Reviews

• Great first effort...

  After reading Lowcountry Bombshell, book number two in Susan M. Boyer’s Liz Talbot-series, I decided to start at the beginning with book one—Lowcountry Boil. This is a great effort for a first novel and won both the Agatha Award and the Daphne du Maurier Award. It also sets the background for all future books in this series. Liz Talbot grew up on Stella Maris—a residential island near Charleston, SC accessed only by ferry. She has lived in Greenville, SC for a number of years where she and her boyfriend, Nate Andrews, operate a private investigation company. She gets a call to return home as her grandmother has died. But once she arrives home, her brother Blake, the chief of police of Stella Maris, informs her that her grandmother was actually murdered. Not only that, but Grandmom left Liz her beach cottage. The town council of Stella Maris has tried to shoot down plans for resort development and perhaps this is the reason for the murder. “Much of the land on our twenty-four-square-mile paradise had been in the same families for generations—folks who cherished our small town and were terrified of timeshares. Others look at our wide beaches and saw the potential for enormous wealth. Zoning regulations protected the island from exploitation. Still, the town stood one town council election and one real estate deal away from becoming its own worst nightmare.” But could the murder be something more basic like jealousy or hate? Liz has her hands full with the investigation. But she also must deal with her future. Does she move to Stella Maris? Does she give up her home in Greenville? What happens to her business, Talbot and Andrews, and her boyfriend and partner, Nate? The book will also introduce the reader to many characters who will become regulars in Boyer’s novels including Liz’s family, her godmother Grace Sullivan, Charleston cop Sonny Ravenel, and a host of other locals. Boyer has a love for the low country, and it shines through the pages of Lowcountry Boil. “Stella Maris is a sultry, wind-swept Eden…The island both nurtured and seduced us. My family’s roots sank deep into the sand and anchored us here. Our souls are salt-water cured.” This is good stuff and I am a new fan of Susan M. Boyer and Liz Talbot.

• Great book!

  I absolutely adored this book. It was my first Susan M Boyer book and now I have read 2 more! Well written, full of suspense, funny bits, very surprising twists...truly amazing! Thanks to Lowcountry Boil I'm in love with a genre that was new to me: cozy, Southern mysteries! I absolutely recommend this book to ALL readers. 💖

• Love it, love it, love it!

  What's not to love when you find a book with a protagonist who is smart, witty, cool, family oriented, eminently likeable, and believable, who thrives in a setting that is a place anyone would like to inhabit, and who isn't always the right the first time she tries to solve a problem. The book is great fun to read, the characters seem like people you'd like to pal around with (well most of them, anyway), and the mystery unfolds in a timely fashion. An added bonus is that the identity of the murderer is a huge surprise when finally revealed. The writing is simply spot on. In short, if you like so-called "chick lit" mysteries, this book is a must. I heartily recommend it.

• Exciting Murder Hits a South Carolina Island

  Private Investigator Liz Talbot, along with her business partner, Nate Andrews owns a small private investigation firm in Greenville, South Carolina. Then life takes a drastic turn for Liz. First Liz receives an urgent message from her best friend from High School days, Colleen. Colleen says, "Liz, Come home." Now that may not sound critical but when you realize that Colleen died during their Junior year in school...well. Liz accepts this message in stride as haunts are accepted in her life on the island of Stella Maris. Shortly thereafter the cell phone rings, and it is brother Blake, Chief of Police on Stella Maris and he says, "Its Gram." Liz tells Nate she has to go and she grabs some clothes and her dog, Rhett and off she drives. Nate is concerned but they will keep in touch. Blake confides to Liz that he suspects Gram was murdered. He also instructs her to stay out of his investigation and keep it quiet. This was the only part of the book that strained my credulity. A private investigator not investigating, especially when she inherits and learns the death is not an accident or natural? This, however, was the only time the book made me blink. The truth is Liz has plenty to investigate as Colleen soon alerts her to. The island is rife with political conflict, politics, domestic abuse, contract killers and more. This book was action packed. Many many strands of persons lives need to be woven until Liz finds a tight weave. The location of the island was inviting, the characters were well drawn and you feel like or dislike through the actions and dialog. The pace of the story made it all the more compelling. I enjoyed this murder mystery.

• I wish a second one was waiting for me!

  I really really enjoyed this. I always appreciate a good, quirky, Southern novel and I love a good mystery. Lowcountry boil is both. My only complaint is that finding this series on the first installment (of what I hope to be one of many) just means that I have long waiting periods for each follow up. There's a bit of a formula here, certainly... Fun, spunky girl burned by men in the past (bad choices, bad luck) who ends up with options you love rooting for. But, with any of the basics of misadventures and unresolved love interests, there are enough characters (memorable enough to keep straight) to add plenty of subplots and questions so that you don't automatically guess the whodunits and whys. The ones you do figure out are minor enough and there are plenty of surprises. For full disclosure, though, I don't really try to figure out mysteries... I enjoy them much more just going along with the stories.

Purchase links