Poppy Harmon and the Hung Jury

by Lee Hollis

Overview

The Golden Girls meets Remington Steel in Lee Hollis's second mystery set at a Palm Springs retirement community! For retiree-turned-PI Poppy Harmon, spending her golden years running the Desert Flowers Detective Agency is far from the glamorous life she once knew. But becoming ensnared in two twisted Palm Springs crimes might be her worst look yet...

If Poppy didn't believe she was in too deep as the only female juror in a high-profile assault case involving an infamously hot-tempered crooner, she's sure of it upon meeting blast-from-her-past Rod Harper. A former TV co-star from her short-lived acting days, Rod is as dashing as ever, and now he wants to partner again—this time to locate his missing daughter...

Returning a pampered songstress with a penchant for running away back home unscathed shouldn't be too challenging. But Rod's charms while on the job is another story—and so is finding a dead body! When Poppy discovers a fellow juror face down in a swimming pool, she's unwittingly thrust into a murder investigation with sinister parallels to the troubled chanteuse's disappearance.

As Poppy struggles to survive a steamy love triangle while deciphering the connection between two seemingly unrelated cases, the Desert Flowers Agency must outsmart a ruthless killer who will do anything to keep hideous secrets hidden away...including ensuring Poppy becomes the next forgotten ex-actress to bite the dust...

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496713926
Publisher:	Kensington
Publication date:	02/23/2021
Series:	Desert Flowers Series , #2
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	262,296
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 4.60(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Lee Hollis is the pen name for a brother and sister writing team. Rick Copp is a veteran film and television writer/producer and also the author of two other mystery novel series. He lives in Palm Springs, California. Holly Simason is an award-winning food and cocktails columnist living in North Carolina. You may visit their website at www.LeeHollisMysteries.com or find them on Facebook by typing in: Lee Hollis

Editorial Reviews

11/04/2019

In Hollis’s irresistible sequel to 2018’s Poppy Harmon Investigates, famous aging crooner Tony Molina is on trial for assaulting chef Carmine Cicci at the chef’s Palm Springs, Calif., restaurant. Soon after PI Poppy, the lone woman on the jury and the foreperson, delivers a hung jury vote to the judge, Poppy notices a slight nod between Molina and Alden Kenny, the one hold-out juror. Days later, Poppy finds Alden floating dead in a swimming pool and winds up investigating his murder. Meanwhile, Poppy’s detective agency partners are focusing on their only paying client, Rod Harper, whose aspiring singer daughter, Lara, has gone missing. Complicating matters for Poppy are the plight of her daughter, Heather, who’s up for parole after serving 10 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter, and Rod’s amorous overtures. The stakes rise after Poppy discovers some surprising connections among Alden, Molina’s wife, and Lara. Hollis smoothly intertwines the stories of her distinctive characters. Cozy readers will look forward to seeing a lot more of Poppy and company. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Poppy Harmon Investigates
 
“Hilarious . . . Pop culture references throughout add to the fun, and Hollis wraps up the mystery with a truly surprising twist. Cozy fans will eagerly await the sequel.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
 
“A trio of likable sleuths in a story with a surprising twist for a cozy.”
—Library Journal
 
“The theatrical frame, combined with a set of quirky characters, and plenty of humor, distinguishes this delightful cozy.”
—Booklist

From the Publisher

2019-10-14
A private eye doing her civic duty gets embroiled in several nasty cases.

Retired TV star Poppy Harmon was forced to go back into business when her cheating husband left her a penniless widow (Poppy Harmon Investigates, 2018). Drawing inspiration from Jack Colt, PI, the well-received show in which she starred with Rod Harper, she's launched the Desert Flower Detective Agency, whose staff includes Poppy and her 60-ish sidekicks, pushy Iris and retiring Violet, whose 12-year-old grandson, Wyatt, is a talented hacker who helps them after school. Finding that three golden age females don't inspire confidence among their target clientele, they've hired handsome aspiring actor Matt Cameron, aka Matt Flowers, who does a bang-up job pretending to be a detective. Poppy's serving on the jury in the trial of famous crooner Tony Molina, who stands accused of assaulting celebrity chef Carmine Cicci over an overcooked steak. Elected as jury foreman, Poppy persuades all but one of the jurors to vote guilty in the open-and-shut case, but the last juror, a young man named Alden Kenny, refuses to budge, hanging the jury and fueling Poppy's suspicions that Kenny was paid off. Those suspicions are left to simmer when Rod Harper, Poppy's former co-star, hires the agency to find his missing daughter, Lara, a wild child who vanished after an argument. Her credit card has been used nearby at several places in the Coachella Valley, but when Lara turns up, she claims to have been on a spiritual journey to Nepal. Poppy must also deal with Rod's renewed interest in pursuing a relationship with her and her daughter Heather's release from prison after an involuntary manslaughter charge. When juror Kenny calls begging for her help, she goes to his house and finds him dead in his pool, renewing her interest in Tony Molina. The cases turn out to be related in a number of surprising ways.

An amusing cozy with quirky characters and a down-to-earth heroine with plenty of moxie.

Kirkus Reviews