Nancy J. Cohen (1) (1948–)

I have read a couple of Nancy Cohen’s Bad Hair Day mysteries and really enjoyed them. They are fun and educational. I love the location is set in Florida and we are visiting Pioneer Village, a living history village. There will be a reenactment of a Seminole battle (a massacre really). Nancy Cohen has me surfing the web, checking out all the historical tidbits and locales she shares.

Star Tangled Murder by Nancy Cohen takes place over the Fourth of July weekend. The celebration will be marred by the death of the town marshal with a tomahawk to his head. It’s too obvious for it to be the shaman of the village, but he still has to be checked out.

Marla Vail has a hair salon and day spa…but still manages to be an amateur sleuth, though Star Tangled Murder is her eighteenth mystery to be solved. Be careful when you venture out with her. You never know what might happen. There may even be a treasure involved.

We learn some Indian history, how to make a fire, we learn a little about dolls and hats, how buttons came into being…want to know why men and women button their clothing from opposite sides? I went from reading to surfing the web, back to reading. I was so curious, I couldn’t help myself. Star Tangled Murder by Nancy Cohen deserves a star for that alone.

You never know when inspiration may strike, and Nancy Cohen found her inspiration for Pioneer Village (which is a real place in Florida) from Yesteryear Village. She shares some wonderful recipes at the end of the book, so you may want to whip something up before you start the mystery, because it will keep you reading until you solve the mystery.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Star Tangled Murder by Nancy Cohen.

See more at http://www.fundinmental.com… (meer)

Marla and Dalton attend a reenactment of a Seminole Civil-war era massacre at a local Pioneer village, and of course, a dead body is found nearby. Who could have wanted Phil, the administrator and pseudo-sheriff dead? Suspects include the man who runs the gift shop, the blacksmith, the farmer, the teacher, the minister, the shaman, and the sister and brother duo who are real descendants of the original owners of the land. So many suspects kept me guessing who the killer could be. Meanwhile, Ryder is almost a toddler, Brianna is ready to leave for college, and Dalton is ready to retire. I hope this book is not the last one in the series!… (meer)

Star Tangled Murder is the eighteenth entry in the long-running A Bad Hair Day Mystery series by award-winning author Nancy J. Cohen. Wow, that’s a lot of books. Each book picks up right where the last one left off and builds on it, making you feel like you are meeting a treasured old friend and catching up. If like me you’ve read them all you’ll delight in spotting the references to the past; if you haven’t read them you’ll delight in this book as a standalone.

Marla and Dalton have been married three years now and Ryder is 13 months old. They are comfortable with each other. Comfortable enough to have arguments and get aggravated. Which is exactly how Star Tangled Murder starts. They are on their way to Pioneer Village to observe a recreation of early Florida life, a battle reenactment of the U.S. Army versus the Seminoles in 1836. Dalton will be retiring from his job as homicide detective in a couple months and to say Marla is kind of freaking out would be an understatement. We know how Marla likes her routines. She has the salon and the day spa and Ryder and works hard to juggle it all. The last thing she wants is a retired, stir-crazy, bored Dalton home all day every day upsetting that. Yes, she wants him to be happy and will support him but could he just get on with it and make that decision. To that end, she makes little suggestions: do woodworking, grow corn . . . to the point where it seems everything is a potential job or hobby. It’s almost comical – but only if you’re not Dalton.

Author Cohen quickly sets the scene and the tone for the day and the book, as well as refamiliarizing us with friends and family, Marla’s employees and Dalton’s coworkers. We settle in, this is familiar, these are people we know. But already we are waiting for the other shoe to drop, for that moment when Marla just happens to stumble upon a dead body. Even though she reminds herself frequently to stay away from danger and focus on the home front, she just can’t help trying to protect those she cares about or right a wrong. She starts out methodical and careful and bristling at Dalton’s warnings, but she inevitably unintentionally veers into recklessness. They are strolling along in Pioneer Village and hear a scream, the mystery and the murder to solve are established, and we’re off. The plot is solid, fast-moving, logical and full of surprises. The characters we already know keep us anchored in the familiar, pleasant routine of Marla’s day-to-day life. The new ones are a mix of good and bad: those to trust, those to suspect – and those to fear. Parts of the story are very intense. Marla and her friend Susan are in a lot of danger and have to think and act quickly. Marla was right to be suspicious of some of these folks, but the actions of others come as a shock, with everything leading to a very satisfying conclusion, both for the mystery and Marla’s personal life.

Marla’s life has changed a lot over the course of the series. As a result, she’s matured, and become more confident. In this book she’s even more relaxed, willing to let her often funny side show. She’s always been responsible, dedicated and loyal and now she’s demonstrated she can handle the roles of wife, mother and business owner very, very well. She always wanted to be a hairdresser but sleuthing is like a second calling. She’s good at it: observant, logical, able to get people to open up. So when she declares she’s done with mystery-solving and going to focus solely on the home front I take it with a grain of salt and will believe it when I see it. The inner conflict “to-sleuth-or-not-to-sleuth” is fun to watch.

In addition to the attention to detail and vivid descriptions of hair, clothes, jewelry, food, home and surroundings there is always a bonus to the Bad Hair Day mysteries in the form of learning. Just a little, not too much, fascinating. Cohen enriches these stories with facts you never realized you needed but were happy to get. Marla is curious, inquisitive, and eager to learn new things and Cohen weaves these lessons seamlessly into the narrative of the mystery. Pioneer Village was a treasure trove, starting with marshals vs. sheriffs and touching on muskets and rifles, plants including those that are poisonous, the Seminole Nation flag and Native American food, the history of buttons, buttonholes and fear of buttons, tea history and running an artisan tea plantation, gold coins missing from Civil War days, and last but not least Paleoethnobotany (look it up!) Something for everyone, and don’t forget to check out the author’s notes for more detail and recipes.

I thoroughly enjoyed this latest adventure with Marla. Cohen does an excellent job of making Marla seem like a real person while expertly blending in the mystery, resulting in a fresh yet familiar story that you will love. The wrap up of both the case and the latest family/friends happenings is terrific. Has Dalton selected a job all on his own so that Marla can stop looking? Is she really yearning for a daughter and might there be an addition to their family on the way? Can she do it – stop searching for clues? You’ll just have to read Star Tangled Murder and find out. And then of course you’ll have to read all the previous books. Thanks to the author for providing an advance copy of Star Tangled Murder via NetGalley. I can’t recommend it enough. I am voluntarily leaving this honest review; all opinions are my own.… (meer)