The Vejay Haskell Mysteries: An Equal Opportunity Death, The Bohemian Connection, and The Last Annual Slugfest

by Susan Dunlap

A special three-in-one edition of Susan Dunlap’s Vejay Haskell Mysteries, about an intrepid meter reader who solves the crimes that the police can’t crackIn An Equal Opportunity Death, Vejay Haskell is playing hooky from her job as an electric-meter reader in Henderson, California. She skirts around the edge of town, making her way to Frank’s Place, a cozy saloon owned by her friend Frank Goulet. After two cups of hot buttered rum, they have an argument and she storms out into the pouring rain. But by the time she gets back to Frank’s bar to apologize, he is dead. Vejay was seen leaving Frank’s house in a huff, and her lack of an alibi combined with her suspicious sick day make her the number-one suspect. As the police close in on her, Vejay turns detective in search of Frank’s real killer. It’s a perilous task, but she has one advantage when she puts on her work Nobody ever notices the meter reader.In The Bohemian Connection, a clique of powerful conservatives called the Bohemian Club gathers for a confidential meeting in the backwoods town of Henderson, California. Though their activities are shrouded in secrecy, Henderson meter reader Vejay Haskell is about to get an all-too-close inside look. Searching the countryside for a coworker’s missing niece, she finds the beautiful gymnast lying dead in the bottom of a sewer drain. The sheriff calls it an accident, but Vejay suspects the girl’s death was connected to the Bohemian Club’s unquenchable desire for drugs, booze, and prostitutes. Finding the killer will mean going head to head with the nation’s fiercest politicians.And in The Last Annual Slugfest, it’s time for Henderson’s regional festival honoring the normally detested California banana slug. Rather than eat crow, the area’s local politicians atone for their sins by eating slug hot dogs, slug chili, and slug pie. This year, one dish will prove murderously foul. Edwina Henderson is the last of her family to live in the town that bears their name. A committed environmentalist, she is also the woman responsible for this year’s slugfest, and will take her place at the judge’s table. When a slug pizza knocks her flat, the crowd assumes it was just an especially gross slice. But when she doesn’t get up, meter reader Vejay Haskell must confront the devious murder of the town’s leading treehugger.

664 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 18, 2013

About the author

Susan Dunlap is best known for her Jill Smith detective series, but she is a prolific and much loved writer of crime and mystery fiction, including award-winning short stories.

Reviews

[Mark Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed all three of these books and read them right in a row, something I rarely do with trilogies. Their portrayal of the Russian River area of California was precise and realistic and always believable. Vejay is a unique and sympathetic non-professional detective, and the portraits of the characters in the towns along the Russian River are compelling. The books are not quite cozy mysteries because there's a sharper set of political and cultural insights than is usual for those kind of books. Still, the biggest virtue of these books is that they are consistently well-paced and fun and with more energetic action in them (some of it a bit ridiculous, but I didn't care) than it might seem from how they open. Sure, they're not aspiring to be great fiction. But for sheer level of enjoyment, these books are a lot better than most detective fiction I read. Get out your boots though before you read them. There's going to be a lot of rain.

[Jessica Gintner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read all three books ~ they're combined as sort of a trilogy. The story takes place in the Russian River area of California. They talk about the Redwoods and the big role they play in their lives, as well as fishing and the ocean.
The first book jumped right into Vejay deciding to investigate the murder of her friend without very much character or story development. She was kind of intense & basically made an enemy out of everyone, including the sheriff. The second book gave you a little more info about her and her friends. She was a little kinder and gentler. By the third book, there was some humor, and a more in depth story line beside the murder. This was my favorite. There are just the 3 books in the series, but who knows, maybe Ms. Dunlap will add to the series!