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Island Blues: Island Style Mystery    by Wendy Howell Mills Amazon.com order for
Island Blues
by Wendy Howell Mills
Order:  USA  Can
Poisoned Pen, 2007 (2007)
Hardcover
* *   Reviewed by Mary Ann Smyth

Following Island Intrigue, Wendy Howell Mills continues her Island Style Mystery series with Island Blues. Sabrina Dunsweeney has moved to a tropical island off the southwest coast of Florida in search of a particular lifestyle. As in her previous exploits, Sabrina finds that a lazy, exotic, carefree, palm-tree-shaded existence is not to be hers – at least not yet.

Needing a job, she accepts the position of ombudsman for the island of Comico. Thinking this would involve keeping tourists and residents from attacking each other, she steps into a murder instead. Sabrina tends to be unusually dressed, her attire running to mixing and almost matching bright colors. She also tends to be clumsy and gets herself into some embarrassing situations.

A group known as Hummers International books into a local hotel – it's one of the group who bites the dust. This cozy is written with a large dose of humor as well as suspense. At times the action seems to slow down a touch but the characters are great. Lima, a wharf rat, and Bicycle Bob, the town drunk, are both colorful and strangely sympathetic players.

The idea of a Hummer is new to me – hearing a consistent drone that sounds like a diesel engine starting. Not to be confused with tinnitus. This is a very real condition and Mills draws it into her story with care and precision. The cause of her group of Hummers being plagued by the noise is a little off the wall for me, but, hey, this is fiction, right? It's a fun book.

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