Happy Never After

Callahan Garrity Mystery #4

by Kathy Hogan Trocheck

Since retiring from the Atlanta Police Department, Callahan Garrity is really cleaning up with her House Mouse housecleaning company -- especially since she added"crime investigation" to the list of services offered.

Callahan agrees to locate the missing member of the popular '60s girl group, the VelvetTeens, and she doesn't have to search long. Deloras Carter, the a.w.o.l. singer, is found passed out drunk by a swimming pool near the dead body of the trio's former producer. The smoking gun in Deloras's hand suggests that the VelvetTeens won't be reuniting for a comeback tour anytime in the near future ... unless Callahan and her "Mice" can spotlight -- and survive -- a different killer act.

Genres: Mystery, Audiobook, Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Chick Lit, Mystery Thriller, Southern

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

aka Mary Kay Andrews

Kathy Hogan Trocheck is the author of critically acclaimed mysteries, including the Callahan Garrity mystery series. A former reporter for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, she is also the author of Little Bitty Lies and the Edgar®- and Macavity-nominated Savannah Blues, under the name Mary Kay Andrews.

Reviews

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy these mysteries - fast paced, places I know, and not too deep - perfect poolside read.

I had to laugh at this one....the book was written in the late 1990s and Callahan makes a comment about how the 80s as it was the decade that gave us Donald Trump. If Callahan could comment now! Just had to laugh out loud!

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I'm a teacher & have the summer off from official work hours. So July has been my binge reading month! Often, I listen to audiobooks with my earbuds as I clean, walk on the treadmill, etc. (I increase the narrator's speed to flow as quickly as I read myself.) I've read some wonderful stories and am enjoying summer '21 so much!

[Sabine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audio version and love the narration. Great mystery and very interesting characters. This has become one of my favourite series.
I had to check the release date of the book when I heard the Donald Trump comment...LOL...too good.

[Marleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

On a hunch I picked this book out of a bargain bin not knowing what to expect. It turned out this was an easy and entertaining read about a former Atlanta cop named Callahan Garrity, who quit the force and started running a cleaning service with her mother from their house, while doing some private detecting on the side. This is actually the 4th book in the series, but I didn’t feel like I missed out on prior history with these characters. Callahan accepts to search for Delores, the long lost sister of one of her acquaintances, who was part of a trio of singers in the sixties, called the Velveteens, who have been offered a chance at a comeback.
I must say that having recently enjoyed “20 Feet from Stardom” the documentary, I fell into the story right away; I better understood how so many female singers and acts were financially taken advantage of in the old days. The case gets more complicated when the trio’s star producer is found dead in his pool house and one of the trio is holding the smoking gun, literally.
I liked all the characters in this story; there was an ordinariness about them that spoke to me. They were also quirky and brave. I enjoyed the sense of family and friendship that was at the centre of it all.
I look forward to reading more books in this series.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoying this southern belle cozy mystery series... on to number 5

[Madeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the narrator has become Callahan. lol

[Libba Quinn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was painfully bad. It was aggressively set in Atlanta (the author must’ve been hoping for an ajc review because they name dropped an ATL landmark on nearly every page). There were way too many (pointless) characters. Either the author or the protagonist is casually racist. But worst of all, they spelled the word y’all with the apostrophe in the wrong place. Yeesh.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story rambled and did not grab my interest. There were parts that were good but overall, I was disappointed in this story. Callahan appeared to be ditzy yet solves a murder. There wasn’t much meat to the story. It was a quick read.

[Monica Gearhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m enjoying this series but the main character, Callahan, is being a real bit$h towards her bf helping his daughter.

[Book Concierge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Digital audio book narrated by Hillary Huber.

From the book jacket: In this fourth installment of the Callahan Garrity series, the South’s favorite cleaning lady/sleuth immerses herself in the world of sixties girl groups and nineties rap groups to hunt the killer of a suave, self-serving record producer.

My reactions:
I like this mystery series. It’s a little edgier than a traditional cozy, because Callahan is a former Atlanta Police Officer, but it has many of the classic elements of a cozy: an “amateur” sleuth, a regular cast of characters surrounding the main character’s life/business (in this case, her mother and the other maids of her house-cleaning business), and murder that happens (mostly) off the page. We also have a love interest that is getting complicated. Callahan, however is NOT an amateur – she’s a licensed private investigator, and can carry a gun (and sho0t it). She’s also intelligent, determined and usually gets herself out of a jam rather than wait around for help.

