Book ~ "Movie Night Murder" (2016) Leslie Langtry

From Goodreads ~ Merry Wrath has seen dangers galore in her former job as a CIA field agent. But nothing has prepared her for this - an overnight Mommy and Me lock-in with her Girl Scout troop, complete with movies, dodgeball, four cats, a baby … and a dead body. 

When the mysterious corpse’s identity is revealed, Merry and her former handler, Riley, realize they might have a domestic terrorist situation on their hands ... one that needs diffused quickly before any more dead bodies appear. Merry once again calls on her former professional skills to track down a killer. Between a new, hottie female medical examiner - who seems a bit too interested in Merry’s boyfriend, Rex - the President of the United States, the world’s 2nd largest snail collection and an incident with pink hair dye, Merry has her work cut out for her. 

Can she stop an attack before it begins? Or will this be one Movie Night without a happy ending?

Merry is a former CIA agent who loved her job and was very good at it. But when her identity is exposed, she’s forced into early retirement, given a severance package and told to start over somewhere new. After changing her appearance, she returns to her small hometown in Iowa, where her best friend, Kelly, still lives. Together they run a Girl Scout troop while Merry tries to adjust to a much quieter life.

Merry and Kelly organize a girls’ night with their Girl Scouts and the girls’ mothers. Merry brings along her cat, Philby, and her three kittens, while Kelly brings her baby. The evening starts off fun with food, movies, and games until it takes a dark turn when Merry opens a door and a dead body falls into the room. The shocking discovery draws in the police investigation, which the Girl Scouts find thrilling.

Things get more complicated when the victim is identified and Riley, Merry’s former handler, soon shows up, intent on stealing the body and trying to recruit Merry into helping. But those plans quickly fall apart when the corpse is stolen by someone else.

Meanwhile, Soo Jin, a striking coroner newly arrived from San Francisco, arrives into tow. Merry becomes fixated on the idea that Soo Jin is interested in both her boyfriend, Rex, a police officer, and Riley, with whom Merry shares a past. I found Merry’s jealousy annoying and immature, especially since Rex has never given her any reason to doubt him. This same dynamic played out in the previous book with another woman.

I had issues with how the cats were handled. Bringing them along for an overnight and free to roam around seemed irresponsible ... what if they escaped? They weren’t supervised and she didn't bring a litter box or and there was no mention regular feeding. At one point in the story, Riley feeds the cats meatballs covered in tomato sauce, they would probably wouldn't eat and if they did, it wouldn't be a good thing. It often seemed like the author treated the cats more like dogs. On top of that, I had an issue with Merry considering getting the cats declawed!!

This is the fourth in the Merry Wrath mystery series (there are currently 36) and for the most part liked it. It can be read as a stand alone but it's fun to read them in order. It's written in first person perspective in Merry's voice so we can to hear her thoughts (and she has a lot!). I liked the writing style ... it was conversational as if Merry was speaking to us. It was a quick fun read and I look forward to continuing on with the series.