Great idea and concept for a book. A thoroughly enjoyable read. Highly recommended. .

I wanted to love this story, which is why the 2 stars. There were mermaids and mysteries that drew me in, and the over the top tantrum with a police officer that just repelled me like the wrong side of a magnet. It was just too much and made me not want to continue despite all the character building before that. Also, its possible it's a great story after that. I may eventually skip a few pages and try again. If anything, its possible that this is just not a good choice as a first book to read in the Imogene stories.

This was a delightful mystery to read. The cast of quirky characters and their adventure at a Florida park kept me turning pages. I do hope that there will be another installment.
Many thanks to Rolltop Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I received an ebook from NetGalley in exchange for my opinion.

Jackson and Billy take Billy’s mom and aunt to a mermaid park for a convention. While taking a glass-bottomed boat tour, they see a mermaid... and a dead body. A planted clue sends Billy to jail, and Jackson and the sisters have to try to find the real culprit to set him free. They also look into a previous mysterious death at the park in case the two are connected.

This book was kind of a mess. The whole idea that Billy is the prime (and only) suspect is ridiculous. Yes, something of his was found with the dead man’s wallet. But they’re out-of-state visitors with zero connection to anyone at the park. As far as I can tell, the police didn’t bother to investigate a single other person despite the fact that basically every other person disliked the dead man and had motive to kill him. The whole book was basically the old ladies chasing Esther the park director and the boat captain around the park or vice versa. They’d end by having a perfectly normal conversation, which is weird for people who were threatening each other violence moments earlier, and the part ways. Repeat several times throughout the book.

The main characters were just odd and obnoxious. The old ladies essentially kidnap Esther in the beginning trying to get answers, and speed off in one of the park golf carts. The ladies and Jackson then proceed to use the gold cart as their own personal transportation throughout their stay. They also steal two of the park walkie talkies to use while they’re there. Everyone is immediately on a first name basis with perfect strangers. The old ladies and Esther. Jackson and Derek the cop. What the heck? And Jackson is a terrible investigator. He mostly just mopes about Billy being in jail. At one point, he begins talking with the park photographer to try to figure out what’s going on. He finds out that the dead man used to be his assistant. Perfect time to get more information, right? Nope! Jackson storms out because it makes him so angry to find out this potential suspect used to work with the dead man. What the heck?!

Medium amounts of swearing. Decent twists at the end. Honestly, probably a 1 1/2 star book but it wasn’t quite awful enough to give it 1 star so I rounded up to a 2.

I am reading everything I can find by this author now. The book was well paced and I enjoyed the protagonist very much. Will be looking forward to more in this series.

I found it interesting enough, albeit a bit on the boring side.

The story was developed quite hastily, however I enjoyed the characters and the writing style.

This mystery starts with a mermaid reunion and a dead body floating in the water. It leads to crazy golf cart and boat chases, exposes mid-twentieth century racial segregation, and disputed parentage. There's plenty of juicy material. Unfortunately the plot is long and meandering, over-long, in fact. The bigger problem, however, is that most of this book operates in the realm of absurdity. Things are exaggerated for effect, but the effect is so extreme that the tone and prose are cringe-worthy. Everything is overdone. The dialogue is stilted. It feels like it is trying to sound 'southern,' but over-compensating. Every emotion is presented as overwhelming, there's a keystone cop level of physical comedy, and it is just not well done.

This book was awesome! Definitely worth a read, thanks for the opportunity to read it

My feedback comments have gone missing! I reviewed this title previously yet it still appears in my list, "GIVE REVIEWS"

When Imogene and her sister Agnes are taken on a vacation to Florida by the boys (Jackson and Billy) you never know what is going to happen, well actually you do. Shortly after arriving at the Clear Springs Park for the mermaid convention, a dead body is found. When Billy is arrested for the murder, the rest of the family will do whatever it takes to prove his innocence. The problem I had with this book is the rudeness, yelling, anger etc. that occurs during this investigation. It seems that when I read books with characters of a certain age, that they are feisty but with a bit of an edge, a little too much in this case. The mystery was okay with the amateur sleuths eventually solving the case, but I could not connect with these characters. They were not very nice and often ending up in physical altercations. I did not expect this in a book that I thought was a cozy mystery. This was just not my cup of tea.

This hilarious cast of characters features 74-Year-old Imogene, her sister, Alma, 78; Alma's son, Billy, and Billy's significant other, Jackson.
The four, along with Goose, the bulldog, take a road trip from Alabama to Florida to attend a mermaid reunion before going on to Orlando.
On their ride on the glass-bottom boat, the four spy the body of a dead man in the "Bridal Chamber" of the springs. Then Billy is arrested for the murder, which doesn't set too well with his kin, who immediately go into investigation mode.
Alma and Imogene make quite a pair.

Entertaining and fast paced, this is definitely a must read.