Double Murder

From Kirkus ReviewsIn alternating chapters, the identicaltwin Tatum sisters of Louisville, Kentuckystraitlaced Bert (newly divorced, mother of collegeage kids, Claiborneattired) and earthy Nan (single, a countryandwestern d.j.)narrate their nearfatal, sometimes farcical involvement with a series of ugly murders. The mayhem commences when a handsome stranger greets Bert on the street as if she were an old girlfriendand then turns up dead a few hours later. Soon the sisters are being followed, shot at, threatened by phone, and their homes are vandalized. So, getting no help from the oafish homicide cops (who regard them as publicity hounds), the sisters sleuth on their owninterviewing the dead mans wife (the next to die), tracking a suspect to a seedy hotel, and uncovering the key plot point here: That the new killings are linked to the unsolved murders, 25 years ago, of a couple for whom the Tatum twins babysat! And therell be kidnapping (Nans) and a carchase (prim Nan in the hot seat) before the farfetched yet faintly disturbing windup. (Think Ross Macdonald in his darkest Oedipal mode.) Too grim and gimmicky for steady laughs, but, with rueful one liners (about Berts lecherous ex, for example) and droll commentary on twinship (the authors are identicals, too), the odd couple sisters give an engaging lift to this uninspired, hardworking entertainment. Copyright 1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.Product DescriptionFrequently mistaken for each other, identical twins Bert and Nan find themselves caught up in a baffling murder mystery when an anonymous stranger, targeting Nan, tries to pick up Bert and then turns up dead.From Publishers WeeklyMost things happen in pairs in this lively mystery narrated by identical twin sisters Nan and Bert, named for the oldest Bobbsey Twins even though the original pair were brother and sister, and written by?who else??identical twins. A housewife in Louisville, Ky., Bert is still licking her wounds after her husband dumped her for his secretary, while Nan, a local deejay for a promotionhappy country music station, tries to be supportive. Accosted by a stranger who says hell call her later that afternoon for a date, Bert assumes shes been mistaken for Nan. Her sister, however, doesnt recognize the guys description; both are shocked when he turns up on the TV news as a John Doe homicide victim. The police arent impressed when Bert reports her conversation with the victim. Next, the sisters find Nans side of their duplex ransacked, but nothing stolen. The following day, both get mysterious phone calls, Berts caller asking where he is and Nans demanding the money. Thoroughly bewildered and without police protection, they realize they must find killer and motive before they are murdered, too. Berts former husband, goodoldboy Jake, now sporting an earring and tight jeans after 19 years of conservative married life, adds comic relief to this quirky story of revenge and longheld secrets. While this is the authors first collaboration, Barbara Taylor McCafferty writes the Haskell Blevins mysteries.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.