Sophie Kimball is Arizona's equivalent of New Jersey's Stephanie Plum. She may not have the hunky men or unlimited supply of cars, but she has even more wacky relatives and their friends. The author kept me chuckling throughout with the tales of bridezilla (her aunt) and the unusual wedding plans. Yes, this is a murder mystery, so there is that to solve as well. This bookkeeper goes above and beyond in fulfilling her aunt's unreasonable demands and is able to stay sane while finding clues to the murder(s). I look forward to reading the next one in this delightful series.

This was an enjoyable cozy mystery with quirky characters with a funny plot. Sophie Kimball (Phee) moved to Arizona and works for Nate, a private investigator. Her mom Harriet and her Aunt Ina live in a retirement community nearby, and at 74 Ina is planning her wedding and needs Phee's help. Phee goes to look at the tent at the wedding site in the desert and finds the body of the wedding caterer. Then her aunt's fiance disappears and everyone goes a little crazy. Phee wants the murder solved so she can go back to her quiet life,

The characters in this book are hilarious, especially the senior citizens. I highly recommend this book.

Thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ditched 4 Murder is the second book of the Sophie Kimball Mystery Series by J.C. Eaton.

Sophie Kimball (known as Phee) has done the unthinkable and moved from Missouri to Arizona, at least for the time being. She has taken a year leave of absence from her job to help out a friend that recently moved to Arizona to open an investigations firm. I get the desire to no longer see a snowy winter, so why was the move unthinkable? Because her apartment is close to Sun City West, and her demanding, overbearing, obnoxious mother. Of course, we get a new wrinkle this time - we get to meet Phee's Aunt Ina, who is getting married. Impossibly, Aunt Ina is every more taxing and annoying than her mother!

Initially, a man is found dead under suspicious circumstances down the street where Phee's mother Harriet lives. Her boss is asked to help investigate. As if that didn't add enough drama to Phee's life, then the head chef of the hoity-toity restaurant that is catering Aunt Ina's wedding is found dead in the middle-of-nowhere location that she has picked for her "celebration of eternal bliss" ceremony. His death is also suspicious. Meanwhile, Phee is being hounded to find the killers, pick out the tent, give opinions on the bridal hat, and decide on the flavors for the aviary bird pastries. Oh! And did I mention the groom then suddenly disappears?

Somehow, J.C. Eaton makes the story interesting and intriguing, and keeps me reading despite the fact that I want to smack both the fictional mother and aunt. I'll be looking for the next installment!

I thoroughly enjoyed Phee Kimball in this cozy mystery classic.
When Phee gets roped in to helping with her Aunt Ina's wedding, the craziness begins and you won't be able to stop laughing. It becomes no laughing matter when the soon to be groom disappears, leaving Phee scrambling to search for him while trying to keep the wedding plans from spiraling out of control.
What does a snake bite, a wedding tent fiasco and a zodiac table all have in common? Ditched 4 Murder written by J.C. Eaton!

I voluntarily read an ABC of this book offered by the publisher and Netgalley.

Ditched 4 Murder is the second installment in the Sophie Kimball Mystery series set in Peoria, AZ and featuring bookkeeper, Sophie "Phee" Kimball. Having moved from her home in Mankato, Minnesota to be the bookkeeper for her friend, retired police detective Nate Williams who has opened his own private detective agency, Phee is settling in to her new life while trying to deal with living so close to her mom, Harriet Plunkett.

Harriet's sister Ina is engaged to marry the wealthy Louis Melinsky in an over the top, extravagant wedding ceremony. A sunrise ceremony is planned at the site of old Indian ruins, Petroglyph Plaza. Not the easiest locale for guests to get to not to mention the site is swarming with deadly rattlesnakes. Somehow, Phee gets roped into helping Ina with her wedding details including finding the perfect tent and handling the bizarre dessert display designed after an aviary.