I really enjoyed the premise in this installment, especially as I was a teenager in the era of the sixties girl groups. There were plenty of references to that era that kept me entertained and enough plot twists and red herrings to keep me interested. And … I did NOT guess the perpetrator until the reveal.

Hilary Huber does a fine job of narrating the audio version. She has good pacing, clear diction, and the skill to give the many characters distinct voices, making it easy for the listener to distinguish who is speaking. I particularly love how she voices the elderly Easterbrooks: Baby and Sister.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, the reader of this is very talented, producing many different voices for the various characters.
The story is well crafted with all the requirements: excellent dialogue, place, timing, suspense, mystery, and a superficial look into the pop music business
This would make a good movie since it is so tightly packed into such a small space.

[Bobbi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I almost gave up on this book because the beginning was so slow and boring, but I’m glad I continued because it finally got interesting and exciting maybe halfway through. Too long of an epilogue at the end, IMO. Could have been way shorter.

[Sierra Lirette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would like more follow up after mystery is solved, but enjoyed it throughout

[Cora Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The throw back to an old girl group pulled at my heart strings! I always love older groups and getting a "where are they now" update for them in the book was so cool! And how I wish we could always find out what happens to them although in this case its not always peaches and roses.
Rita has a darker past than the others but in the end they find the murderer thanks to Garrity who refuses to keep digging and getting some enemies to help her out along the way.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the better stories in the series. The characters were varied and interesting. I get a kick out of the 90s references.

[Teena in Toronto · Rating 2 out of 5]

Callahan used to be a police officer and changed careers when she bought House Mouse, a cleaning service that she runs with her mother, Edna ... but she still does private investigating on the side.

The VelvetTeens are heading for a comeback but are missing Delores, who no one has seen in about 20 years. Vondette, one of the singers, Delores' cousin and the ex-wife of a good friend of Callahan's, hires her to find Delores. Rita, Delores' sister and a bandmate, has fallen into hard times over the years and is now an alcoholic, When their former manager, Stu, ruins their potential comeback, Rita vows to kill him ... and then is found passed out at his house holding the gun that just killed him. She is arrested and Callahan is then redirect to help her lawyer to prove Rita didn't do it. Stu had lots of enemies so it could have been anyone.

The writing was okay, though it could have been edited better as there were words left out. The storyline was convoluted and there was a lot going on (too many side stories). The ending came quickly and I wasn't buying it. It is written in first person perspective in Callahan's voice. Because it was originally written in the early 1990s, they are still using pay phones, CDs, answering machines, etc. and there are references by Callahan of growing up in the 1970s. Some of the terms used are now cringe-worthy. As a head's up, there is swearing and violence.

This is the fourth in the Callahan Garrity Mystery Series ... I read the first one in 2018 and recently picked the series back up again. It's not a great series but I'm now halfway through so I'll keep going to the end.

Blog review post: http://www.teenaintoronto.com/2022/08...

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Happy Never After was rereleased this year and is the 4th book in the Callahan Garrity series. In this book from the series, Callahan is tasked with finding the third member of a now defunct girl group from the 60s called the Velvet Teens. The other two members of the group, her cousin and sister, have not seen her for 20 years. The search is on as a movie producer wants to use some of the Velvet Teens' old songs in a movie and possibly record new tracks with the group. Unfortunately along the way someone gets murdered and Callahan's investigative work changes from looking for a missing band member to trying to figure out whodunit. This book is a fun read; just remember as you are investing time in the book that it was written in the 90s. Things like the internet weren't around. The author references looking people up in the yellow pages and paying extraordinary sums for calls made on a car phone. It's a trip down a technological memory lane as well as a great mystery. I'm looking forward to the next books in the series that are schedule to be rereleased in October 2013.

[L8blmr · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I read that this Callahan Garrity story was going to be about a singing group from the sixties and the music industry in Georgia, I thought it just might be my favorite in the series so far. However, it occurred to me about halfway through the book that I really do not like Callahan that much (nor her mother Edna, as a matter of fact). Therefore, I had to rely on the mystery and the locales I might recognize to keep me reading and neither of those factors met my expectations this time around. I am hoping that Callahan's personality takes a turn for the better in the second half of this series and that the mysteries are a little less plodding and predictable. There is still plenty here to like, and I am hoping that maybe this book is the one weak link.

