Retro Reading: Cut to the Corpse by Lucy Lawrence
June weddings is something every bride dreams of, right? Wrong. Well, it probably won't happen if the bride wakes up with a knife in her hand.
Thus begins the second installment of Lucy Lawrence's Decoupage Mystery, Cut to the Corpse. It doesn't actually start off that way until you get further into the book.
Tara Montgomery is a newbie in the town of Morse Point, MA and has found her soulmate in townie Jake Haywood. Her affluent parents are appalled by this sudden rush to the altar since Tara gets what she wants.
Brenna Miller and Tenley Morse are dragged to Tara's bachelorette party against their wishes since Tara wants special decoupage wedding favors made for the 300 or so guests.
During their outing, Tara has a "little" too much to drink and when Brenna goes by her rented house she wasn't expecting to find a crime scene. Tara has no recollection of what happened and once again Brenna and Tenley try to put the clues together.
This installment was a lot better and the characters are a little more solid. However, Lawrence has once again made the mistake of adding too many characters. Some appear and then disappear without a trace (this in itself should be a mystery). After they're gone they're talked about which leaves you scratching your head.
Another problem with the series is the action doesn't start out right away. You have to trudge through endless conversations and boredom before the actual event happens.
I can't believe a tree died for this series.