Resort island Broward’s Rock, South Carolina, is turned upside-down when Brigadier General Charlton “Bud” Hatch moves into town and manages to integrate himself as a member of various town committees. The man is the most unlikable person on the planet. He’s a sexist, racist and bigoted pig, who is constantly throwing his military experience around and demanding that things be done his way.

Hatch is loathed by everyone in town and it’s no surprise when he is shot dead at the annual Fourth of July Festival. Everyone in town has a motive, so the list of suspects is rather long. No one seems sorry that the man was murdered, except for maybe young Samuel Kinnon who stands accused of the crime.

So it’s up to Max and Annie Darling, to find the real killer. Max runs his own problem solving agency (he swears he is not a PI) and Annie owns her own mystery bookstore called Death on Demand. As far as amateur sleuths go, these two are more qualified than most.

My problems with Yankee Doodle Dead began with the dialogue: Max’s mother, Laurel, spent the whole novel quoting Shakespeare and saying little else of value. And the constant references to “no-see-ums,” which I gather are those annoying gnats that fill the air during the hot summer months, mentioned in every single chapter was unnecessary and pointless. Why do I have to be hit over the head with the same local pest problem every ten pages?

Annie is a major mystery lover and there were constant references to some author, character or book that became pretty tiresome. And her investigation leaves much to be desired. She loves mysteries, so you’d think she’d be a natural snoop. Instead, I got the feeling that she didn’t like hunting for clues, talking to suspects, collecting local gossip, etc.

But then Hart only gives 155 pages to actual murder investigation. I had to read 1/3 of the book to get a dead body

Hart does keep readers guessing about the identity of the murderer. Since Hatch was so hated, practically everyone is a suspect. But it was puzzling that Hatch had no allies, at least, we are never formally introduced to any. If everyone hated him so much, how did he get on so many town committees and boards?

Two of the secondary characters are rather amusing. Edith Cummings as a single mother and librarian, even though she could be nasty, was a hoot and Max was quite charming -- I wanted more of him and less of Annie.

This is the first book I’ve ever read in the "Death on Demand" series, so I’m hoping the others are better. Sometimes when reading a series out of order, you lose some of that local flavor and characterization that tends to be heavy in the first few books. It must be a challenge for an author to make the characters fresh and appealing with each new novel, without boring long time readers.

This time, instead of falling in love and caring about the characters in the "Death on Demand" series, I just found them frustrating. If I met some of these characters in real life, I’d have to fight the urge to shake them senseless.

--Wendy Crutcher