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A Haunted Souvenir Shop Mystery #2
Murder Hooks a Mermaid
Nestled in Keyhole Bay, Florida, Glory Martine’s souvenir shop, Southern Treasures, is supposed to trap tourists—not ghosts. But a possessed parrot may be just what Glory needs to solve a murder...
Inheriting her great-uncle Louis’s bayside souvenir shop should have been a breeze for Glory. Instead it’s been one headache after another—with a lot of them generated by Bluebeard, a parrot with a mouth like a sailor and a personality a lot like her late great-uncle. But Glory’s troubles pale in comparison to those of her best friend Karen, whose ex may still have the personalized key chain to her heart, but whose brother-in-law is about to get locked up.
A diver has been found with a gaff hook in his chest, and Karen turns to Glory to help get her brother-in-law off the hook for his murder. But casting the net for the real killer won’t be easy. Glory and Bluebeard are about to find out that the secrets in Keyhole Bay run deeper than anyone ever imagined…
Inheriting her great-uncle Louis’s bayside souvenir shop should have been a breeze for Glory. Instead it’s been one headache after another—with a lot of them generated by Bluebeard, a parrot with a mouth like a sailor and a personality a lot like her late great-uncle. But Glory’s troubles pale in comparison to those of her best friend Karen, whose ex may still have the personalized key chain to her heart, but whose brother-in-law is about to get locked up.
A diver has been found with a gaff hook in his chest, and Karen turns to Glory to help get her brother-in-law off the hook for his murder. But casting the net for the real killer won’t be easy. Glory and Bluebeard are about to find out that the secrets in Keyhole Bay run deeper than anyone ever imagined…
303 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 31, 2012
16 people are currently reading
568 people want to read
About the author
Christy Fifield
16 books85 followersChristy Fifield is a pseudonym used by Christina F. York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
October 5, 2020
I'm really enjoying this series. Glory is a fun main character and I like all of her friends. This was a good mystery with a good ending and lots of good southern comfort food! #readforkimberly
August 9, 2015
Murder Hooks a Mermaid by Christy Fifield.
Glory and (bff) Karen have a huge problem on their hands...or should I say on Riley's hands. That is his brother Bobby. Bobby has been getting into one mess after another which Riley continually cleans up for him. Riley is Karen's ex.
This time Bobby is being held at the jail waiting for bail to be set but that's not all. It seems Bobby had "borrowed" Riley's boat to take some out-of-towners on an expedition in the Gulf. Now they've all been arrested for smuggling and Riley's boat has been impounded. The rush is on to get Bobby out of jail and Riley's boat out of the impound since fishing season was in full bloom.
Then the worst possible calamity is added to this already over the top dilemma...a man is murdered and Bobby is their chief suspect.
This is the 2nd book in this fabulous cozy series. A wonderfully smooth read, never boring as each character adds to the plot.
Glory and (bff) Karen have a huge problem on their hands...or should I say on Riley's hands. That is his brother Bobby. Bobby has been getting into one mess after another which Riley continually cleans up for him. Riley is Karen's ex.
This time Bobby is being held at the jail waiting for bail to be set but that's not all. It seems Bobby had "borrowed" Riley's boat to take some out-of-towners on an expedition in the Gulf. Now they've all been arrested for smuggling and Riley's boat has been impounded. The rush is on to get Bobby out of jail and Riley's boat out of the impound since fishing season was in full bloom.
Then the worst possible calamity is added to this already over the top dilemma...a man is murdered and Bobby is their chief suspect.
This is the 2nd book in this fabulous cozy series. A wonderfully smooth read, never boring as each character adds to the plot.
February 19, 2016
Glory Martine owns a gift shop in sunshiny Keyhole Bay, Florida. She inherited Bluebeard, a parrot, who appears to sort of be her Uncle Louis, reincarnated, or, at least a ghost who speaks via Bluebeard. When Glory's best friend's ex-husband's brother gets arrested for alleged smuggling, Glory and Karen start snooping around trying to find information about the real criminals. This is a fast moving, entertaining story. Cool ending!! I really enjoy the regular characters in the series.
