Review: Wave Goodbye by Lila Dare

St. Elizabeth, Georgia, offers charm, Southern hospitality—and the occasional murder. This time, when a new hair salon tries to steal business, it’s someone’s life that gets cut short…

Violetta’s salon is up in arms. Business is dead. Snippets, a big box haircutting chain, has opened in St. Elizabeth, undercutting prices and luring away loyal customers. Violetta’s daughter, hairdresser Grace Terhune, is shocked to discover that it’s her old high school rival Lisa Butterworth who’s behind the big sweep—and Grace isn’t going to take this sitting down. Snippets’ cold-blooded prized employee is doing wonders with Violetta’s client list. According to Lisa, it’s just business—until a bitter confrontation leaves Grace more than frustrated, and Lisa less than alive. Now Grace is the prime suspect in her rival’s murder. And only her friends at Violetta’s can save her—before the charge proves permanent.

I've never read a series where the authors changed midstream, and while I found Wave Good-bye enjoyable, I didn't enjoy it as much as the three previous books.  I'm not certain if I will continue with the series or not because Grace lost some of her spunky-ness in this novel.  She was content to sit back and let events happen, and I don't believe the Grace Terhune I thought I knew would do that.  (As an aside, this kind of breaks my heart, especially if the original author conceived these characters.)  

Snippets is a chain salon offering steep discounts to St. Elizabeth's residents.  Grace isn't certain whether her mother's salon will be able to compete.  When her old rival, Lisa Butterworth, is killed, Grace decides to investigate, and Marshall John Dillon of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation returns to the scene of the crime.  

I was glad to have Grace and "Marsh" finally confess their love for each other.  They'd been dancing around it for three books.  Again, I didn't find it as rewarding as I had hoped, and I'll give the reasoning to the writing style.  

I was content to bid St. Elizabeth and Violetta's farewell after book 3, but Wave Good-bye was a good way to tie up loose ends leftover from Die Job.    

Review: Die Job by Lila Dare

St. Elizabeth, Georgia, offers charm, Southern hospitality -- and an occasional dollop of murder.  Now, rumors that a local mansion is haunted are more real than ever when an amateur ghost-hunter comes upon something quite deadly...

THE UNINVITED

High school senior Rachel Whitley thinks the field-trip idea -- playing ghost hunter with her class in Rothmere mansion, where the spirit of a murdered plantation owner is said to still reside -- is a lark.  But instead of a ghost, Rachel stumbles upon fellow student Braden McCullers, sprawled out in the very spot where Cyril Rothmere died.

As Braden lingers in a coma, Rachel enlists the ladies of Violetta's salon to investigate the attempt on his life -- and unravel the secrets that somehow link a high school student with a centuries-old crime.  The intrepid team of hairdressers find themselves in a tangled and treacherous mystery where the roots to the past are very ominous, indeed.

The third in the Southern Beauty Shop mystery series, Die Job, picks up where the second book, Polished Off, ended.  In addition to the mystery Grace Terhune and the women of Violetta's seek to solve, the town of St. Elizabeth is battening down the hatches for the arrival of a hurricane.  And as tensions in town rise in anticipation of the hurricane and the murder investigation, this who-done-it isn't exactly what it would appear to be.

I was surprised by the presence of the romantic triangle featuring Grace, Special Agent Dillon, and Grace's long-distance boyfriend, Marty Shears and a little bit disappointed it was left open-ended.  So I do hope there will be another book in this series, simply to solve the mystery of Grace's love life.

Review: The Bad Always Die Twice by Cheryl Crane

In the first of a wildly entertaining mystery series set amid the bright lights, big egos, and Botoxed brows of Hollywood, Cheryl Crane—daughter of legendary movie star Lana Turner—introduces a smart, hilarious, and utterly loveable heroine in realtor-turned-amateur sleuth, Nikki Harper.


For Nikki Harper, realtor to the stars and daughter of 1950s screen goddess Victoria Bordeaux, Hollywood is home. A completely dysfunctional home populated by a cast of crazies, true, but home nonetheless. While Nikki's no stranger to scandal, she's shocked to receive a hysterical phone call from her business partner, Jessica Martin, saying that TV has-been Rex March has been found dead in Jessica's bed.

More shocking than Rex's death is the fact that, as far as anyone knew, Rex was already dead. Six months ago, the star of the seventies sitcom Shipwrecked Vacation was supposedly killed when his plane crashed in the Mojave Desert. Nikki and Jessica recently sold his mansion on behalf of his widow, Edith. It's obvious to Nikki that Jessica is being framed, but by whom? And why? And how on earth can Rex be dead a second time?

