June Online Book Club: The Tulip Shirt Murders by Heather Weidner
Tulip Shirt Murders (The Delanie Fitzgerald Mysteries #2)
by Heather Weidner
If you mixed Kinsey Millhone and Stephanie Plum with the latest in stakeout technology you’d end up with Delanie Fitzgerald.
On the Kinsey Millhone side, Private investigator Delanie methodically follows clues while investigating counterfeit CDs and murder. When her friend is attacked by a suspect Delanie is investigating for another crime, she goes on risky stakeouts and pulls all-nighters to catch the bad guy.
Delanie’s business partner, Duncan Reynolds, and Margaret, his bulldog are memorable sidekicks. There’s even a strip club owner she deals with who reminded me of sleazy Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite. Delanie goes so far as to get a temporary job undercover to help solve one of her cases.
She’s not afraid to follow a lead, even when they involve several Stephanie Plum-type moments including a run-in with roller derby ladies. Smart, funny, and action-packed, Delanie and Duncan work on several cases at once, keeping me turning pages late into the night.
The mix of characters, drama, and comedy definitely makes me want to read more. Tulip Shirt Murders is the second in the series and there are three total. Heather Weidner is currently working on the fourth book. She has also contributed to several anthologies. Her new cozy series, the Jules Keene Mysteries, launches October 2021.
Heather has Jack Russell Terriers and hosts one of my favorite Instagram pages. Most of her entries are about dogs, funny memes, or writing. I think we might have been sisters separated at birth, because she often says something I’ve recently thought or done. Her dog posts are most hilarious.
Kelly Brakenhoff is an author of eleven books and an ASL interpreter. She divides her writing energy between two series: cozy mysteries set on a college campus and picture books featuring Duke the Deaf Dog. The mother of four young adults and a hunting dog, and grandma to a growing brood of perfectly behaved grandkids, Kelly and her husband call Nebraska home.