Murder of a Snake in the Grass (Scumble River Series #4)

I love this book....it is hard to put down...I stayed up till 4 am reading till I finished. Glad I have this on my Nook, so I can share with all my friends and read it again.

I love this series, quaint town, terrific characters, oddball plots and a main character who has flaws but is believable! There is the underlying romance or lack thereof in Skye's life, but the exes keep coming back to make it lively, family characters are quirky but consistently so thru all the books, and details of her actual job at the school is good enough to make that aspect quite believable, adding depth to her character. Stumbled upon these at the library and had to get more!

One of the things I like is to read to escape for having to think hard. I like the characters, the plots are decent and the jokes are entertaining.

All of the books in this series are great reading. They are also very easy to follow and quick to finish. I would start with the first one in the series and go on from there. Enjoy your Reading!

Skye Denison is the school psychologist in Scumble River. Her ex-fiance, Luc, comes to town to try to woo her back. He also wants her to help him to set up a foundation for abused children. She knows that if she doesn't see him and get closure once and for all, she and Simon, the town mortician and coroner, will never have a future. Scumble River is celebrating its bicentennial. There are many activities, including the re-enactment of the discovery of Scumble River. Gabriel Scumble, the last of the Scumble's, has been brought from Montreal to participate in the re-enactment. Then he is discovered dead at the bandstand. Skye once again gets involved in helping to solve this crime. This time Wally, the police chief, does not get mad that she is helping; neither does Simon. She has her hands full with problems at the high school as well. Also, her uncle Charlie is acting strange. And then Luc is suspected of killing Gabriel Scumble. What more can go wrong? This is small town at its best. Denise Swanson has a hit series on her hands. I truly enjoy every book and love the various small-town characters. They are so true to form. There is always something going on behind the scenes in town as well. I feel as if I've been there. She does a great job of describing the location and characters. You can also feel the tension between the various people. Skye's mother is a real character. This book only has a few members of Skye's family really introduced. In previous books the whole family has been involved. What a group of characters! If you haven't read one of Denise's books, I recommend you run out and buy one. Once you do, you won't be able to stop reading them!

When she turned eighteen, Sky Denison couldn¿t wait to leave her hometown of Scrumble River, a small town an hour and a half outside of Chicago. After doing two terms in the Peace Corps, she went to New Orleans where she earned a psychology degree and was engaged to a wealthy Creole aristocrat. When he dumped her, she returned to Scrumble River, broke, disillusioned and homeless. Her uncle Charlie used his influence to get her a position as psychologist for the school system and in the time she has been home, she has made a place for herself in the community. She is therefore very unhappy when her ex-fiancé Luc St. Amant turns up wanting to reconcile and needing her to sign some papers that would put her on the board of the foundation that would help abused children. She is so upset that Luc is in town that she doesn¿t even want to get involved in the latest homicide case, but circumstances conspire to get her to investigate the mystery because that is the only way her ex-fiancee will be able to leave town. Denise Swanson is one of the better new writers of amateur sleuth mysteries, a writer who shows the problems of the big city are just as prevalent in a small town. The heroine has gone from a shallow depressed person to a woman who is making a difference to the students who are under her care. Readers are going to love MURDER OF A SNAKE IN THE GRASS. Harriet Klausner