Nate is busy trying to find out who killed Tom Sizemore, one of Harriet's retirement community neighbors - before her mother's book club goes completely off the rails trying to find the killer on their own. Phee thinks that she's got the Patisserie Chef Roland LeDoux hired and on board with her aunt's plan until she discovers him dead at the wedding site the victim of a rattlesnake bite. Unfortunately, the two deaths seems to be connected and Louis disappears with the police thinking he's a prime suspect.

A fast paced rollicking storyline filled with plot twists and quirky characters. Between the cases Nate will take on at the detective agency and the scrapes Harriet and her Sun City West friends will get into, this series is sure to continue for a long time.

I received an advanced copy of Ditched 4 Murder from NetGalley via Kensington Publishing. While not required to write a review I am more than happy to offer my honest opinion.

Great cozy that blends a variety of elements into a well written and entertaining book with some serious chuckles! Phee, who has moved to Arizona from Minnesota, is working as both a bookkeeper for a private investigator and a wedding planner (what a combo!) for a mature bride when bodies start to turn up. The mystery of Aunt Ina's fiancé is only the tip of the iceberg. Nicely paced and sufficiently (but not too) twisty, this one has some great characters not only in Phee and Aunt Ina but also Harriet, Streetman the dog, and Nate. They are quirky but not annoying - in other words- they're real. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is fine as a standalone but I'm looking forward to the next one!

Could the Groom be a Murderer?
Ditched 4 Murder is the second book in J.C. Eaton’s Sophie Kimball Mystery series and is a well-written, steady paced and humorous whodunit, with well-developed and likeable (and often quirky) characters. This is a fast and fun read. There are enough suspects, twists and turns, and red herrings to keep the reader engaged. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading fun, well-crafted cozy mysteries.

Sophie ‘Phee’ Kimball is a divorced, middle-aged mother of an adult daughter, who recently moved from Mankato, Minnesota to Peoria, Arizona, near her mother, Harriet Plunkett, who lives with her chiweenie dog, Streetman, in a retirement community in Sun City West. When she lived in Minnesota, she worked as an accounting clerk for the police department in Mankato and now she’s the bookkeeper for her friend Nate Williams’ private investigation company, who is used to be a Mankato PD detective. Harriet can be a handful, but is even more so when Theodore Sizemore, a local millionaire restaurateur, is found dead on the golf course near her home and her sister, Ina, announces she will be marrying soon. Phee’s seventy-four-year-old Aunt Ina is planning her wedding and she talks Phee into helping with several wedding details. Ina is marrying an ultra-wealthy Louis Melinsky, and her dream wedding will be expensive and quite unique, from the location, to the vows, and even the food and desserts for their reception. Phee gets more than she bargains for when everything wedding related seems to take a wrong turn, including finding a second body (the wedding chef) at the wedding site and a missing groom who may be a murder suspect.

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

Sophie “Phee” Kimball has made the move from Minnesota to Arizona to be closer to her mother who lives in a nearby retirement community. Fortunately for Phee her old boss from the police station in Minnesota decided it was also time to make a move and headed to sunny Arizona with her to start his own P.I. firm giving Phee a new job in her new life.

Phee is just settling into her life in AZ when her Aunt Ina announces she’s going to marry and is planning a huge wedding. This of course leads to lots of complaining from her mother and lots of extra works helping to plan the even from her aunt. Things are hectic but get even more so when a dead body is found nearby to Phee’s mother’s place that looks to be a suspicious.

Ditched 4 Murder by J.C. Eaton is the second book in the cozy Sophie Kimball Mystery series. With all the elements of a cozy that I enjoy this series is really promising to be a really fun one. Phee is back and what I like most is while she’s a down to earth regular person solving crime she doesn’t do it on her own but instead gets a little help from her boss who really was a detective.

As with most cozy mysteries this one also comes with it’s own set of quirky characters which in this case come from the local retirement community and Phee’s own family. There are plenty of laughs to be had even among the dead bodies being found along with plenty of twists and turns as the mystery goes on. Definitely a series that I’m enjoying and will be looking forward to more adventures from this crew in the future.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.