Beaches, Bungalows & Burglaries by Tonya Kappes

along with Deserts, Driving, & Derelicts (book 2) and Forests, Fishing, & Forgery (book 3)

This books review is actually 3 book reviews, because in Audible you get books 1, 2, and 3 in this series. Stumbled upon this series while wanting to listen to a book to hear when I walk my dog. This is such a good series I have downloaded more of the series and bought the paperbacks so that I can have a hardcopy. Mae West is down on her luck after her rich husband ended up cheating a bunch of people out of their money in a Ponzi scheme. The only thing Mae has is a small camper and apparently an RV park right outside of the Daniel Boone National Forest in Normal, Kentucky. However, the RV park is not in as good of shape as the pamphlet shown to Mae leads her to believe. While taking a break from her life in New York City and trying to find a buyer for the RV Park, Mae visits the RV Park and falls in love with the people and the lifestyle as she fixes the RV Park up and meets the Laundry Club. Of course there has to be a murder mystery, and there is in each book. The characters develop more background and you cheer for each of the Laundry Club Gals as they Jazzercize their way through investigations, romance, heartbreak, and parties. In book 1, it is Mae who is the focus of the investigation when her ex-husband turns up dead in the pond at the RV park, that was a killer I didn’t see coming. In book 2, a dog nanny is found dead and one of Bett’s clients is arrested for the murder, and it isn’t just a surprise killer but also some of Dottie’s background that is revealed. In book 3, a local park ranger is killed and while Mae thinks it is the mayor who killed the ranger, so of course that is not the killer. These books are so enjoyable you may not want to put them down, or stop listening. 

 

Character List:

Mae West – keeping her life in Kentucky a secret for the first few books, while helping Abby in the library she finds a book about Normal, KY and what the campground used to look like. Starts talking to people to see if she can get the campground to be a tourist attraction again. 

Dottie Swager – manager of the campground, sees Mae as one of them after Mae confesses she hates Paul for what he did to everyone, including many in Normal, KY and is trying to find a way to make it up to people that Paul hurt. Has the gun that was used to kill Paul, but claims she didn’t do it. Ends up encouraging Mae to think about dating Ty or Hank. Always seems to have her hair in curlers. 

Abby – the town librarian, helps Mae with social media to get attention for the campground and the community. Starts dating Ty after Mae and Ty realize they will not work out. 

Queenie French – shows Mae how to do laundry and helps create a fundraiser for cleaning up the campground. A jazzercise instructor at the local church and always is in some outrageous outfits. 

Henry – the campground handy man, Paul stole his $2,000. Helps Mae with the campground and lives at the campground. 

Paul West – Mae’s ex-husband, cheated tons of people out of their money. Is found dead in the campground’s pond with a bullet through the chest/heart. Prison he was staying at is nearby the campground. Won the campground from Ty’s dad back in college and transferred ownership solely to Mae during their marriage without her knowing about it. 

Detective Hank Sharp – his grandpa owns a blue camper in the campground and would like to see it cleaned up. A local detective and part-time park ranger. Mae confesses that she would have loved to kill Paul if she had found him, but someone beat her to it. Hank repeatedly tells Mae to stay out of investigations but also realizes people just talk and open up to Mae and she gets some really good information from them. Helps deliver Fefe’s puppies when she goes into labor, and gets his grandmother one of the puppies. 

Stanley – Mae’s attorney, was able to prove Paul forged Mae’s signatures on the documents and she was not involved in the Ponzi scheme

Buck – own the Touch Nickle and dislikes Mae when he learns she was married to Paul, but comes around when he realizes how hard she is working to help the community and make things right. 

Alvin Deter – owns the Feed and Seed and is the bank manager in the afternoons. After Mae makes an anonymous donation to Dottie’s account and he sees she is trying to make things right he gets clients to donate sod and a fountain to help the pond look better at the campground. 

Betts Hager – owns the Laundry Club and a cleaning business, married to Lester (the town preacher) and helps people see that Mae is trying to help. Also helps to get Mae a car so she doesn’t have to drive the camper everywhere. Enjoys hearing gossip, but does not partake in the telling of gossip, since she is the preacher’s wife. 

Ty Randell – staying at the campground, and is behind on rent, came back from the city after his mom died and his dad had a heart attack to watch his younger brothers and work at the local dinner (family owns it). He and Mae get off to a rough start, but they find each other attractive and try to date each other. He is there when in book 2, Mae finds the dead body. 

Grady Cox – Paul’s business partner, who is also found dead in the storage lockers at the campground. 

Ava Cox – Grady’s wife, is upset that they lost all of their money and her son will not be able to attend the fancy college she wanted him to, and that he is working at a local BBQ place. A lawyer who starts practicing again and represents Tammy Jo, and helps out Abby, Bobby Rae, and Mae when they are suspected of murder. 

Tammy Jo Bently – has a poodle, FeFe, that is trained on a special watch that is insured for over $2 million. When she is arrested she has Ava give FeFe to Mae to watch and take care of, which results in FeFe and Roscoe having an inappropriate relationship during a party and FeFe getting pregnant from the Pug. Tammy Jo gives FeFe to Mae after she was ruined and her lineage cannot be carried on. Kind of matches her personality with respect to her daughter too. 

Bobby Rae Bond – Mae’s brother in foster care, finds her after Mae does an interview for the National Park Magazine. While Dottie thinks he is after something, Mae knows he isn’t like that and helps put him up in one of the bungalows and gets him a job as a mechanic in down working for Alvin Deter’s brother. Bobby is blamed for killing FeFe’s dog nanny, but Ava and Mae are able to prove he didn’t and figure out who did.

Nikki Swager – Dottie’s step-daughter, was dating Hank Sharpe senior year of high school then started dating Ty. This was before Dottie married her father and she was not in the will as she had hoped when her father died. Has been living in Atlanta and does not come back all that often. 

Christine Watson – owns the bakery with her sister. Gives the campgrounds special baked goods and has a basket guests can buy. Mae came up with that idea to help support local businesses. Made a special cookie for the park ranger so make sure that it did not have nuts in it every Friday morning. 

Courtney – the mayor

Ethel Bittle – own the dog grooming business in town and the lead singer for the local band. Owns Roscoe the pug, thinks it is great how well Roscoe and Fefe get along. 

 

 

https://bookshop.org/widgets.js https://bookshop.org/widgets.js https://bookshop.org/widgets.js Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.