[The Library Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am waiting for books two and three in the series to get to me via the Libby app but I decided to keep reading anyway and I'm glad that I did, because these are a lot of fun

One note: these were written a good 30 years ago, so you have to take them in terms of that, but I was bothered by the character Serena. She is said to be Korean American, and that she does not like being called Korean, but in the one appearance she makes she speaks what I would call "Dragon Lady" English. Again, this was written in the 90s where the term "Oriental" was still acceptable rather than "Asian," but that part still sticks out for me.

[Brenda Klaassen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book did entertain me. I was sad to have C.W. Have a life-changing accident. Mac & Callahan took a little break in their relationship. The music background was interesting.

[Stacy · Rating 1 out of 5]

So this is a average run of the mill mystery book. What made me stop reading is the problematic low-key racist language. I guess you could chalk it up to age ignorance, but after the fourth instance, I’m returning the book. But describing someone’s eyes as “almond, oriental-shaped,” was an “Oh, mouth” moment. Then a “large, ethnic-shaped nose,” wth?! And it just persisted, I wasn’t interested.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a Mary Kay Andrews book. She is writing as Trocheck.

[jd · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 4th book in the series, for some reason I had thought it was the 2nd and read it immediately after the first. With that noted,

I did enjoy the characters a lot more this round, maybe from familiarity with them from the first book, but they all seemed more engaging, save for one glaring cheater, gonna have to find out what happened in their relationship during books 2-3 because it seemed not only out of character but what he said to Callahan was really out of line? at one point and I am done with him because of it. (Hopefully Callahan is too)...

Enjoyed the plot of this mystery, didn't find the language used vulgar or unnecessary--it's just how people talk? Maybe I'm used to worse IRL and in other books because it didn't even register as something that could be an issue until I read other people's reviews talking about it. I have 2 major gripes about this book, both of which was shared by the first novel:

It goes from 0-60 once you find out who the murderer is, and not in a good way, in a internet meme "that escalated quickly" way that leaves you kind of shocked and wondering if the editor was demanding the final copy NOW and the author just wrote every terrible thing that could possibly happen, done!

And, once you are halfway through or in the last 3rd of the book, any other mysteries or loose ended suspects remain that way, possibly with a mention at the very end of the book. It's particularly egregious here because in this case, it was the inital mystery Callahan was hired to solve. LITERALLY NO MENTION of the missing Delores starting about halfway through, and no description or effort indicated to find her until the VERY end, in a couple of paragraphs that were like, oh yeah btw totally found her, she was here doing this. Like ????? really? It feels like even that was stuck in there because there was probably an advance reader who was like, sooooo.... reunion? Delores? where? what? Callahan solving that in addition to the murder is something I would have liked to read, on her followup for it, could have her dealing with some of her demons in the aftermath of everything that happened, but maybe that would have made the book too long? Dunno.

But! am now definitely invested in Callahan as a character and will try to now read the rest in order. :D

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another road trip- another book read from this series.
Nothing new or different to report- same sort of fluff mystery (I think it's called Cozy Mysteries?).
Not really my favorite of the four books- the ending proved to be a bit more graphic and actually rather unbelievable- sort of a "jump the shark" moment in that I highly doubt the protagonist would have been allowed as much access to the criminal investigation as Callahan had. Oh well...it's fiction, doesn't have to be credible.

In this book- there was a small shift in the mystery- it's less about finding out who committed the murder- but instead, trying to prove that the accused did not do it.

Callahan Garrity is a former Atlanta cop, a part-time sleuth and full-time owner of House Mouse, a cleaning service that tidies up after Atlanta's elite. She and her coterie of devoted helpers can ransack a house for clues faster than it takes a fingerprint to set.

Callahan needs all the help she can get trying to keep Rita Fontaine, a washed-up 1960s teenage rock star, out of jail. It's nothing less than murder when Stu Hightower, the vain, temperamental president of a thriving Atlanta recording company, is found dead in the designer den of his posh home. His only companions are the slug in his heart and Rita, dead-drunk and looking guilty. Callahan believes in Rita's innocence because, after all, Hightower had made more enemies than records in his career. But discovering who hated him enough to kill him could send her floating down a river of lost dreams without a paddle.

[Paul Pessolano · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fourth novel in the Callahan Garrity series. This is a novel that was copywrited in 1995 and may be difficult to find. There are some on EBay and Amazon that cost between $5.00 and $10.00.