January 16, 2013
Glory Martine's souvenir shop Southern Treasures in Kayhole Bay, Florida has lots of unique items, not to mention the parrot Bluebeard (who is not for sale). Bluebeard makes life interesting for Glory with his extensive, and usually unprintable, vocabulary, with words that would make a sailor blush, and his all too realistic personality traits of her late great-uncle Louis. Is Bluebeard really a mouthpiece for a ghost? However, Glory's best friend Karen wants help proving that her ex's brother is not guilty of murder. That is not as easy as it sounds. I really like this series, there are likeable characters, an interesting story line, and recipes.
January 8, 2013
This second entry in the Haunted Souvenir Shop series fulfills the promise of the first book with a complicated mystery, great character development and more clues to the shop mascot's real story. It's hard to explain a possessed, talking parrot, but I love him!
February 24, 2018
This is a fun series, and this was a good mystery, as well as answering many questions about the characters we've already come to know. Fun!
January 18, 2013
A fun, light read. I guess it's really more of a 3.5 star read - I enjoyed it, but it wasn't a *really* great read. I like the main characters, although Glory really is unrealistically dense about Bluebeards messages - surly she isn't supposed to be a dim protagonist. There's a bit of romance, but a very lightweight one so far and nothing that really sparks. Bluebeard has a lot of potential and I'm hoping future books have him playing a more vocal role. Being a Floridian myself, I love the setting and the author does a very good job depicting small town Florida, so the book was a bit of a mini-trip home for me.
The mystery was solid. I didn't know absolutely who the bad guys were until it was revealed. The author did a credible job crafting the murder mystery and dragging us into the debacle Glory's best friend's little brother found himself in.
I feel a bit like I'm damning with faint praise, but truly I enjoyed reading the book and I will definitely be picking up the next one.
The mystery was solid. I didn't know absolutely who the bad guys were until it was revealed. The author did a credible job crafting the murder mystery and dragging us into the debacle Glory's best friend's little brother found himself in.
I feel a bit like I'm damning with faint praise, but truly I enjoyed reading the book and I will definitely be picking up the next one.
March 21, 2013
This is the second in this series and it was as enjoyable as the first, if not better. There is also the added bonus of recipes that are used in the story. I can't wait to try the chicken and dumpling recipe. Glory, who owns Southern Treasures, a shop inherieted from her Uncle Louis is the main character. Her parrot, also inherieted, has Uncle Louis's spirit inhabiting him. He offers pithy remarks and has a foul mouth but is intregral to the story. Glory's friends, Karen,Ernie and his partner, Jake, a new romantic interest, her neighboring shop keepers, Linda and Guy are all in this story to round it out. Riley,Karen's ex finds his fishing boat confiscated and his little brother arrested on first a smuggling charge, then for murder. Glory, Karen and Jake start looking for other answers and that brings Glory into danger, her car getting torched and her left to die in a town's fish tank that once had human mermaids swimming around. A great read...a wonderful cozy.
October 17, 2015
Murder Hooks A Mermaid Another Kindle cleanup, I read the first book in this series a year or 2 ago and started this one but set it aside for some reason. This is a cute series and an easy read, but just okay. In this one, you're not given any introduction at all the suspects or the victim in the book. That always keeps me from getting "into " a book. Without any background, I find I'm detached from the book.
Which, now that I think about it, means that the events, the investigation and the ending are just narrated, there's nothing to engage the reader as part of the story.
So, although a good read, I'm going to rate at just 3 stars. If this review was one of my report cards, it would read, "Not working up to potential."
It would also say, "does not play well with others." but that's a whole other story.
Which, now that I think about it, means that the events, the investigation and the ending are just narrated, there's nothing to engage the reader as part of the story.
So, although a good read, I'm going to rate at just 3 stars. If this review was one of my report cards, it would read, "Not working up to potential."
It would also say, "does not play well with others." but that's a whole other story.
January 18, 2013
This is a fun cozy mystery set in the panhandle of Florida. I like all the characters. The ending left me with some question marks in my head. Was this a cliff hanger? The mystery was solved without being tied up really. I guess I'll have to read the 3rd installment when it comes out!
I also wanted to add that as a person living on the Gulf coast of Florida, we do not find the idea of pirates cheesy or something for tourist luring only. We love our pirate history and here in Tampa celebrate it every year! Talk like a pirate and be proud!!
I also wanted to add that as a person living on the Gulf coast of Florida, we do not find the idea of pirates cheesy or something for tourist luring only. We love our pirate history and here in Tampa celebrate it every year! Talk like a pirate and be proud!!
