On the Rocks

Top Shelf #6

by Lolli Powell

Nothing ruins a wedding reception like a pirate taking a dive off a third floor balcony!

Well, the best man dressed as a pirate—it’s Halloween, after all, and the wedding reception is a masquerade event. It's also the Top Shelf's first big catering job. Not exactly an auspicious beginning, but not surprising when Ricki is involved.

When the groom is arrested for the murder, the bride and her father beg Ricki to help prove his innocence, but Ricki soon finds more questions than answers. Is the groom as innocent as he seems? The bride and the best man used to be a couple. Could the groom have killed him either accidentally or on purpose? Would he have ruined his own wedding reception and missed his honeymoon in a fit of jealous rage?

Both men played football for their college, and both were headed for the pros. Was someone trying to coerce the victim into a point-shaving scheme and things got out of hand?

For that matter, who was the actual target? Just before the murder, the groom and best man switched costumes as a joke. Was the best man the intended victim or was it the groom?

And the biggest question of all—who was the killer clown?

309 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 3, 2022

About the author

I'm retired from the nine-to-five life and live with my husband and two cats on private land inside Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky. (The handsome dog with me in the picture went to the Great Dog Park in the Sky March 1, and we miss him a lot!)

I have loved fiction since before I could read (Mom said I made up stories based on the pictures in books). Now that I no longer have the excuse of not enough time, I'm fulfilling my lifelong dream of writing novels.

Over the years, I've paid the bills by being a dancer, a bartender, a police officer, a registered nurse and a technical writer. Now I'm drawing on that life experience and my two English degrees to create stories I enjoy writing and hope readers will enjoy reading.

My Top Shelf cozy mystery series is set in a small fictitious town on the Ohio River halfway between Indiana and the West Virginia border. There are currently six books in the series: The Body on the Barstool, Whiskey Kills, Name Your Poison, Double Shot, Bottoms Up, and On the Rocks. The Top Shelf series features Ricki Fontaine, a New Yorker who moves to small-town Ohio after inheriting a dive bar from her black sheep uncle.

I have two books, The Ghost Wears A Badge and Dead Men Don't Retire, in my Spirit of the Law cozy series. Dead End, the third book in the series, should be out late 2025.

I've also published a contemporary romance, The Boy Next Door, and a standalone romantic suspense novel, The Wrong Kind of Man. I have two books, Death Notice and Undercover in my Kisses and Killers Thriller series. My novella, The Gift, is a holiday romance with a hint of the paranormal.

I also write grittier mysteries and thrillers under the name Laurel Heidtman.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Reviews

[Kat Lebo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun, quick read, as usual. I always look forward to a trip into Ricki's world. Great editing and proofing, relatable characters, excellent plotting and pacing with plenty of red hearings as Powell twists and turns her way through each adventure. And, of course, for me, the best part is no cliffhanger ending!

Maybe my favorite quote in this book is at location 2249 (Kindle Fire, first generation): "...wondered if it was against Health Department regulations to wear adult diapers behind a bad. Guess it depends." I see what you did there, Lolli.

And why did I catch myself humming "I've Got Friends in Low Places" while I read?

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ricki seems to be a magnet for murder. She often wonders why she left NY and took over her uncles bar-can't say I blame her! She has started catering and her first job---when a pirate falls (is pushed?) off one of the balconies--and it was a wedding! Well since Ricky was kind of known to be good at solving mysteries----

Friends in high places and some in very low places help this time. Of course she has to overcome her employees fear and sometimes hysterics!!

You are going to love all the characters and laugh at some of the antics. There is a twist in all this that will throw you for a loop!

[Elly Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can't go wrong with Lolli Powell's Top Shelf mysteries! Clearly, another winner. Costume switch at a Halloween-themed wedding reception ends in the Best Man's fall out of two-story window. Suicide? Accident? Murder? Mistaken Identity? Bar owner and "snoop," Ricki Fontaine, figures it all out, but not before someone tries to kill her.

[Donna DuVal · Rating 5 out of 5]

You cannot miss this one so much goes on

I don't know how she does it running the business and snooping or slooping whatever you want to call it. She has another sense and it is common sense. She figures it out sometimes not till the end. I love this series and will continue to follow. I think they need to add some pictures of her and the rest of the crew and of course Jasper.

[Skater · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always Excellent

The continuing adventures of Ricki doesn’t disappoint. The death of a member of a wedding that the Top Shelf is catering leads Ricki and her friends on a merry adventure. Love this series.

[Ann Mort · Rating 5 out of 5]

great little murder mystery

Always enjoy her stories. Wonder how many of her own cases are woven into these tales. The lady does know how to keep readers turning pages

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the series….4 stars overall. There were a couple of things about Ricki that bugged me, preventing me from giving this a final star. Still, it ended on a good note.

[Ted]

Why is there a Body On the Rocks

I enjoyed this latest Top Shelf mystery. Its many twists and turns kept me reading. Her many friends keep Rolling safe.