Dead Ringer

Laura Fleming #2

by Toni L.P. Kelner

Back home in North Carolina for a family reunion, Laura Fleming and her husband, Richard, instead encounter a mysterious corpse, and the ensuing investigation uncovers some family skeletons.

Genres: Mystery

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1994

About the author

Toni L.P. Kelner is the author of the "Where are they now?" mysteries and the Laura Fleming mysteries. She was awarded the 2002 Mystery Series Award from Romantic Times Book Reviews Career Achievement Awards for Best Author for the Laura Fleming series and and her story "Sleeping with the Plush" won the Agatha for Best Short Story of 2006. Kelner has also been nominated for the Anthony, the Macavity, and the Derringer awards. You can find more out about her on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Toni-LP...), Twitter (@ToniLPKelner) or her official website (http://www.tonilpkelner.com/).

Reviews

[Joshua Gross · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must be getting old because I hardly remembered anything from the first book. I don't even remember what I rated it. But I enjoyed this one! I really enjoyed when Richard had to tell Laura what he discovered when he was snooping around, because he always took forever and annoyed the heck out of Laura, and I like that the Aunt Nellie and Uncle Ruben were actually useful and fun to hang out with. I think I laughed out loud while Laura was running around searching Dorinda's apartment while Aunt Nellie made noises and kept a lookout. I noticed that Laura seems to think that a vacation is the only time you're supposed to have sex, and it seems like they did it every single day they were there. The mystery kept me guessing, sort of. I had some disorganized hunches. The ending was surprising and sad. Clearly, Aunt Maggie is not someone to mess around with. I had a better cemetery plan than they did. One of the aunts was talking about how crowded it was out there with people bringing flowers and whatnot on a regular basis, you think they could have had one of the regulars report back who moved the envelope off the gravestone, but they had to do things the hard way and wait until the end of the book to do it. This one and the first one are the only ones I own, and after the first one I wasn't sure if I was going to keep going or not but now I really want to. I just have to find the others...

[Evan Þ. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our protagonist comes back for a family reunion, only to stumble upon more of the town's hidden secrets and face the dilemna of how many are hers to share.

Compared to the first book, the mystery is better though still not good. I solved a bit of it myself, but the largest points were unproven though hinted at till the culprit confessed at the end. The characters suffer some from the expanded cast, as each of them gets less page time - but they're still quite well-done. All in all, I'm still looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two mysteries in one! I enjoyed the characters both sympathetic and deliciously less so. The touching subplot about a Vietnam war widow was especially moving.

[Stephen Levesque · Rating 5 out of 5]

A reunion uncovers sinister secrets in the second Laura Fleming mystery. A Burnette family gathering is no small affair, thanks to Laura Fleming’s ever-extending extended clan. Being back in Byerly, North Carolina, gives Laura and her scholarly husband a chance to catch up on gossip about old rivalries and rekindled romances. Byerly’s mill has long been the town’s lifeblood, but when Laura arrives to try and fix Joleen’s faulty PC, she finds that death has just paid a visit. A stranger’s body lies on the office floor. Did the mill’s founder have a doppelganger, or was someone in Byerly’s first family spreading wild oats? Laura isn’t planning to get involved—she’s busy trying to help Aunt Daphine, who’s being blackmailed over a decades-old secret. But the twin mysteries will have other deadly repercussions, unless Laura can see through a killer’s disguise… A great book, I bought the first book just because I like to read books that have the same people in them, and found it s good book. Upon getting this one, I feel the writer has found the groove. It grab me and held on right until the end. Well worth the read.

[Chance Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was hard to find, so I read it out of order. That took some of the suspense out of it, because one of the suspects was in the third book, so I knew he didn't do it. That ended up being *so minor* that it didn't affect my enjoyment of the book at all. Plus, I noticed some foreshadowing for future books that I wouldn't have spotted if I hadn't read them first.
This isn't the author's fault at all, but the damn blurb on the back of the book revealed a plot point that happened on page 284. The book only has 300 pages in it. Unacceptable!
Still, this was a solid Laura Fleming mystery. Not as good as the later ones, but still very enjoyable. Laura and Richard are a great team, and I love following their small-town investigations. Plus, it was nice to see Aunt Nellie and Uncle Ruben being kind and helpful instead of the skeezy opportunists I thought they were from their brief descriptions in other books.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently started this series and love Laura (AKA Laurie Ann) and her family. In this book Laura and her husband travel to NC for Laura's family reunion. While there Laura finds a dead body at the factory in the boss's office that looks strangely familiar. Also, her aunt is having a problem but won't tell any of her sisters about it. She enlists Laura's help to solve the puzzle, but swears her to secrecy. This book kept me guessing!

[Suzanne Bordwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second in the series of Laura Fleming Mystery books, it's a fast read.

[Suzanne McLeod · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love these books! Such wonderful cosy mysteries :-)

[PATRICIA BURNS · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bought this from a "first 2 of a series" sale at audible.com. Couldn't finish the first one. Never even started this one. Too many racial remarks.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

light & entertaining