but stay out of this town or youll probably end up dead,
I listened to the audio version narrated by Johanna Parker who has done the full series todate, She does a fantastic job with the southern drawl and different character voices, I listened to this at,which is faster than my preferred because it upped the drawl to a more reasonable talking speed, I really enjoy the writing of Tonya Kappes, She has several cozy mystery and romance books under her belt, The Campers amp Criminals Series has been an entertaining series, It has romance, friendship, dogs, campground, small town Kentucky, humor and dead bodies, There are even camping hacks, hints and recipes at the end of each book,
This book just didnt have the same feel for me, The friendships and romance are still there, As are the dead bodies, But this book felt like her heart wasnt in it, Considering it was written during the quarantine, when much of the country was losing heart, it didnt really surprise me, I did still enjoy reading it,
What worked for me The campground has the lovable Mae West, Dottie and Henry, We even see a bit of Ty, The town has the fabulously hilarious laundry ladies, It has storylines with Mae possibly becoming a board member for the local natural parks committee, with Happy Trails getting a prestigious hospitality award and the campground is hosting a kayak event.
In the midst of all that, dead bodies turn up and if Mae wants to pull of even one of those things she will need to solve it, Hank is back as is his grandma, We see and learn more about Alvin Deters who owns the Feed N Seed store, We also get more story time with Dottie, I really enjoy getting to know more of the people around Mae,
What didnt work for me there was a feeling that the author was going over a lot of things that regular series readers already knew, I know that it is a difficult balancing act between old readers and new ones who may be starting the series with this book, Ms Kappes has handled that effectively in all of her series, except this one, The suspect list was short leaving it open to being easily solved, I dont normally solve the mysteries when reading a mystery, I like seeing it all unfold, I enjoy the story. I knew who it was going to be fairly easily, These two things, both of which the author is usually on spot with, being off led me to think her heart just wasnt in this one or that she was rushing through it.
Do I recommend you read it Yes, If you are new to the series, this book will give you a lot of background, If you have already been reading the series, you will enjoy it, It will just be an easy solve, There is a lot going on and some absolute laugh out loud moments that you dont want to miss, Kickbacks, Kayaks amp Kidnapping is theth instalment in the Camper amp Criminals Cozy Mystery Series, I love Mae and the laundry Club ladies, I must say I think this is my favorite series by Tonya Kappes but i seem to say that about all of them.
I really enjoyed this instalment in the Camper amp Criminals Cozy Mystery series, I adore Mae and the laundry Club ladies, and the whole concept of living in a RV Park in the woods,
In this instalment Mae and Happy Trails Campground are hosting the Paddle Fest Competition and the winner will go on to the Olympic Kayaking team, Star kayaker Bryce is Found murdered at the opening ceremony and Mae must figure out who did it before all her hard work is undone,
This mystery had a lot of suspects and I didnt figure it out till just before Mae! I was yelling at the book saying no dont trust him/her!
One of my favourite characters is Dottie and in this story she is hilarious with her unfiltered comments, especially about the victim and his shenangins.
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If your looking for a fun, hillarous southern mystery then this is your book!
I requested and recieved and Advance Readers Copy from the author/publisher.
All thoughts and opinions are my own, Mae West decided to add more activities as a way to bring in more money for the campground, Mae is all excited to be hosting a week long summer festival called Paddle Fest, that is featuring a kayak competition,
The festival has Happy Trails Campground filling up fast, and Mae has high hopes of winning the Campground Hospitality Award, so is going the extra mile for the guests.
Also, Mae was nominated to be on the Daniel Boone National Park Board that Mae was still thinking on until the magic word was said: entrepreneur,
Everyone is excited to have a state kayak champion,Bryce Anderson, staying at Happy Trails, who has plans to try out for the Olympic team, Mae hears that a major network journalist will be at the campground to do interviews and that will be good for publicity!
Mae and Alli Shelton, Bryce's agent are dismayed to hear about Bryce's shenanigans witnessed by a guest and backed up by Dottie.
Dottie's lack of filter repeating what she witnessed nearly scared a family away by divulging too much information to a young starry eyed fan,
When Bryce is found dead, Mae had the Campground Hospitality Award and the board nomination yanked from her on the grounds that Happy Trails is not a safe campground.
After seeing the headlines in the newspaper by Violet Rhinehammer, it spurred Mae into action, Mae and the Laundry Club ladies start investigating,
I, just loved Dottie in this book, There was so much humor from her lacking a filter and her orneriness, I found it quite comical how Dottie was having way too much fun after witnessing Bryce's shenanigans by bringing it up at inopportune times, It had me laughing out loud,
I received an ARC and I have voluntarily reviewed this book, .