Peachy Flippin' Keen

What do you do when a one night stand from a vacation, turns up as the new sheriff in your small town hometown? This is what happens to Frankie McCready in Peachy Flippin’ Keen by Molly Harper. Frankie’s family owns a lot of businesses that are connected to each other. Businesses that shouldn’t necessarily have any connection to each other. Frankie is the town coroner. The funeral home that she works in is connected to a bait shop and a small eatery. She has been the town coroner for a small amount of time, but she does a good job. The McCready businesses have been experiencing small pranks lately, and being that it is the busy season, they are having customer issues. Frankie is determined to find the culprit. She is sure that she knows who it is, but she wants to investigate before she calls the person out. Sherriff Eric Linden shows up and sort of offsets Frankie. It is funny when they both realize who each other are. The animosity that comes from their connected past is great. Eric is very put off because Frankie snuck away after a one night stand. But can you blame the girl for not being clingy? I liked the book. I wish that there was more to it though. I do understand that this was just sort of an addition from two previous books and to sort of give a prequel to Frankie’s full-length novel. I would be interested in reading the full length novel. I want to see what happens between Frankie and Eric. And I am also interested in seeing what happens with the prankster. Four stars **Review by Nikki, Late Night Reviewer for Up All Night w/ Books**

Despite my having a TBR that is taller than I am, I couldn’t wait to dive into this book. Frankie is the undertaker for the McCready Funeral Home and Bait Shop in little Lake Sackett, as well as the county coroner. After surviving childhood leukemia, she spends her days living life exactly as she chooses: novelty t-shirts, inappropriate footwear, rabid loyalty to family and a determination to give every client in her downstairs office the best treatment possible. She’s also determined to live life on her own terms, which is why she travels to Atlanta to ‘let loose’ away from prying eyes. But, her last trip somehow followed her home in the form of the new police chief, a man she thought was left in Atlanta. As if having him here isn’t enough to cause her grief, his disbelief at her qualifications and his inability to interact with any sort of ‘human feeling’ she’s also got Jared Lewis causing trouble. Son of the county manager, he’s yet to ever receive any punishment and she’s going to remedy that. From having the ‘real’ impressions of Jared, which she shares with his parents “when Jared eventually gets caught doing something awful that lands him in a cell with a roommate named Big Larry, I want you to remember something. People blame the mother for a reason.” She could now honestly tell her family she’d tried. If you are a fan of Molly Harper – you’ll love Frankie – she’s gutsy, funny as hell and totally lovable – even in her most prickly moments. From her laughing at her mother and her “Disney Princess” approach to anger, to her quiet menace as she quietly explains “Mama always said that if you can’t say anything nice, it’s best to just smile until the murderous urges go away….Well, she doesn’t say it often, Ike. That’s how you end up with witnesses.” She’s also one of those people whose compliments, while well-intentioned are always funny, and her reactions are almost better. “Frankie tilted her head and stared at Landry for a moment, as if she’d just watched a turtle play Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony on a harmonica.” HOW can you not love that? I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

This felt like a sample not a novella. There was no wrapup. Well, we'll see where the series goes next.