Carole Berry Books In Order
Book links take you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.Publication Order of Bonnie Indermill Mystery Books
The Letter of the Law | (1987) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
The Year of the Monkey | (1988) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Good Night, Sweet Prince | (1990) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Island Girl | (1991) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
The Death of a Difficult Woman | (1994) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
The Death of a Dancing Fool | (1996) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Death of Dimpled Darling | (1997) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Death of a Downsizer | (1999) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
Nightmare Point | (1993) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Carole Berry is a bestselling mystery fiction author from the United States. She is best known for the “Bonnie Indermill Mystery Series” of novels featuring Bonnie Indermill. The title character is a tap dancer and temporary office worker in New York City. Besides her popular series of novels, she is also the author of the single standing novel “Nightmare Point.” Berry launched her career when in 1987 she published her first novel “The Letter of the Law” that introduced her title character in the Bonnie Indermill Mystery series. The novel received critical acclaim as the Chicago Tribune praised her work for making an immediate impact in the genre. Bonnie is an intriguing female lead and broke the mold of a man being the leading man as was the norm in mysteries of the time. Seeking to challenge the times, Berry did not write her character as a parody of the wise tough guy that shoot their mouths and act without thinking. Rather, her character establishes her own identity as one of the key members of an industry. Berry’s novel involves diverse characters most of whom work with Bonnie. She gives just enough clues to keep one interested and turning the pages right up to the very end. Carole Berry lives with her husband in New York City.
Carole Berry’s released eight titles in her detective mystery series between 1987 and 1999. Her lead is Bonnie Jean Indermill, a temp office worker in New York City that also doubles up as an amateur sleuth. Similar to Emma Lathen’s “John Putnam Thatcher” mystery series that came before it or Elaine Viets’s “Dead End Job” mysteries that followed, every novel has the lead character working in a different industry. Part of the background story provides insights into the industry in which the lead character is working including the people that she works with and the day to day workings. Indermill is not your average heroine like Linsey Millhone by Sue Grafton and she also does not bother with the corrupt and seamy side of urban life like you would expect from a lead such as V.I. Warshawski by Sara Paretsky. Despite being a veteran that has been in numerous urban wars, the lead is still a humorous and idealistic person who has a list of what she will or will not do to further her cause or survive.
“The Death of a Dancing Fool” by Carole Berry has the lead character Bonnie Indermill working as a moving coordinator. She is engaged to Sam Finkelstein a fellow mover and is wondering what she is doing working with a scammer like Eddie Fong. She had been asking herself that question since she applied for the job as a temp at his dance club, The Dancing Fool. She had finally decided to ignore her reservations about the man’s checkered past as she needed a job. But then Brad Gannet a TV star that had endorsed the club a few months past is shot dead in a mysterious incident. Bonnie thinks there is something fishy about the whole thing and wants to investigate. She is all too eager to work undercover for the NYPD that approaches her through Captain John Lee. While she is not the best of spies, she distinguishes herself in the world of drugs, dancing, diehard fans and the lower scum of the showbiz business.
Berry’s “Death of a Difficult Woman” sees Bonnie Indermill take on one of the most challenging roles in her career. As assistant coordinator for operations when her boss leaves, she needs to be on her toes to handle all the relocation operations that he had left in motion when he took a hike. Things get interesting when she goes to New York on business and discovers that some mysterious person is stalking Kate Hamilton, the senior litigation partner. A new low level mover is unable to account for some contents of the litigation partner’s desk that have gone missing and Bonnie is the one who takes the heat for it. But then Kate is murdered and the police surprisingly seem not to be interested in the stalker. The strange man has changed his MO and is now using quick personal visits, phone calls, and uncensored and increasingly accurate drawings of the murdered woman. He sends to Bonnie the drawings of Kate, naked in the arms of Sam Finkelstein the head mover. The cops think Billy who is Sam’s son is the better suspect given his bad relations with the deceased, his weak alibi and his criminal past. It is understandable that the cops would suspect Billy having never met the other slimy acquaintances of the deceased. These include Bonnie’s new boss, two associates who are just about to be promoted to partner, and a domineering senior partner.
“Island Girl” by Carole Berry is another amiable adventure featuring permanent busybody and temp Bonnie Indermill. In this novel, she is filling in for a friend and is the director of group activities and aerobics in the Bahamas, where she is staying at the prestigious Flamingo Cove Hotel. She lives with Leslie a blond, brash hostess that has been with several island men and just boasted to Bonnie about her latest catch yet unnamed. In the meantime, the owners of the resort, Eleanor and Colin Ledbetter are trying to convince a group of rich Texan guests to invest in their business. When Bonnie is the target in an attack clearly meant to kill her, the owners play it down but they cannot cover up the discovery of her roommate’s body. Leslie had attended a group scuba lesson only to turn up entangled and drowned a few hours later. Bonnie does not believe that it was an accident and is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. She does her investigations in the seedy underworld of Nassau but what she finds points closer to home, where she finds an unsurprising killer. She also has to survive a violent confrontation with some vicious opponents determined to kill her.
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