Book Review – Mayhem, Murder, and the PTA by Dave Cravens @iReadBookTours #BookReview #BlogTour #cozymystery
Many thanks to Lauren and iReads Book Tours for my spot on this Blog Tour.
This was so much fun. It is a murder mystery, a dead principal of a school, a perfect whodunit, investigated by a award-winning, foul-mouthed, mother of three, Parker
My first book by Dave Cravens, and the first few pages had me laughing with unadulterated joy at the sheer brashness of the main character. I could feel her impudence, her boldness, and her righteousness. The author has done a brilliant job giving me a storyline which is cozy in the outer theme but a pure murder investigation in its core.
The story started with a brisk pace and continued running till the end reveal. Parker, after being suspended indefinitely due to her honest reporting about a crooked senator, had to move cross country to stay with her mom and deal with school and PTA. The horrors!! 😂
The book gripped me from the beginning to the end with Parker having one mishap after the other, late for school, car stolen, skirmish with the principal, car returned lovingly with the dead principal. I had to laugh at the irony of it. Parker was the centre of this mayhem trying to find a murderer and dealing with PTA to organize a fundraiser. And yes, find the real murderer too in the process. I simply loved Dave’s writing and didn’t mind all the swearing because I too would have been uttering the same words, had I been in the same position.
I liked that I couldn’t guess the perp, the author kept me on my toes in this one. A fantastic fun read. I loved it.
I received a free ARC from Lauren and the author, and this is my journey into its pages, straight from the heart!! STRICTLY HONEST AND UNBIASED.
All my reviews can be read here
As a child, Dave Cravens planned to grow up to be a superhero, the first person to capture Bigfoot and Nessie on film, pilot experimental aircraft out of Area 51, develop cold fusion, and star and direct in his own blockbuster action movies so he could retire at the ripe age of twenty-five and raid tombs the rest of his life. Instead, he got a degree in journalism, which he hasn’t used at all other than to justify his incredibly insightful and valid complaints about the state of journalism. During his twenty-two years in the video game business, he’s written for award winning franchises, directed TV commercials and movies, sprained his ankles numerous times in ultimate frisbee games and published three original novels.
Dave Cravens’ debut mystery about a hard-nosed journalist turned PTA mom is a surprising thriller exposing the cutthroat and comical world of school politics!
Parker Monroe is a tough-talking investigative reporter used to writing headlines, not being the subject of them. When a key source vanishes on a politically toxic story, this single mother of three finds herself at the center of a media storm and out of a job. Ready to reset, Parker moves her family back to the rural town where she grew up. But a gossip-filled PTA, a tyrannical school principal and a gruesome murder make adjusting to the “simple life” anything but. Parker Monroe is about to chase the story of her lifetime…
Publication Date: 20th May 2019
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This honestly sounds like such a fun read! I love the idea of a brash, hilarious character. PTAs have a reputation for being fierce, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that there would be a murder… 😛 Great review!
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This was to be a cozy, it us cozy but she was quite a character 😂😂
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Haha those are the best kinds! I love surprises in books 😀
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Wow! 5 stars from Shalini = immediately in my TBR. ❤
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See… I haven’t been blog hopping and so my TBR has been going down. Now I’m here and want to add this book. Lol. I saw it earlier on and thought, maybe. But if you’re giving it 5 stars… sigh… off to Amazon I go to check it out. 😂
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It is so much fun. She was a babe with quite a mouth on her. Maybe she was like me!! 😂 😂
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Awesome. LOL. Got a request to review. hehe. Going to accept… Let’s read about Shalini’s alter ego 😉
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Great review, this sounds like a fun read
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Hey Jackie thank you so much ❤️
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Sounds like a fun book. 😀 Found it on KU too. Yay 😀😀
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Yes thank you. It has a lot of swear words if I am not mistaken…. I read it a month or so ago
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I always love a fun who dunnit! I’ll be checking it out. Fab review Shalini. ❤
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Thank you so much Holly it was quite fun
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This looks like good fun!
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Absolutely 💃
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Thanks for taking the time to read it Shalini! I appreciate the review!
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Thank you so much for appreciating my review 💕
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This sounds like a fun read.
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It was so fun.. Thank you so much ❤️ 😘
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Woah why were you in spam. Thank you so much ❤️
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wow, such a lively, happy review, Shalini, and I particularly loved this phrase, “cozy in the outer theme but a pure murder investigation in its core.” Now that’s poetry!
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Thank you so much ❤️ Gin… Sometimes I write reviews in a daze at 2am. I think I should go back and check in the morning 🙈😂
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A murder and the PTA sounds like quite the combo!
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Hahaha it was… With a lot of swearing in it 😂😂
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The title alone has me hooked!
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The book would hook you more
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