Organized for S'More Death

The McKenzie and Berman families are loading up the vehicles and their children for a weekend in a national forest in the lovely Green Mountains of Vermont. Kate and Meg are looking forward to getting away for a while, but in Organized for S'Mores Death by Ritter Ames, their peaceful weekend is disrupted.

Before they head out Meg has a run in with her husband reporter friend Pulitzer prize winner Paul Gaines. It seems Paul is working on a mob expose and he uses the Berman's house phone to call a mob enforcer. Meg is freaked that this might mean their family might be mistaken victims of Paul's ambition. He claims to have some kind of electronic decide on his phone that prevents anyone from knowing his location. Ok, thinks Meg. We'll see.

Hoping this blow-up will not ruin their trip, the cars are loaded up and they head out for a weekend of fun.

Of course Paul manages to disrupt things as the families pull into the local grocery store near the

cabin. He rams his car into another car leaving the parking lot. Meg can't wait to get rid of Paul, but not in the way it actually happens.

After a pleasant hike, they return to find open bags of food strewn around the cabin and a half-eaten sandwich on the counter. When Meg discovers Paul's phone, that triggers her explosive reaction. She and Kate drive to Paul's caravan to have it out with him. Unfortunately someone beat them to the punch. They find Paul dead. Meg and Kate are on the case.

My favorite parts of the "Organized" series are the tidbits of information at the beginning of each chapter. Many of the ones in this book are related to outdoor camping, which is something I would never do. Camping to me means staying in a Holiday Inn, but two tips stuck out in my mind: the B-complex remedy for biting insects and the Pine-Sol mix for spraying outdoor tables and chairs to keep flies away. I'm planning to try both this summer.