Murder of a Barbie and Ken: A Scumble River Mystery [Large Print] (Hardcover)

Skye attended a Instant Gourmet party at Barbie's and ended up buying a week's worth of Instant Gourmet food. Skye's dad gives her a ride to Barbie's to pick up her food. Her Bel Air doesn't do well in really bad weather. They find Barbie and Ken (her husband) dead.

Police Chief Walter Boyd asked Skye and Simon to help him investigate their murders. Skye has assisted in the past, but usually against everyone's wishes. This is a new twist for Wally to ask for her help. He knows he needs people who are in GUMB to help find out information.

To complicate matters more, Simon's mother Bunny arrived at Skye's house one night in a snowstorm with no where else to stay. Skye thought Simon's mother was dead so she is quite surprised to meet her. At least that's what Simon had told her! Skye's Uncle Charlie who runs a local motel, referred Bunny to Skye's for the night. One night turns into many! Bunny isn't the easiest person to live with either. Simon was not too happy to see his mother.

Skye and Simon find themselves in many interesting situations as they assist Wally in the investigation.

I love the characters and their interactions in this series. Denise has constructed such a great cast of characters. Plus Scumble River is the typical small town (if any are typical). Everyone knows everyone's business and there are plenty of scandals.

I highly recommend this book and the whole series! It's great! It is a wonderful cozy mystery series.

Skye has become increasingly annoying as the series progresses. There's no justifiable reason whatsoever for her sticking her nose into these cases, and even less reason for a police chief to not only allow her to do it, but give her access to confidential information in order to faciliate her "assistance." It gets even more ludicrous when her mother, the town police dispatcher, gives her permission to go into the store room to poke through evidence while the chief is out of the office. Shouldn't that be grounds for termination?

If Skye's romance with Simon is supposed to be sexy, the author is doing a poor job of portraying that. These are two grown adults, neither is attached, the whole town knows they're dating, and yet they feel they have to sneak around? That no one has figured out they're sleeping together? What is this, junior high school? There's nothing at all appealing about this couple.

Add in the silliness of Bunny, Frannie and Justin at the end, and this was almost a painful book to finish. If the author wants to continue this series, then she needs to have her characters grow up and stop acting like a bunch of teenagers trying to form their own "in-crowd."