Prepped for the Kill (Marjorie Gardens Mystery #2)

Attorney Isis Ferrelli, aka crime blogger Marjorie Gardens, is concerned when she hears that her friends Ray and Jed are planning to invest their hard-earned money in a secure underground community where they will spend their retirement, safe from any catastrophe that might befall the world.  Researching the project and its initiator, Isis becomes even more concerned that her friends are about to be scammed.  When they tell her that they’re visiting the complex for an “at home” weekend, Isis decides that she should accompany them to continue her investigations.  However, the weekend takes a more sinister turn than Isis could ever have imagined.

For anyone wondering what it might be like to live in doomsday accommodations, this book gives insight and makes an interesting setting for a mystery.   It takes a while to reach that setting as the beginning of the book doesn’t really relate with it might be rather confusing, although reading the earlier book in the series might alleviate that confusion.  The characters are intriguing but a bit underdeveloped, which requires the reader work to remember who is who. The author also uses some rather strange vocabulary at points and hardly uses the past perfect tense.  There is a lack of emotion and tension throughout and readers may reach the end still wondering who’s done what and why.  Overall, however, it really is a promising mystery that, with a few tweaks would be a compelling mystery.

Heather Belleguelle