About
Reviews
Search
Submit
Home

Mystery Books for Sale

[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]


  

DIED BLONDE
by Nancy J. Cohen
Kensington, December 2004
243 pages
$22.00
ISBN: 0758206569


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Lots of little things, bad little things, have been going on around Marla Shore's hair salon Cut 'N Dye. Things like having her account cancelled at the electric company, honey being put in the developer, and now the power has gone out.

The consensus at the Cut 'N Dye is that Carolyn Sutton, owner of Carolyn's Hairstyle Heaven, is responsible; there just isn't room at this shopping strip for two salons, no matter what the landlord says. When Marla goes to see if the breakers have been flipped, she stumbles across Carolyn's body. Carolyn's neck has been broken, and a lock of her hair has been taken.

Marla calls the police, and her significant other Detective Dalton Vail is (of course) assigned to the case. What is unusual about this case is Dalton asking Marla for help. Marla isn't sure she wants to help; she has her own salon to run. The pressures on her keep steering her into involvement, no matter how hard she resists.

First there are the women who work at Carolyn's Hairstyle Heaven. They all seem to be aliens, possibly illegal, and they have no idea how to run a salon. Then there is the immigration lawyer who gets the salon workers into Florida -- what's his scam? Carolyn left her salon to Wilda Cleaver, a psychic/medium, who insists that Carolyn wants Marla to find out who the killer is. Wilda also hasn't the first idea about running a salon, so she wants Marla to help with that, too.

Then there is Linda Hall, Carolyn's sister, who is miffed because Carolyn didn't leave the salon to her. Carolyn did leave Linda a collection of some sort, but Linda doesn't know where the collection is, or even what the collection consists of. This doesn't make her any happier with her deceased sister.

Marla's personal life is also getting complicated. Dalton has finally proposed. Marla has mixed feelings about this. Is she ready for marriage? Ready for a teenage daughter? Ready to be responsible to/for anyone besides herself? As a distraction, she is match-making for her mother, which may or may not be a good idea.

All in all, I found DIED BLONDE to be an entertaining book. Marla has believable life problems, to which she reacts in a believable manner (for the most part; this is, after all, fiction). I found the sub-plot(s) involving Dalton and his daughter to be very realistic, given Marla's character. The mystery is not earth-shattering; if one pays attention, one can figure it out without too much trouble. It's the characters, and Marla's reactions to them, which make this a fun book.

This is book six in the Bad Hair Day series; I didn't feel out of the loop for not having read all five previous entries. I'd recommend the series, and DIED BLONDE, to anyone looking for a cozy read with some humor, some scary bits, and characters one can get to care about.

Reviewed by P. J. Coldren, June 2005

[ Top ]


QUICK SEARCH:

 

Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]