April 2, 2015
I didn't like how weak the female characters are. But I do love Bluebeard!
August 22, 2015
I am really enjoying this series. Although I am not a paranormal fan the touch of a ghost in this series is perfect.
May 27, 2021
Another enjoyable cozy mystery by Fifield. The ending was a bit predictable but still enjoyed revisiting characters from the previous book in the series
April 12, 2020
I enjoyed the first book in this series more. In this entry, Glory gets roped into investigating a murder because her friend Karen's ex-husband's brother is arrested first for smuggling and then for murder.
there's this whole subplot with Karen as an investigative reporter, which is great and cool, but she does this within the capacity of being employed by a radio station. I just don't think of the radio as the bastion of investigative journalism, nor as a medium that would require Karen to go all over taking photos (to the point of breaking into someone's residence) and interviewing her super snoop sources, much less why Glory would tolerate getting involved in all of this.
we spent more time with characters like Riley, having conversations about Bobby, and neither of them were too interesting to me as characters. I did enjoy Sly and Bobo (again), as well as Ernie and Felipe, but most of the characters receive only shallow development. I didn't really get any chemistry between Jake and Glory. I also didn't understand why Karen and Glory were so squirrelly about their friendship, like why would Glory feel she has to hide her developing relationship from Karen and vice versa?
I still generally like the setting and many of the characters, although I wish they would get more development. this is a pretty short series (so far), so I'm probably going to keep reading and finish it.
there's this whole subplot with Karen as an investigative reporter, which is great and cool, but she does this within the capacity of being employed by a radio station. I just don't think of the radio as the bastion of investigative journalism, nor as a medium that would require Karen to go all over taking photos (to the point of breaking into someone's residence) and interviewing her super snoop sources, much less why Glory would tolerate getting involved in all of this.
we spent more time with characters like Riley, having conversations about Bobby, and neither of them were too interesting to me as characters. I did enjoy Sly and Bobo (again), as well as Ernie and Felipe, but most of the characters receive only shallow development. I didn't really get any chemistry between Jake and Glory. I also didn't understand why Karen and Glory were so squirrelly about their friendship, like why would Glory feel she has to hide her developing relationship from Karen and vice versa?
I still generally like the setting and many of the characters, although I wish they would get more development. this is a pretty short series (so far), so I'm probably going to keep reading and finish it.
January 13, 2023
Really about a 3.7 for entertaining writing and good setting. Characters are likable. I had two frustrations: the main one was that Bluebeard the parrot gave a huge clue early on and Our Heroine kept making up lame reasons to explain it until 150 pages later. The minor one was that, since this had the makings of a good treadmill book, I thought in the beginning I would go get the first one and read it as well. However the entire mystery of the previous book was discussed at various points-- who did it first, then later who was killed, and even how Our Heroine ended up facing the killer. And yes, once again OH ends up nearly being murdered in this one because she goes alone to question a suspect. I understand this is considered a feature of cozy mysteries by some, but I see it as evidence too many cozy heroines are Too Stupid To Live. For me, the better ones that insist on using this trope have the heroine accidentally encountering the murderer, not rushing headlong to meet him or her. I'll read the next in the series as I did find this one entertaining.
May 27, 2019
A fun mystery. I almost didn’t read it because I don’t like books that bring in supernatural help. However, in this story, the “ghost” simply inhabits the body of a parrot and makes limited impact on the story. There is also little input from police officers… most of the story revolves around several friends proving the innocence of another when a family member of one of them is accused of murder.
The parrot actually is a fun little bit that doesn’t overwhelm the story. It’s a light romp … with one problem. The explanation of and naming of the real murder at the end of the story is much too quick. The person blurts out the whole scheme and solves all the questions in about one page. The story continued a bit after that, but it was just an afterthought.
The parrot actually is a fun little bit that doesn’t overwhelm the story. It’s a light romp … with one problem. The explanation of and naming of the real murder at the end of the story is much too quick. The person blurts out the whole scheme and solves all the questions in about one page. The story continued a bit after that, but it was just an afterthought.
May 3, 2020
It had been a little while between reading the first book and the sequel. I was a little lost on the character relationships for a few of the beginning chapters but the author does a great job of reminding the reader what role everyone plays. I caught up real quick and got sucked into the story.
