Tramp

Lilly Bennett #3

by Marne Davis Kellogg

By turns audacious and lionhearted, tender and vulnerable, Lilly Bennett doubles as a U.S. marshal and Wyoming's most persistent P.I. Decked out in Chanel pumps and St. Laurent suits, Lilly fights crime with the best of the boys--but she never lets you forget that she's a lady through and through....

Ninety-year-old Cyrus Vaile is the most lecherous rogue in town--not to mention the wealthiest. A longtime patron of the arts, Cyrus has just donated a whopping $20 million to the local repertory theater. But the money has inexplicably vanished, and Cyrus wants Lilly to help him find out where it went. At first Lilly steers clear of the scandal. But when Cyrus drops dead right in the middle of his own birthday party, all clues point to murder. Now Lilly must stage an investigation of her own--and find out who really dropped the final curtain on Cyrus Vaile.

Genres: Mystery, Suspense, Westerns, Chick Lit

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am currently reading Tramp by Marne Davis Kellogg.

Tramp
Marne Davis Kellogg
Mystery
320 pages

By turns sassy and tough, tender and vulnerable, Lilly, a no-longer-so-young Wyoming belle with degrees in criminology and toxicology, is a private investigator and the marshal of Bennett's Fort, a town owned literally lock, stock, and barrel by her cousin. Shod by Chanel, clad in designer' suits, and wearing ladylike white gloves, Lilly is an unlikely but highly efficient detective - as she proves when confronted with solving the murder by poisoning of Cyrus Vaile, the incredibly rich, disgustingly lecherous old patron of the local repertory theater. It happens on the night of his birthday celebration, in full view of Lilly and most of his repertory "family," any one of whom might have a pretty good motive for wanting Cyrus dead. And with so much flamboyant emotion obscuring the facts like a theatrical fog, it isn't easy for Lilly to cut through the glycerin tears and get at the unvarnished truth. In Lilly, her eccentric extended family (who made their money in two black crops - oil and Angus cattle), and her dashing suitor Richard Jerome (an ex-Morgan banker turned opera impresario and professional team-roper), Marne Davis Kellogg has invented a fascinating cast of ongoing characters.

[Emily Higgins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lilly Bennett is a US Marshall in a fictional town supposedly located in western Wyoming. The town has a theater company, an opera company and office towers that no town in that part of the country could possibly support. The theater company has several people murdered during the course of the story. Of course, Lilly ably solves the murders in the end. I realize that this book was meant to be a farce, but it stretched credulity way beyond belief.

[Carah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hope Kellogg has written a few more Lilly Bennett books... I'll be very sad when I read all the stories out there.

[JoAnn/QuAppelle Kirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

a quick, easy read......

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

These books are such a fun escape. I love the leading lady characters developed by Marne Davis Kellogg.

[Katharine Ott · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Tramp" - written by Marne Davis Kellogg and published in 1998 by Bantam. Not much of a mystery, but a fun read.