Poppy Harmon and the Pillow Talk Killer (A Desert Flowers Mystery, #3) by Lee Hollis #bookreview #mystery

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Title: Poppy Harmon and the Pillow Talk Killer

Author: Lee Hollis

Publisher: Kensington Cozies

Publication Date: March 30, 2021

Page Count:  331

My rating: 4 stars

About the book:

Private investigator Poppy Harmon likes the anonymity of working behind the scenes for the hottest names in Palm Springs. But when solving a case demands dragging her old acting career out of retirement, it’s lights . . . camera . . . murder!
 
Cast in her first role since the 1980s, Poppy has never been more rattled or unprepared on a film set. It’s an embarrassing but necessary cover to keep an eye on client Danika Delgado, a rising starlet and social media influencer with a large following—including a dangerous stalker who won’t disappear. The leading lady’s fame is growing, and so are the threats against her life . . .
 
Unfortunately for Poppy, there’s more to fear than flubbed lines. When she finds Danika smothered to death in her trailer at Joshua Tree National Park, the horrifying crime stirs up memories of a man known as the Pillow Talk Killer during her time as a young actress, bringing unsolved murders from the past back into focus . . .
 
A trail of clues urges Poppy, hunky sidekick Matt Flowers, and the rest of the Desert Flowers Detective Agency gang on a frantic chase after Danika’s crazed #1 fan. But as co-stars and production crew members start looking equally suspicious, Poppy must expose a slew of insidious industry secrets before a murderer rolls out the red carpet for someone else . . .

Poppy Harmon and the Pillow Talk Killer by Lee Hollis is the third book in the cozy A Desert Flowers Mystery series. As with most cozy mysteries each book of this series contains it’s own mystery that is fully solved within the book so they could be read as a standalone if choosing to do so. There is however some character building that carries over book to book for those that follow the series from the beginning.

In the first book of the series readers were introduced to Poppy Harman who is a sixty something retired actress who thought she was going to be living out the rest of her life comfortably with her husband. However, after Poppy’s husband passed away quite suddenly she found out that her rather comfortable life was all a lie and that her husband had gambled away their last cent.

When Poppy sat down with her two best friends, Iris and Violet, trying to brainstorm ideas to earn money with no real experience other than acting the trio came up with the idea that Poppy has rather remarkable investigative skills so why not become a detective? With a bit of effort the Desert Flowers Detective Agency was opened with Iris and Violet coming in to assist.

Things weren’t going so well with the new business when it seemed no one wanted to hire three “older” ladies so Poppy got a plan to use her daughter’s boyfriend, an actor, to be the face of the firm. Now that the ladies are up and running and have a few solved cases under their belt it’s time to dust off Poppy’s own acting talent. The ladies have been hired to keep an eye on rising star Danika Delgado and being in front of the camera again keeps Poppy close to Danika while keeping an eye out for her possible stalker.

I have followed the Desert Flowers Mystery series from the beginning and have compared this one to turning the Golden Girls into detectives. The books have an extremely humorous vibe with quirky fun characters which is what I enjoy in my cozy mysteries so of course I love coming back to the series each time. Along with the quirky character and fun vibes there’s also an engaging mystery in each book so I will continue to follow this series in the future!

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online:

Goodreads  /  Amazon

About the author:

LEE HOLLIS is the pen name for Rick Copp, a veteran Hollywood screenwriter who has written for numerous television series, including The Golden Girls, Wings, Scooby-Doo, Teen Titans, and Barbershop. He is the co‑writer of The Brady Bunch Movie and has written a number of novels under his own name. He also produces, writes, and stars in the hit web series Where the Bears Are. With his sister Holly Simason, he co‑authors the Hayley Powell Food & Cocktail Mysteries book series using the Lee Hollis name. He lives in Palm Springs, California.