Shoes To Die For by Laura Levine
I had a really lousy week – in fact, I was downright miserable. I found myself up at 3 a.m. not only with insomnia, but with a severe attitude problem. So I decided to go downstairs into my private library and pick out something appropriate to read.
There’s nothing like a good cozy mystery loaded with lotsa laughs to get me out of a bad mood. And what better author to quench my reading thirst, than funny lady, Laura Levine. I whipped out a copy of one of her older books, Shoes to Die For (STILL available) for an instant pick me up – and as usual, I wasn’t disappointed!
If you love your cozies with madcap humor guaranteed to lift your spirits, look no further than Shoes To Die For, or for that matter, any of Ms. Levine’s riotous books in her Jaine Austen series.
Jaine Austen is a single gal with a crazed cat, aptly named Prozac. She’s a copywriter by trade, but also when the need arises, an amateur sleuth. Jaine is pretty much living paycheck-to-paycheck in her one bedroom apartment in a 1940’s duplex outside of Beverly Hills.
In this delightful installment, we find Jaine’s neighbor and bestie, Lance, trying to help her land a writing gig. Lance always has me rolling on the floor as he trolls for his perfect Mr. Right. He’s also always impeccably dressed to the nines, and tends to get Jaine lassoed into some pretty outrageous adventures. While he means well, most of his good intentions wind up putting Jaine in all kinds of screwball trouble,
But this time Lance has really come through. He’s gotten her foot in the door of a very high-end clothing/shoe boutique. It’s not Jaine’s type of clothing – size zero was never on her radar screen and neither was the punk look. But a paycheck is a paycheck, and when the owner asks her to draw up an advertising presentation, she’s not going to turn it down.
Passions is an uber-hip boutique, owned by Grace, a beautiful ex-model from the 70’s. Her colorful and garishly fashionable staff includes Maxine, a huffy bookkeeper, plus Becky, Frenchie and Tyler who run the sales department.
When Jaine shows up early one morning for an advertising meeting at the boutique, she stumbles into the ultimate fashion statement: death by stiletto! That’s when every thing starts to go downhill. She doesn’t want to lose the writing gig even though she suspects one of the staff could be a dangerous, cold-blooded killer!
Shoes To Die For is filled with an array of outrageous suspects that keeps both Jaine and the reader guessing until the end. Meantime, along the way, you’ll also be entertained by her totally off the wall parents, her disastrous speed dating debacles and her never-ending need for comfort food! The wit, humor and sarcasm that only Laura Levine can deliver in her own special way, once again, shines through. Leave it to Laura to give us a funny cozy with an unfashionable killer – sure to brighten a mystery lover’s day!
And pssst – I hear there’s a NEW Laura Levine book in this series coming out later this year!!! STAY TUNED!
A copy of this book/photo provided by publisher.