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In the upscale small town of Gulf Harbor, in the state of Washington, Persia Vanderbilt has a good life living with her wealthy auntie Florence, while running a successful perfume, beauty and spa business. She's young and beautiful, healthy and strong, surrounded by good friends and has found a new wonderful beau. The only problem in her life is that an old boyfriend is stalking her, but with all the other good things going on, she tries not to think about him. At the busiest time of the year, during the winter holidays, one of Persia's employees, Lisa, goes missing. She and Lisa were also friends and Persia had been helping her to get over her fear of water by giving her swimming lessons in a local gym. Lisa had shared some of her other problems with Persia too. She and her sister feel that someone had looted their late father's estate and the sisters were looking for the guilty party. When Lisa suddenly goes missing, Persia hopes the local police chief can help, but even though he is dating Lisa's sister, he jumps to the conclusion that Lisa had walked too near the end of a pier, fell off and was drowned. This doesn't sound right to Persia, and soon, with the police's approval, she starts to investigate. Though GLOSSED AND FOUND is supposed to be a mystery, it reads more like a chick-lit book. A lot of time is spent letting us know that Persia is gorgeous, rich, fit and fashion-conscious. We get a full rundown of what everyone is wearing on every page, including hair accessories. Unlike most mysteries, the investigation in the story takes a low spot on Persia's holiday 'to do' list. Even though Lisa is missing and it is feared that she might be hurt, lying in a ditch or that someone has kidnapped her, Persia still takes the time to shop for the holidays, get together for great meals with family and friends, keep to her exercise schedule and create sensational one-of-a kind fragrances for her clients instead of looking for her missing friend. The only reason Persia finds any clues at all is because the police don't even do the most preliminary search. And as for figuring out who the guilty party is, any half-awake reader will deduce who it is way before Persia does. There's absolutely no tension in the story. Even when it is known that her ex-boyfriend is violent and gunning for her, Persia doesn't think twice about doing her holiday shopping and going for long walks alone. It seems as if no bad thing will happen to that girl – after all, she is gorgeous, rich, thinks of herself as a spiritual person and most importantly, wears really cute outfits. Right. Be warned, GLOSSED AND FOUND is for those who like chick-lit books and not for devotees of the cozy or mystery.
Reviewed by A. L. Katz, January 2007
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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