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September 17, 18, 24, 25, 2010
Faith United Church of
Christ |
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Nick Noir, private eye, has fallen on hard
times. His botched last case has cost him whatever jobs may have come
his way. Now he’s at the end of his rope and is forced to fire his
devoted secretary Selma. That is, until a call from Coco Purvis offers a
tantalizing case that just might pay off for Nick.
Coco and her sister, Bonbon, run Precious Perks Coffee Shoppe, which is
known for its signature drink, Death by Chocolate. Unfortunately, the
name came all too true for a fellow named Vinnie the Leech who died
while drinking it one month earlier. Now, business has fallen off and
the shop might have to close unless somebody figures out what happened
to Vinnie.
Nick is immediately confronted by some pretty strange characters. Bobbie
Sue, the waitress, warbles like a country singer who can’t carry a tune
in a bucket. Bonbon is a sour, bitter woman who doesn’t like to stir
things up. Her “twin” sister, Coco, is the exact opposite, a bubbly,
homespun treasure. Henry, an old man who wears cross-trainers and hasn’t
a wrinkle on his face, sits and watches all the action. Francois, more
French than a bottle of Bordeaux, hides behind his newspaper. And who’s
the woman dressed in black, including a veil that hides her face? A
dowdy bag-lady type turns out to be a restaurant critic and a perky
twenty-something suddenly starts paying attention to the old man. All
these characters were sitting in these exact spots the night Vinnie the
Leech fell over dead.
Though he fired her, Selma keeps showing up at opportune moments with
tidbits of background information that help him piece together the
puzzle, though he often gets the pieces in the wrong way. After a second
death under the same circumstances as Vinnie’s (which had been caused by
poison), and the disappearance of Bobbie Sue, Selma plays a psychic
who—with the help of her ever-present Blackberry—reveals some deep
secrets. |
