When a former foster brother shows up at Mae West’s RV park, she wants to help him, just as he helped her many years ago. Mae has thrown herself into helping people, and that includes aiding her friend Betts with house cleaning. She’s cleaning house for a millionaire, a woman who wants to breed her exquisite poodle. She even has a dog nanny, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s going to take Mae quite a while to untangle this mess! The enjoyment of the story for me comes not so much from the mystery as from the relationships and interactions of the characters. The sweetness of southern charm shines throughout the story. ( )

Deserts, Driving, and Derelicts by Tonya Kappes
A Camper & Criminals Cozy Mystery. Book 2 of the series.
Mae owns an RV park in Normal, Kentucky. She agrees to help her friend Betts with her cleaning company and ends up working for millionaire Fifi. A dog with a caretaker that suddenly ends up dead. Mae and friends investigate through the small town residents.

Amusing, bumbling and some unbelievable coincidences. Doesn’t that just define “Cozy Mystery”?

I listened to the audio version of this book because I can’t handle the typical text, typing and sentence structure errors that occur in the print and ebook versions of the early work by this author. For me, listening to the audio is less stressful and then the book gets a higher rating in the end. I’m not particularly fond of the southern drawl but can fix that by listening at 1.2 or even 1.4 which is generally a bit fast for my preference. Here it worked well. ( )

This second book in the Camper and Criminals Cozy Mystery Series is every bit as much fun as the first. Mae West is now settled into life in Normal, Kentucky and is making improvements to her Happy Trails Campground. Business is booming, and she has made some good friends.

One of those friends, Betts Hager, asks Mae to help by filling in for her at a house cleaning job. The homeowner has a prized poodle and even has an employee who does nothing but take care of this valued pooch. Mae steps into the investigation when that employee is found dead and the dog owner is jailed for the murder.

Add the possibility of romance, plus some surprise visitors, and you have some good-hearted fun. The mystery takes the reader on some unexpected twists and turns, and I expect that few will figure out “who-done-it” before it is revealed in the story.

I have enjoyed getting to know the residents and about life in Normal, and already have purchased the next two books in this series.

While you do not need to have read the first book in the series to enjoy this one, I think reading it first will help fill in some background that helps you place some of the characters and activities that take place in Deserts, Driving, and Derelicts. ( )

Deserts, Driving and Derelicts by Tonya Kappes is the second A Camper & Criminals Cozy Mystery. Mae West has settled into her new life living in her RV in the Happy Trails Campground in Normal, Kentucky. Business is booming at the campground and tourists are enjoying the shops in town. The article on Happy Trails in National Parks of America Magazine was a real boon. Mae is surprised when an old friend appears one day. Bobby Ray Bond was in the same foster home as Mae and he gave her the money to move to New York and enroll in flight attendant school. It seems it Mae’s turn to help Bobby Ray. Mae is assisting Betts Hager with her cleaning business and must clean persnickety Tammy Jo Bentley’s home. The next day she stops by for a check and finds Camille Braun, Tammy Jo’s dog nanny, with a knife sticking out of her chest. Mae is once again in the middle of a murder investigation plus the reluctant dog sitter to Tammy Jo’s high maintenance pooch. One thing you can count on in Normal, Kentucky—life is never normal. Join in on the fun in Deserts, Driving and Derelicts.

Deserts, Driving and Derelicts is an amusing cozy mystery. The series contains fun, quirky characters that are not over-the-top (thank heavens). They live in the charming small Southern town of Normal, Kentucky. I love the descriptions of the town. It is a welcoming place with quaint shops (I want to live in Normal). The author has a conversational writing style that draws the reader in and holds their attention. The story has a steady pace and I quickly finished the book. The mystery was interesting with several suspects. There is a twist that some readers may not expect at the end (depends upon your sleuthing skills). I am curious to see what happens with Bobby Ray. He doesn’t appear to be ready to move on (I wish Mae good luck at getting him out of the RV he is residing in). My rating for Deserts, Driving and Derelicts is 4 out of 5 stars. I would have preferred a more complicated mystery and I felt the story was a little short (154 pages). I like how Mae fixed up her RV. For very little money, she really updated the place and made it homey (it sounds so cute). Deserts, Driving and Derelicts can be read alone. It was clever how the author handled the synopsis of the first book in the series. Deserts, Driving and Derelicts is the perfect book to read while sitting beside the pool on a lazy summer day. Be prepared for people to stare at you, though, when you start chuckling out loud. ( )