In search of answers, Nikki turns to the one person she can always count on. From her pink boudoir in her Beverly Hills mansion, the ever-glamorous Victoria suggests Nikki focus her sleuthing on Rex's not-so-grieving widow. And there's a veritable casting couch full of other candidates, including Edith's boy-toy lover, Rex's scheming lawyer (like there's any other kind), and the diner waitress with whom Rex was having one of his numerous affairs. But with the killer readying for a repeat performance, Nikki will have to act fast—before her own screen fades to black. . .

As a person formerly addicted to Hollywood gossip blogs, I really liked the nudge-nudge-wink-wink effect of The Bad Always Die Twice.  The scene was set; the players were all in place; the posh addresses referenced therein.  Once the narrative began, I was surprised by how much I wanted Nikki to find the real murderer.  Add in her mother, Victoria Bordeaux, a name and face whom everyone in Hollywood knows, and Nikki is able to use her minor celebrity status to play amateur sleuth.  The twists and turns lead to more uncertainity about who had actually killed Rex March, and once the murderer was revealed, I was surprised I hadn't guessed it. 

The Bad Always Die Twice was a great mystery featuring a charmingly fun novice gumshoe in Nikki Harper.  I can only hope the subsequent books in this series are as good as this one. 


(A very special thank you to Kensington Books who provided me with an ARC of The Bad Always Die Twice.)

Review: Polished Off by Lila Dare

St. Elizabeth, Georgia, offers charm, Southern hospitality - and an occasional dollop of mayhem.  Now, hairdresser Grace Terhune has to save a beauty pageant that's fallen viceim to the ugliness of murder...

Little Miss Murderous

It's business as usual at Violetta's salon, until Audrey Faye sashays in looking for stylists for the Miss Magnolia Blossom pageant.  Grace jumps at the opportuinty, but on her first day she finds a theater full of anti-pageant protestors, angry mothers, frantic contestants, and an aloof Audrey.  Even Violetta's manicurist, Stella, is acting strangely. 

Then, during the talent portion, protestors storm the stage - and Audrey Faye is found dead, murdered with a nail file.  It turns out Audrey was having an affair with Stella's husband, which makes Stella a prime suspect.  Now, Grace and Violetta's beauticians must find the real murdered before Stella is polished off permanently...

Grace Terhune has stepped in it again, and by "it," I mean murder.  Or perhaps she just has an aura that attracts dead bodies.  I don't exactly know, but whatever it is, it makes Polished Off a quick and entertaining read. 

Ms. Dare has the ability to add a little bit of everything to this mystery: twists and turns, romance, suspense, as well as the commonality of Grace and the citizens of St. Elizabeth, Georgia.  This could be your town, your neighbors.  Then again, if the bodies began piling up in my town, I'd be inclined to move.  Grace, however, never thinks in those terms.  She wants to help Stella -- as she wanted to clear her mother's name in Tressed to Kill -- so she immediately goes to work.  And let me say that dead bodies do not impact Grace's ability to do good hair or be an amateur sleuth. 

Polished Off picks up immediately where Tressed to Kill ends, and Ms. Dare delivers another jam-packed ride.  I cannot wait to see what will happen to Grace next.

(A very special thank you to Berkley Prime Crime who provided me with an ARC of Polished Off.)

Review: Delicious and Suspicious by Riley Adams

Welcome to Aunt Pat's barbeque restaurant -- family run and located in the heart of Memphis, Tennessee.  Named in honor of Lulu Tyalor's great aunt, the restaurant is known for its ribs and spicy corn bread, but now the Taylor family will be known for murder -- unless Lulu can clearn their name... 

Rebecca Adrian came to Memphis to suss out the best local BBQ for a prominent Cooking Channel show. Trouble is, Rebecca doesn't live long enough to mention a bad review. A mystery ingredient has killed her -- and now all fingers are pointing to Aunt Pat's restaurant. Horrified that her family is being accused of murder, Luly fires up her investigative skills to solve the crime before someone else gets skewered...

The high hopes I had for this book were shaken when I said "Oh no" to myself around page 4.  Big family; lots of points of view.  I understand the need to make sure everyone had a "say," but it was overwhelming at first, almost made me put the book down and not pick it back up again.  By the midpoint of the book, however, things settled down to primarily Lulu's POV, and we're able to get to the heart of the matter -- solving a murder. 

