Book Review: Love Can Be Murder

Box of Books Text: Book Reviews

About the Books

NOW THERE WILL ALWAYS BE LOVE. AND … THERE WILL ALWAYS BE MURDER

For P.I. ferret Lee Alvarez first comes murder, then comes love, then comes marriage… and now Lee and her drop-dead gorgeous Navy SEAL groom Gurn Hanson are stumbling across bodies together.

This wryly romantic box set is a bonanza for fans of The Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries, featuring a full-length novel, Book 5 The CEO Came DOA, PLUS two novellas. Together they tell the story of the action-packed, homicide-solving week leading up to Lee and Gurn’s wedding followed by the too-eventful weeks in Kauai and their return home when they were supposed to be resting and relaxing. Not to mention romancing.

Lee and Gurn – think Nick and Nora Charles in Silicon Valley…with a Mexican flair – will delight fans of PI stories, cozy mysteries, and women sleuths, especially if they love sharp funny female protagonists like Sue Grafton’s witty Kinsey Millhone and Janet Evanovich’s lovable Stephanie Plum.

Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Murder-Alvarez-Family-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B0B65RB6N7

My Review

I received a free box set from The Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries series, Love Can Be Murder, including The CEO Came DOA, and two novellas, Marraige Can Be Murder, and Honeymoons Can Be Murder, by Heather Haven, from a newsletter which landed in my email.

In Lee Alverez, Haven has created a female Sherlock Holms, and her significant other, Gurn, becomes her Watson, as mystery, mayhem, and murder seem to find her wherever she goes in this series. In the Love Can Be Murder set, it finds her during a routine cybercrime investigation in the main story, The CEO Came DOA, (which is Book 8 in the series), on her honeymoon, and as a favor to her mother, in the two novellas, Honeymoons Can Be Murder and Marraige Can Be Murder.

Each of these stories hold their own, and could be read as a stand alone, but there are plenty of Easter Eggs hidden for those who read through in sequence to find. The characters are pleasant to spend time with, if a little too perfect at times, and the storylines carry an underlying humor, which makes them comical at times, and always entertaining.

The CEO Came DOA

A routine technology theft investigation turns into more than Lee Alvarez bargained for when she comes upon the apparent suicide of the company C.E.O. Something is off, the circumstances are strange, and Lee is determined to get to the bottom of it. But proving a murder and solving the who done it makes it difficult to prepare for a wedding and a honeymoon with the man she loves. To top things off, someone doesn’t want Lee to uncover the truth, and they’ll go to any length to stop her.

Honeymoons Can Be Murder

Ready for the three Rs: Rest, Relaxation, and Recuperation, Lee Alvarez and her new husband, Gurn, are off to a tropical paradise for their honeymoon after solving a harrowing case of technology theft which turned into murder. But murder follows Lee. She can’t seem to get away from it. And when a murdered woman is discovered outside their bungalow, her new husband is on the radar of the local law as the prime suspect. Lee and Gurn must stay one step ahead of the police, to discover who the real murderer is.

Marriage Can Be Murder

When a overly melodramatic former actress, who changes moods more than she does outfits, falls prey to a series of mysterious accidents, Lee Alverez and husband Gurn are called on to investigate the situation. The list of suspects includes her seven ex-husbands, as well as a her household staff, or perhaps her long lost daughter, who has recently appeared on the scene. While it appears the actress is quite generous, and everyone seems to love her, Lee and Gurn find eveidence that the accidents were not accidental, at all. It’s up to Lee and Gurn to discover who done it, and why, before the would be murderer succeeds.

The Box Set

This set of mystery stories, Love Can Be Murder, was a fun and entertaining read. Light and humorous storylines and likeable, diverse characters. I give Love Can Be Murder five quills.

Five circles with WordCrafter quill logo in each one.

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Kaye Lynne Booth does honest book reviews on Writing to be Read in exchange for ARCs. Have a book you’d like reviewed? You can request a review on the Book Review tab above.