When Poppy Harmon's lawyer informs her that her recently deceased husband has left behind a mountain of debt, she's shocked. In her early sixties, Poppy hasn't worked since she left acting more than two decades earlier. As she tries to figure out a way to her support herself, she ends up getting her private investigator license. When her first case trying to recover jewelry stolen from an aging starlet in her gated retirement community expands into a murder investigation, it will take the best efforts of Poppy and her two best friends, Iris and Violet, to solve the case.

I wanted to like this cozy mystery novel more than I did. Lee Hollis is also a screenwriter whose credits include episodes of Golden Girls, which for a novel starring three older characters is a good sign. But while the writing was serviceable it was never particularly good or funny and ultimately a paint-by-numbers attempt at a cozy. It takes over 100 pages for Poppy to become a PI and get her license and it's nearly 200 pages before the murder teased in the first chapter finally shows up in the timeline of the novel. I stuck it out to the end to see whodunnit but Poppy and her crew ended up annoying more than charming me so I won't be searching out further entries in the series. ( )

POPPY HARMON INVESTIGATES: A DESERT FLOWERS MYSTERY BY LEE HOLLIS is the first book in the series staring Poppy Harmon, sixty year old retired actress, newly widowed , in debt to the tune of two hundred thousand plus and flat out out of options! Or is she?
Poppy learns that her latest husband gambled away everything and put them into debt. Poppy needs to find a job! Along with her two best friends, Poppy thinks that she can become a detective (she played a secretary of a detective on TV).

The book is a very quick read and was so entertaining I finished it in no time. A nice cozy mystery to curl up with by the fire and read well into the night. I really enjoyed it! ( )

Enjoyable new characters. What do you do when your retirement goes up in flames? When your husband has lied to you for years? You do what you have to do -- even starting a new detective business. It's Charlie's Angels in their 60s. Matt is Remington Steele. ( )

Poppy Harmon finds after her husband's sudden death that he had a gambling problem and lost all their money. Broke, the only way that Poppy can think to fill her coffers, is to become a Private investigator. Passing the test and getting her license, Poppy opens the Desert Flower Detective agency with her two friends Iris and Violet but discovers that people don't want to hire old ladies to do their investigations. Poppy persuades her daughter's boyfriend, an actor, to become the face of the agency while the ladies handle the investigations. A local celebrity hires Desert Flowers to find some stolen jewelry which leads to the discovery of the murder of a suspect.

The characters came off well for a start but I see vast room for expansion of their personalities. Great start. ( )

The book dust jacket was mis-leading. And SPOILER ALERT who would hire an investigator whose husband was a gambler, cheat and deceiver - and Poppy never noticed? How would any client trust her to find out the secrets they need discovered? And BIG TIME SPOILER ALERT - who would trust a defective whose own daughter was a murderer? ( )