Arlene McFarlane is the USA Today bestselling author of the Murder, Curlers series. Previously an aesthetician, hairstylist, and owner of a full-service salon, Arlene now writes full time. When she's not making up stories or being a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, cat-mom, or makeover artist, you'll find her making music on the piano. Arlene is a member of Romance Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Toronto Romance Writers, SOWG, and the Golden Network. She's won and placed in over 30 contests, including twice in the Golden Heart and twice in the Daphne du Maurier. Arlene lives with her family in Canada.
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5.0 out of 5 starsArlene McFarlane’s Murder, Curlers, and Kegs
Reviewed in the United States on 26 June 2019
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Ziggy is back!! He had escaped from jail so Valentine Beaumont beware!!! He said he will come for you. Valentine owns & runs a Beauty Salon plus plays amateur sleuth on many murder cases. Valentine uses her beauty tools as a means to catch the culprits. Now that she knows Ziggy is on the loose she aims to capture him. While helping a friend get the new Wee Irish Dude establishment ready to open. A keg to be used as decor, falls and breaks open. To everyone’s surprise a dead body falls from inside. Who put the body there? How did they get into the establishment? Come along with Valentine as she discovers gifts left on her porch, finds her salon window painted, discovers she was being stalked, gets shot at taking her Aunt to the European Deli, manages to give the escaped killer a helicopter ride, uses pizza dough as resource to curb the perp and more. Meanwhile Max, one of her employees becomes fixated with a bread machine. Then her nightmare of an employee actually cuts the escape convicts hair in the closed salon without knowing who he really is. One laugh after another combined with drama, suspense, thrills and chills plus add some romance. The characters are very well created, colorful, vivid, quirky, relatable, scary and dangerous. The author pulls the reader into the story from the first word until the final word. This is book #4 in the Valentine Beaumont Mystery ( The Murder, Curlers series). It can be read as a stand alone as the author presents the past and present together effortlessly. A Highly Recommended Read!!
Where do I begin? Wow, what a story. So much is happening with Valentine. Jock and Romeo are still vying for her attention, Phyllis is going to school and experimenting on a few, and Val has an escaped psychopath, murderer and/or serial killer after her. Ziggy, who brought Val to fame as the “Local Beautician Valentine Beaumont Uses Perm Rod to Curl Murderer’s Gonads” made front page headlines in the Rueland News, escaped from prison and threatens to kill her. On top of all that, Jimmy bought the Wee Irish Goat and renamed it the Wee Irish Dude and was going to have his cousin, Dooley be his cook. Unfortunately, Dooley is murdered and as they were preparing for the grand opening, Dooley’s body is discovered. Val gets into so many things including getting shot at while at the grocery store. This is a must read to find out all of the shenanigans she gets herself into. This was a great read and look forward to the next book.
Murder, Curlers, and Kegs is the fourth installment in Arlene McFarlane’s delightful cozy mystery series featuring Valentine Beaumont, beautician and occasional crime buster. If you’ve read the earlier books, you already know that Valentine first attracted the attention of the local cops (including sexy Detective Romero) when she captured a killer named Ziggy Stoaks by wrapping a perm rod around his, um, private parts. Now it appears Ziggy, or someone acting on his behalf, is back, leaving unwelcome gifts on Valentine’s front porch. But did Ziggy have anything to do with the body in the barrel that rolls down a staircase and splits open at Valentine’s feet? And then there’s Jock de Marco, Valentine’s star employee at the salon, and a rival for Valentine’s affection. What’s a girl to do? In Valentine’s case, fend off a shooter with hand cream and defend herself with a variety of beauty tools. I love this series.
Love this series. Ms. McFarlane has delivered another awesome Val Beaumont mystery. The dynamics between Val and Romero/Jock sizzle and the war of words between Max and Phyllis had me laughing out loud. A perfect recipe for a delicious adventure, plus there's the added surprise of finding Ziggy's creative art plastered all over town. How will Val escape from Ziggy's plans to get even, how will she keep Phyllis from the unsuspecting public, and keep Romero from locking her up for her own good? Most questions are answered....... I very much look forward to the next book. I've circled the release date on my calendar.