Callahan is again balancing her day by running her House Mouse cleaning service and her sometimes Private Detective Agency. Also, the reader must remember that she was a former Police Officer in the Atlanta Police Department.

Callahan in trying to help a friend becomes involved with the murder of a music mogul. She is trying to find the third party of the VelvetTeens who are attempting a comeback. The Teens were a 60’s rock group that was responsible for their demise by the murdered music mogul. The lead singer is accused of the crime when she is found past out at the scene with the murder weapon in her hand ( she was passed out die to high alcoholic intake, she is an alcoholic).

Callahan becomes involved with the murder while trying to find the missing third VelvetTeen.

Another wonderful mystery by Kathy Hogan Trocheck that is suitable for all readers.

[False · Rating 2 out of 5]

I first read these Callahan Garrity books when they were first written in the 80's and 90's. I liked them back then, and thought I would give them a re-read now in 2021. Perhaps my tastes have changed, but I just find Callahan Garrity a very unlikable character. She is well in to her 30's, but she is self-centered, selfish, crude, and foul-mouthed. This book is full of profanity. She has a nice 50ish "boyfriend" with whom her only real relationship seems to be sex. She is jealous of his teenage daughter, and insists that she must live her life the way that she wants. To heck with the way this man feels. If you can get by the these problems, you will probably be stalled in your tracks by the race related comments. The Serena character looked "Oriental" and Callahan would be more comfortable in a bar with another "white face?" It's unnecessary. of her character. Southerners will tell you "We aren't like that anymore." I call them on it.

[Mme Forte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Callahan Garrity is up to her neck in it. Again.

She's been retained to find the long-lost sister of Rita Fontaine, former singer in the VelvetTeens, now that the group's hit song is to be part of the soundtrack of a big Hollywood movie. But as the search kicks off, Rita is caught with a gun by her side, passed out on the pool deck of record company owner Stu Hightower, who happens to have been shot. But has Rita been framed? Callahan has to find out, and she does it with the usual humor and run-ins with the legit law and with slightly loopy characters in the story.

My only quibble with the reissue is the occasional insensitivity to race/culture that crops up. It seems unnecessary. I know, I know, it's also not cool with authors to bowdlerize their work. I'm not saying there's a solution, I'm saying it comes across cringey. Also, why is Callahan being such a jerk to her man? That's ugly, too. Now I have to seek out the next installment to see how that ends up.

[Corene · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s just as well there are no books left in this 1990s mystery series that I haven’t already read, or attempted to read but abandoned. They just became more and more offensive with casual racial terms and attitudes that don’t fly anymore. In addition, this one’s plot was a little dull, but I made it through the audiobook edition.

Callahan Garrity, owner of an Atlanta cleaning service, but part time private detective, is hired to find a missing person, one of the original singers of a 60s girl group, whose remaining members have been offered a chance to sing again. This of course leads to Callahan boldly poking around, and people winding up dead.

As usual in this series, the book was most entertaining when it focuses on the interactions of Callahan, her mother and the House Mouse cleaning crew, especially when they get a chance to do a little detective work themselves. I definitely had some laughs from the books in the series, but now I’ll say so long.

[Stephanie Readsssss · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was introduced to Kathy Hogan Trocheck about ten years ago when she started writing under a pseudonym (Mark Kay Andrews). Trocheck used to be a journalist for the Atlanta Journal and Constitution and started writing mysteries under her real name.

It’s very evident Trocheck spends a lot of time on her plot, and I feel she does a terrific job with research for the book (police protocol, divorce law, and the music industry for this book in particular).

This book is one of the middle books in a series of books about this private detective, so I may have enjoyed it a bit more in regards to the main characters if I’d picked up the first book in the series. Also, I listened to the audio version of the book which wasn’t as good as it could have been. Being from the south, the southern accents the narrator tried to use were not good at all.

[JH · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fine. I need to remember that I don't enjoy Kathy Hogan Trocheck's mysteries nearly as much as Mary Kay Andrews' novels. Callahan Garrity is a smart and likable character. I like the chast of characters who work for the House Mouse. The mysteries Callahan finds herself dragged into always seem a little pointless, and some of the language and references (specifically regarding race and stereotypes) don't hold up from the 1990s when these books were written. I often feel a little uncomfortable in the way people of color are described and the way in which Callahan herself addresses them, like "Hey girlfriend! Is she Oriental?"...why does that matter for the plot?

Anyway, always a pleasure to spend time in this author's world.