Poppy Harmon and the Hung Jury

November 4, 2019
In Hollis’s irresistible sequel to 2018’s Poppy Harmon Investigates, famous aging crooner Tony Molina is on trial for assaulting chef Carmine Cicci at the chef’s Palm Springs, Calif., restaurant. Soon after PI Poppy, the lone woman on the jury and the foreperson, delivers a hung jury vote to the judge, Poppy notices a slight nod between Molina and Alden Kenny, the one hold-out juror. Days later, Poppy finds Alden floating dead in a swimming pool and winds up investigating his murder. Meanwhile, Poppy’s detective agency partners are focusing on their only paying client, Rod Harper, whose aspiring singer daughter, Lara, has gone missing. Complicating matters for Poppy are the plight of her daughter, Heather, who’s up for parole after serving 10 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter, and Rod’s amorous overtures. The stakes rise after Poppy discovers some surprising connections among Alden, Molina’s wife, and Lara. Hollis smoothly intertwines the stories of her distinctive characters. Cozy readers will look forward to seeing a lot more of Poppy and company. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.

November 1, 2019
A private eye doing her civic duty gets embroiled in several nasty cases. Retired TV star Poppy Harmon was forced to go back into business when her cheating husband left her a penniless widow (Poppy Harmon Investigates, 2018). Drawing inspiration from Jack Colt, PI, the well-received show in which she starred with Rod Harper, she's launched the Desert Flower Detective Agency, whose staff includes Poppy and her 60-ish sidekicks, pushy Iris and retiring Violet, whose 12-year-old grandson, Wyatt, is a talented hacker who helps them after school. Finding that three golden age females don't inspire confidence among their target clientele, they've hired handsome aspiring actor Matt Cameron, aka Matt Flowers, who does a bang-up job pretending to be a detective. Poppy's serving on the jury in the trial of famous crooner Tony Molina, who stands accused of assaulting celebrity chef Carmine Cicci over an overcooked steak. Elected as jury foreman, Poppy persuades all but one of the jurors to vote guilty in the open-and-shut case, but the last juror, a young man named Alden Kenny, refuses to budge, hanging the jury and fueling Poppy's suspicions that Kenny was paid off. Those suspicions are left to simmer when Rod Harper, Poppy's former co-star, hires the agency to find his missing daughter, Lara, a wild child who vanished after an argument. Her credit card has been used nearby at several places in the Coachella Valley, but when Lara turns up, she claims to have been on a spiritual journey to Nepal. Poppy must also deal with Rod's renewed interest in pursuing a relationship with her and her daughter Heather's release from prison after an involuntary manslaughter charge. When juror Kenny calls begging for her help, she goes to his house and finds him dead in his pool, renewing her interest in Tony Molina. The cases turn out to be related in a number of surprising ways. An amusing cozy with quirky characters and a down-to-earth heroine with plenty of moxie.

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December 15, 2019
Jury member Poppy Harmon is disgusted when popular crooner Tony Molina beats an assault charge due to a hung jury. Meanwhile, retired actress Poppy's Palm Springs detective agency is hired by former costar Rod Harper to find his missing daughter, Lara. Along with her partners, Iris and Poppy, like Poppy, sixtysomething sleuths, working with their young male colleague Matt Cameron, the face of the agency, investigate Lara's disappearance while it becomes apparent Rod would like to be more than Poppy's friend. When one of the jury members is murdered, Poppy also feels the need to find his killer. The cases can't possibly be connected. Or can they? Complicating matters, Matt may leave the agency, Poppy's daughter is listless after her release from prison, and Poppy is torn between the two men who are romantically interested in her. All is resolved in this humorous, satisfying cozy, which follows Poppy Harmon Investigates (2018) and again draws its appeal from the premise of women of a certain age working in a nontraditional profession. Share with those who enjoy M. C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin mysteries.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)