Rebecca Adrian, Cooking Channel scout, is not a nice girl. Whoa, boy, is she the total opposite of nice.  As I continued to read about the things she would say -- to strangers! -- and her actions, I couldn't help but feel slighted on her behalf because of her portrayal.  Now I'm sure there are unkind people from New York, and I'm sure some of those unkind people work in positions of power within corporations, but I cannot believe that (1) she had never shown her vindictive side in her workplace so they had no idea how she truly was behind the fake smile and good grooming and (2) her company allowed her to scout for new talent if they did, in fact, know what she was like.  She's their in-person representative!  Wouldn't they see she's giving off a horribly bad impression, thereby reflecting horribly badly on their company? 

Truthfully, I wanted to slap her into next week.  Two weeks from now even. 

When she's found dead, it's not a big surprise, though soon everyone she's come into contact with during her stay in Memphis agrees she was so not nice (and maybe deserved her fate?).  That's what makes Lulu, her son Ben, his wife Sara, Sara's nephew Derrick, bookstore owner and budding romance novelist Mildred, member of the Graces, Flo, and a couple of others suspects in Rebecca's murder. 

I should mention that my mother-in-law is a Memphis girl born and bred, and I kept reading hoping I'd see places I'd been to.  (Part of the fun in reading, I think.  "Ooh, I've been there!")  That also makes me biased because I know Memphis.  When the Graces and Lulu go to the mall, I wondered which mall (I'd always pick Wolfchase Galleria, though it's in Bartlett).   As they talk about what's happening on Beale, I wondered what other clubs and restaurants were nearby. 

I liked the little touches about downtown Memphis: the ducks at the Peabody, Peabody Place, the pyramid, the river, Elvis and Graceland, of course.  It might have been nice to mention a baseball game, since the Redbirds are downtown, just on the other side of Peabody Place.  But I'll allow some literary license, especially since Delicious and Suspicious is the first in a series.  Perhaps we'll visit those places again.   

It would have been easy for the characters to take on that over-the-top Southern quality.  While they're quirky -- Cherry, I'm looking at you -- they're still real, still normal (relatively speaking), still funny.  Like this line Lula says to her eldest son Ben after he suggests she try to get on Wheel of Fortune rather than "audition" for the Cooking Channel scout:

"California is on the other side of the country, Ben.  I can't just pop over there, buy some vowels, and win big money." 

The one thing I'm afraid of is that for the series to continue and for Lulu to be involved (either directly or indirectly, though I have a feeling she'd stick her nose in it regardless), someone we're introduced to as a regular at Aunt Pat's is going to have to get it.  Can't keep killing out-of-towners -- it would be bad for Memphis tourism!

Despite my initial "oh no," the story really hit its stride in the final half of the book, with a somewhat surprising villian and another murder for Lulu to solve.  Delicious and Suspicious was pretty good fun for this Southern girl. 

(A very special thank you to Berkley Prime Crime who provided me with an ARC of Delicious and Suspicious.)

Review: Tressed to Kill by Lila Dare

St. Elizabeth, Georgia, offers charm, Southern hospitality and, most recently, murder. When hairdresser Grace Terhune and her mother, Violetta, gussy up all the high-society ladies attending the town meeting, they find their snobbiest client dead. The police believe the mother-daughter duo did her in. But before things get snarled beyond repair, Grace sets out to clear their names.

There's something about a beauty parlor.  Maybe they're like this all over the country but here, in the south, beauty parlors are a mecca for women and gossip.  You know the ladies I mean, those who get their hair "done" once a week on Friday mornings, like my grandmother, who spend half their day underneath a hair dryer but can still hear and read lips like nobody's business. 

Grace Terhune has stepped in it, and she's drowning.  It starts with a murder -- that's how it always starts, people -- of someone who's not so nice but has a lot of clout in the small town of St. Elizabeth.  Because Grace and her mother Violetta find the body and have the most to gain, thanks to the murder, they're prime suspects, at least Violetta is.  And any good daughter isn't going to let her innocent mother take the wrap for a crime she didn't commit, so Grace and the ladies of Violetta's decide to go Nancy Drew to clear Violetta's name.

Hijinks ensue. So does any the name of any amateur sleuth.  Regardless, it's a well-written mystery, with twists and turns -- one I should have seen coming but didn't.

I am curious, given the romantic sparks between Grace and Special Agent "Marshal" Dillon, how Grace could be involved in another murder mystery that would warrant (ha!) his attention. Or reporter Marty Shears, for that matter.  How much murder can one small town have? I'm waiting to find out.