Glory and Karen are trying to help the brother of Karen's ex-husband, current something? Reminded me a bit of Sweet Home Alabama. Karen and Glory find themselves tracking down leads and clues and trying to grasp that nagging piece that will tie it all together. Amidst the detective work, relationships are blooming and the circle widens, letting more people in.
A fun read that doesn't take to long to finish. If you need a cute mystery pick me up, this is the one!
Glory and Karen are trying to help the brother of Karen's ex-husband, current something? Reminded me a bit of Sweet Home Alabama. Karen and Glory find themselves tracking down leads and clues and trying to grasp that nagging piece that will tie it all together. Amidst the detective work, relationships are blooming and the circle widens, letting more people in.
A fun read that doesn't take to long to finish. If you need a cute mystery pick me up, this is the one!
September 12, 2021
“Murder Hooks a Mermaid”, second in the Haunted Souvenir Shop series, presents another slice of small-town life in Keyhole Bay, Florida. There a little romance, a lot of cooking, and the obligatory murder mystery.
Karen's on-off husband, Riley, lends his boat to his laid back chancer brother, Bobby. It's not a good idea as Booby ends up in prison after the FBI swoop in on a smuggling operation - and Riley's boat has been impounded, maybe lost forever.
And then a body is found and Bobby is in real trouble.
Of course Glory can't avoid getting involved and finds herself in danger of a watery grave.
They mystery isn't great but I enjoyed the chance to hang out once again with Glory and her friends – not forgetting 'Bluebeard.”!
Karen's on-off husband, Riley, lends his boat to his laid back chancer brother, Bobby. It's not a good idea as Booby ends up in prison after the FBI swoop in on a smuggling operation - and Riley's boat has been impounded, maybe lost forever.
And then a body is found and Bobby is in real trouble.
Of course Glory can't avoid getting involved and finds herself in danger of a watery grave.
They mystery isn't great but I enjoyed the chance to hang out once again with Glory and her friends – not forgetting 'Bluebeard.”!
February 25, 2021
Glory inherited a seaside gift shop and foul mouthed parrot, Bluebeard. This is the second book featuring Glory, Karen, and a few more of her close friends. When the brother in law of one friend gets blamed for a murder, Glory knows she needs to help prove him innocent. With the help of her dearly departed uncle, she is able to put together clues and head in the right direction.
This book had me up all night and day. I couldn’t stop and found myself finishing the book in less than 2 days! I can’t wait for the next one!!
This book had me up all night and day. I couldn’t stop and found myself finishing the book in less than 2 days! I can’t wait for the next one!!
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March 8, 2025Glory is still running Southern Treasures & Peter keeps coming up with bright ideas! She is still attracted to Jake. She & Karen hunt for clues after Karen's former brother-in-law is arrested. They get too close & Glory's car is torched. Sly sells her Uncle's former truck to replace her car. Glory goes on her own to question a bartender & is thrown in an aquarium & almost drowns! She disables the sensors to call help. Julie has her baby, Rose. Shy is told about Bluebeard.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 12, 2018
Once again Glory manages to solve a case the police think is closed. Although the series isn't realistic, it is fun fluffy braincandy that is great for taking with me for waiting at appointments.
I find everyone accepting Glory's parrot being spokesbird for her deceased uncle to be charming. Pity we can't be as accepting as fictional charcters
I find everyone accepting Glory's parrot being spokesbird for her deceased uncle to be charming. Pity we can't be as accepting as fictional charcters
December 25, 2020
This 2nd book in the series is a good follow-up to its predecessor. The characters are enjoyable and gain more depth in the book. It's hard to beat a haunted gift shop in a beach town as a setting. And the mystery is complex enough to keep the reader's interest through the twists and turns. Looking forward to seeing what happens with Glory and Bluebeard in the next book.
January 24, 2018
It was a good read, good story, and I liked it. I will read her books again.
April 12, 2018
Love Christy’s books
August 23, 2018
Next.
Can I just say that I love the parrot? Okay... I love the parrot.
Can I just say that I love the parrot? Okay... I love the parrot.
November 26, 2018
Great characters, wonderful setting, and a really twisty and believable mystery.
August 3, 2019
Another great fun fresh story, I love the bird that talks in these stories.
Cant wait to finish them all.
Cant wait to finish them all.
August 11, 2019
Really funny read, great characters!
April 2, 2020
Not quite as good as the first, but still an enjoyable read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews