Poppy Harmon and the Backstabbing Bachelor

March 28, 2022
The stalking begins in Hollis’s rollicking fourth Desert Flowers mystery (after 2021’s Poppy Harmon and the Pillow Talk Killer) soon after PI Poppy Harmon, posing as an elderly widow, catches a trio of thieves preying on the most vulnerable residents of Palm Springs, Calif. Poppy’s stalker, who creepily whistles “Twinkle, twinkle, little star” as he attempts to terrify her, succeeds in causing a fatal car accident. However, he mistook the detective’s neighbor for Poppy, and it’s Poppy who’s reported killed. Since Poppy was a star of the 1980s hit TV series Jack Colt, PI, her death makes the news. To catch the killer—who’s possibly a bachelor on an upcoming reality TV show—Poppy’s front man, Matt Flowers, joins the show as a bachelor eager to find love, with Poppy disguised as his aunt. Is the killer the astronaut, the Nascar driver, the rugged cowboy, or the “royal” with a Liverpool accent? Hijinks on the drama-filled set lead to heartbreak and murder as the clever plot with its cast of eccentrics builds to a surprise ending. Cozy lovers new to Poppy Harmon will want to check out earlier series entries.

February 15, 2022
What seems like a simple case thrusts Palm Springs private eye Poppy Harmon and her associates at the Desert Flowers Detective Agency into danger. Poppy, a retired actress, reinvented herself as a detective when her husband died and left her penniless, and even though she's good at it, she had to hire an aspiring actor named Matt to play agency head Matt Flowers in order to be taken seriously. In her latest case, she disguises herself as a woman in her 90s in order to flush out a gang of grifters preying on the elderly. Since their last case landed Matt an acting gig in Europe, Poppy and her friends Iris and Violet are on their own when the boyfriend of one of the grifters starts stalking Poppy. Then she loans her car to a neighbor, who's run off the road--a sure sign that the stalker's out for blood. When Poppy finds the stalker's lair, he escapes but leaves behind plenty of evidence. Apparently he's a lot like the talented Mr. Ripley, a man with many identities, and he seems to have a fascination with TV reality star Jessie Walters, who's preparing to headline the new show My Dream Man. Despite Poppy's best efforts, Jessie and her manager don't believe that she's in danger. When the stalker bombs Poppy's house, she pretends to have been killed and schemes to get Matt on the show as one of the dream men, disguising herself as his elderly aunt and adviser. Now all they have to do is uncover which of the contestants is the killer. Plenty of quirky characters enhance this compelling display of bravery in the face of danger.

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March 15, 2022
Sixtysomethings Poppy Harmon and her associates, Iris and Violet of the Desert Flowers Detective Agency in Palm Springs, assist police with a sting operation, catching a young woman, Tanya Cook, who is fleecing the elderly. With Tanya safely behind bars, a mysterious man seems determined to intimidate Poppy, then to exact revenge by killing her, but he murders her neighbor by mistake. Determined to stop the killer, Poppy, Iris, and Violet uncover the fact that he is fixated on Jessie, the bachelorette on the reality show My Dream Man. Fearing he may intend to harm Jessie, they convince the show's producer to let the face of their agency, Matt Flowers, be cast as one of the bachelors, with Poppy going along in disguise as his adviser. With Violet, Iris, and Violet's 13-year-old, computer-expert grandson Wyatt investigating at home in Palm Springs, Poppy and Matt check out the show's other contestants. The reality-show frame, combined with the intelligent, feisty heroines and the precocious Wyatt add up to a satisfying entry in the cozy series.

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