Savannah Blues [Mass Market Paperback]

I hope Mary Kay Andrews isn't all written out after this book, because she blew tons of great lines and a lot of knowledge about Southern antiques. She introduces some interesting ideas about artifacts in Southern furnishings and shares just enough information about how reproductions, like certain women, can be tarted up to look almost authentic. It's enough to make a girl want to clutch her pocketbook real protectively the next time an Empire table seems to call her name!

Avoid this book, please, if you are easily offended, because you will find plenty of bait here. There's at least a couple of scarlet women, a "non-traditional" couple that is pretty much closeted, some less-than-totally-serious engagement with an older woman's alcoholism, and some send-ups of stereotypes that will send their marks whining for rebuttal.

I don't care. And if you are looking for a thoroughly entertaining romp outside the ordinary lives of most of us, neither should you. You'll enjoy the characters, their stories (including the big mystery at the book's center), and the writer's delicious descriptions and one-liners.

Our heroine, Weezie, wins the prize for most unusual occupation; she is a picker, a trade only known in the antique business. She "finds" items from kitsch to Empire sideboards and sells them to antique dealers. She hits the flea markets, yard and estate sales, and even does a little dumpster diving in the course of a business day. Weezie is a bad-luck divorcee. In the settlement she got the carriage house in the back yard and one-half of the closed garden while her ex got the lovingly restored (by Weezie) historic townhouse. To make her misery complete, the ex has installed the "other woman," the beauteous Susan, in the townhouse and even gave her Weezie's slot in the garage for her jazzy sports car.

Weezie is illegally "previewing" an estate sale at a run down plantation in the dead of night, opens a closet and out falls the body of her rival Susan. Weezie is the prime suspect, and her friends rally round: Uncle James, an in-the-closet gay lawyer who was formerly a priest, best friend BeBe (pronounced Bay Bay); Daniel, master chef and incipient lover; and Merijoy, rich, social, dedicated Preservationist and jaw-droppingly efficient young mother.

Even the smallest characters are quirky and unexpected. Weezie's highly proper mother starts her day with half-and-half (iced tea and Four Roses). Andrews' dialogue is dead-on Savannah-speak, and I kept thinking the characters from "Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil" were going to join the fun at any moment. Weezie has to be the most nonchalant murder suspect in the annals of crime. She assumes (I presume) justice will prevail and goes about her business, obtaining an unusual antique cupboard and shooting herself in the foot in the romance department.

This is a romp and a character study; so much so that long stretches go by when no one even thinks about the murder mystery. Andrews pours on too much in the last quarter solving the murder and righting the wrongs to the point the reader is confused. I felt like I had been called in from recess to study for the final. All in all a delightful book. Andrews and Savannah can take a well-deserved curtsy.
-sweetmolly-... Reviewer

Weezie Foley lands in the midst of a murder-scandal accidentally while looking for a bathroom at an estate sale ~~ and how she gets out of it is a hilarious tale in itself. Then revelations about family members, ex-husband, new boyfriend and friends spice up the entire book with their tales ~~ this book keeps you on its toes and never lets up till the last page is turned!

If you like mystery with a good dash of romance ~~ this book is for you. Not only is it fun ~~ it is hilarious in some places ~~ these Southerners have a great sarcasm and it shows. Nothing seems to stop them except extreme humidity ~~ and an icy gin and tonic can cure that. So grab that bottle of suntan lotion and head for the lake or the nearest shade and enjoy! Don't forget your iced tea ~~ this book will leave you with a hankering for a drink!

4-25-03