Elvis and the Grateful Dead Review

Tupelo, Mississippi is best known for being the hometown of Elvis Presley so it’s only fitting that they hold the annual Elvis Festival in the King’s honor. Callie is helping out by being the official Elvis hair stylist while her cousin Lovie is taking care of the catering.

Everyone who loves Elvis is there, impersonators and all. But when some of the impersonators start dropping dead out of nowhere, all eyes are on the caterer, Lovie. Callie is determined to clear her cousin’s good name no matter what it takes.

Helping out with the investigation is her basset hound dog Elvis, who believes he is The King reincarnated as a dog. Will Callie and Lovie be able to find the true murderer before all the Elvis impersonators turn up dead or will they become the next victims when they get to close to solving the case?

ELVIS AND THE GRATEFUL DEAD is the second book in the Southern Cousins Mystery Series featuring two amateur sleuths that are cousins and a dog who thinks he’s Elvis. The story is told in first person point of view by Callie and also by Elvis in alternating chapters. Without having read the first book in this series, I had no idea what I was in for.

At first, the abundance of Elvis details were too much for me and kind of annoying. I mean you have an Elvis festival, Elvis impersonators, the main character is styling Elvis’ hair, a dog who thinks he’s Elvis, etc. So after 90 pages I put this book down and gave it a rest for a little while.

When I picked this book back up, I had left off at a great part of the story. There were murders to solve and I became very interested in the outcome. There were less cutesy Elvis tidbits and more mystery for the second half of the book and that’s what I liked. I was laughing hysterically over everything Callie and Lovie got themselves into.

The story reads with true southern charm so well that I could actually hear their accents in my head. So overall, even though the first half of the book didn't grab me, the second half did. If you’re looking for laughs galore and a charming mystery that will make you smile, ELVIS AND THE GRATEFUL DEAD is the way to go. Just make sure you love the King and be prepared for a lot of crazy antics!

Reviewed for FF