Cozy Book Review - Handbags & Homicide
Handbags & Homicide, written by Dorothy Howell
This is the first book the series (A Haley Randolph Mystery). It was lighthearted and a very easy read. The main character has a passion bordering on obsession with handbags. Would she kill to get the latest Louis Vuitton?
We meet Haley as she is shopping for a new handbag, which is outside of her already taxed budget. Haley has a job at a law firm. To supplement that income she also has a part-time job at a mid-level department store. The law firm story left me somewhat confused as it really didn't have much relevance in the story, except to force Haley to work more hours at the department store.
Told in first person, Haley describes herself as follows:
"So you might think that I, Haley Randolph, with my long, coltlike legs, shampoo-commercial-thick dark hair, and my fifty percent beauty-queen genes..." Haley sounds like she is a shampoo commercial away from more than fifty percent perfect.
Describing herself in this manner puts me off. First, who is really that perfect? Secondly, why must she tell us her every detail rather than let us (the readers) come across this information in a more subtle fashion. It's a classic example of "telling" the reader rather than "showing". In writer-speak that means show us who she is rather than having the main character tell us what she looks like.
Perhaps a better way to let us know what she looks like would be to interject the description into her dialogue with her friend or let the clues drop into our lap unexpectedly.
There is a death at the department store and Haley is on the list of suspects. I did enjoy how the author weaved a secondary crime into the story and included red herrings to try to prevent the reader from guessing who the real killer was too soon.
The end left the door open for the next installment. I would recommend reading this as a beach read but don't expect a great deal of suspense.
Happy trails,
Leslie
This is the first book the series (A Haley Randolph Mystery). It was lighthearted and a very easy read. The main character has a passion bordering on obsession with handbags. Would she kill to get the latest Louis Vuitton?
We meet Haley as she is shopping for a new handbag, which is outside of her already taxed budget. Haley has a job at a law firm. To supplement that income she also has a part-time job at a mid-level department store. The law firm story left me somewhat confused as it really didn't have much relevance in the story, except to force Haley to work more hours at the department store.
Told in first person, Haley describes herself as follows:
"So you might think that I, Haley Randolph, with my long, coltlike legs, shampoo-commercial-thick dark hair, and my fifty percent beauty-queen genes..." Haley sounds like she is a shampoo commercial away from more than fifty percent perfect.
Describing herself in this manner puts me off. First, who is really that perfect? Secondly, why must she tell us her every detail rather than let us (the readers) come across this information in a more subtle fashion. It's a classic example of "telling" the reader rather than "showing". In writer-speak that means show us who she is rather than having the main character tell us what she looks like.
Perhaps a better way to let us know what she looks like would be to interject the description into her dialogue with her friend or let the clues drop into our lap unexpectedly.
There is a death at the department store and Haley is on the list of suspects. I did enjoy how the author weaved a secondary crime into the story and included red herrings to try to prevent the reader from guessing who the real killer was too soon.
The end left the door open for the next installment. I would recommend reading this as a beach read but don't expect a great deal of suspense.
Happy trails,
Leslie
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