Murder of a Pink Elephant

A Scumble River Mystery, Book 6

By: Denise Swanson

Narrated by: Christine Leto

When Skye Denison's brother forms a band called Pink Elephant, the town goes wild-maybe too wild. First, a groupie turns stalker, seducing the band members one by one. Then, one of the Pink Elephants winds up murdered. Who's to blame? Everyone seems to think it's the drummer - and now Skye has to clear her brother's name.

©2004 Denise Swanson Stybr (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"When writers as sharp as Margaret Maron, Earlene Fowler, and Jerrilyn Farmer all rave about a colleague...take notice." (Chicago Tribune)

Very good lite mystery.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Like all of the characters and the interaction.

What does Christine Leto bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She has become the voice of Skye.

Any additional comments?

Enjoy all of the Scumble River mysteries. Hope Audible will complete the series.

Love this series, light entertainment

What did you love best about Murder of a Pink Elephant?

Good entertainment

What other book might you compare Murder of a Pink Elephant to and why?

Any in the series

Which character – as performed by Christine Leto – was your favorite?

Skye. She seems to only have two female voices.

Any additional comments?

Great to mix-up with my more serious selections

Not my favorite...

If you’ve listened to books by Denise Swanson before, how does this one compare?

I don't like the way the main character comes across in this book and the love interest is just too unrealistic.

4 and a half

Murder of a Pink Elephant is a fun and entertaining cozy mystery. I look forward to the next book.

Another excellent installment!

I really enjoyed this installment by Ms Swanson. The mystery was great - I briefly suspected the culprit(s), but the skill of the author led me down so many paths, that I never came back to the ... person(s). (Trying not to give spoilers).

Once again, the narrator was terrific. Voices were great and distinguishable.

This one left me wanting much, much more from the author/narrator duo! Thank goodness there are more books in the series!

Mayor!!!

If you could sum up Murder of a Pink Elephant in three words, what would they be?

Family surprises me!!

Who was your favorite character and why?

I would have to say Sky again in this book.. She is the main character in this series and I like the character, just her personality the way she handles her self, cares about others, snoops around, and solves the murders is pretty neat.

Which scene was your favorite?

My favorite scene had to be the scene when the Wolfe shed blew up. for some reason that scene is memorable to me, it was stuck in my head, it wasn't the ending but to me that scene was the turning point for the book for me, that is when this book really got good to me.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

when Wallie dropped out of the Mayor Election. I really thought he would have stayed in it and made a great Mayor.

Any additional comments?

None

Skye Denison can't help herself, and Wally Boyd is a moron

Mini rant: While I normally love these books, I found myself starting to dislike the main character as well as Police Chief Officer Boyd. While I get a need for tension, it almost made me DNF this book because of the FMC's inability to call him out for his pig-headedness as well as Boyds dismissive and boorish behavior.

However, the story was well paced, the characters well written (even the minor ones), and the twist was one I did not see coming. The connection to the murder as well as a big land development project and a rash of odd teen vandalism was introguing. The narrator always does an amazing job.

Another Good Small Town Cozy

I am a Scumble River fan and have enjoyed all the books in the series so far to various degrees. (I am not sure these would work well as stand alones - a lot of what I enjoy about them is from getting to know the town and its people in previous installments.) I think this one is definitely a step up from the last one, which was not a favorite. This book gets back to the focus on small town life and a lot is going on. We have a school dance, a mayoral election campaign, a developer trying to buy up farmland for an amusement park, drug dealing, a new bowling alley and of course. murder. Skye has a valid reason (other than her natural nosiness) for getting involved this time around since her brother Vince has managed to get himself in yet another sticky situation. I was getting a bit annoyed for a while with the depiction of all law enforcement though. I mean how likely is it that the police department of this small town has totally failed to notice a sudden meth problem and that they would need to be educated about it by Skye whose knowledge all came from some printouts someone gave her from the internet? Speaking of the internet and technology in general, this book has a dated feel (paperback is from 2004) because Skye doesn't know anything about the internet and cell phones still seem very rare. Emailing the police chief doesn't seem to be a possibility and Skye has to go to his house to reach him. In all fairness I think today's technology makes it harder to write mysteries. At least we don't go through all those elaborate reasons for some character not to be able to use their phone. (I remember a Rita Mae Brown mystery where there were so many unlikely occurrences happening just to explain why things that could have been resolved or avoided quickly by a cell phone call are not.) Swanson has her own quirks. In general I enjoy Skye even if she and Simon are a little too goody goody to be entirely accessible, but I can see why a friend says she is annoyed that Skye has to constantly go over her status as a plus sized woman - there are constant references to her curves, her bulk, her padding, etc. She gets attacked in this one by a mean spirited thin woman for her dessert consumption. Seriously though, Skye does eat a lot of cake! I didn't find Swanson at her most believable in the drug part of the plot, everyone just seemed so naive. But I enjoyed the small town atmosphere and the complex overlapping plot pieces and have already downloaded the next in the series.