Grave
Apparel
A Crime of Fashion
Mystery
Ellen Byerrum
Signet (Mass Market Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-451-221-788 (0451221788)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-221-780 (9780451221780)
Publication Date: July 2007
List Price: $6.99
Synopsis (from
the publisher): Can Lacey Smithsonian save Christmas?
It’s a Christmas in crisis at The Eye Street Observer, and
guess who’s taking the blame. The op-ed page is attacking
gaudy holiday sweaters! The food editor is boycotting her baking!
Lacey’s two least favorite people at the newspaper are on a
murderous collision course! And a vicious unsolved attack in the alley
(with an oversized candy cane?) has the whole newsroom on edge. Is
Lacey ruining Christmas, or is all of Washington, D.C., ruining hers?
To save Christmas, Lacey must unravel the secret of a mysterious child
last seen wearing a shepherd’s robe from a Nativity
scene—and face a killer who would destroy more than just a
child’s Christmas.
Review:
The fifth entry in the "chick-lit" Crime of Fashion series by Ellen
Byerrum, Grave Apparel,
is a thoroughly enjoyable mystery. The series features fashion editor
Lacey Smithsonian of the Washington DC newspaper, The Eye Street
Observer.
It is Christmas. There are splashes of red and green everywhere.
Everyone at newspaper is looking forward to the annual party, all
except Cassandra Wentworth, the editorial writer. Cassandra hates
Christmas, the noise, the colors, the busy streets and stores. Most of
all, she hates Felicity Pickles, the food columnist, with her home-made
Christmas decorated cookies and gaudy over-decorated sweater with
Santa, Rudolph, elves, the sleigh and anything else she can think of
that represents the holidays. Cassandra had written a scathing, vile
article for her editorial column panning everything about the holidays,
especially the sweaters. The workers at the paper took to calling it
"sweatergate”. The night of the party, Lacey receives a call
from Cassandra’s cell phone. She almost didn’t
answer it, but since it was Christmas she decided to be nice. She hears
the voice of a child pleading with her to come quickly to the alley in
back of the building a lady was dying. Lacey called 911 immediately,
and then ran down to the alley. There she finds a child in a
shepherd’s robe standing over Cassandra. The child tells
Lacey that the lady was hit over the head with a huge candy cane by a
Santa dude, mandatory dress code for men attending the office party.
Lacey kneels down to check on Cassandra and finds she is unconscious,
but was not dead. But what a surprise: Cassandra is wearing
Felicity’s outrageous sweater. When she turns around to get
more information, the child has disappeared. Now Lacey, who had said
she definitely will not become involved with any more crimes, has
indeed become involved. After a few twists of fate, Lacey believes it
was the little shepherd the killer was after, not Cassandra. Now she
must find the child before the killer does.
Byerrum has populated her story with a delightful cast of characters
and has created a narrative with such excitement that the pages just
fly by. Holiday mysteries, especially those that are intentionally
written with a light touch, are among the most fun to read: the
festivities of the holiday add an interesting contrast to the crimes
that take place and are under investigation. For a sub-genre that often
produces utterly forgettable books, Grave Apparel hits
all the right notes and is a cut above the rest.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Grave Apparel and to Breakthrough Promotions for providing a copy of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
Killer Hair
Signet (Mass Market Paperback), August 2003
ISBN-10: 0-451-20948-6 (0451209486)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-20948-1 (9780451209481)
Designer Knockoff
Signet (Mass Market Paperback), August 2004
ISBN-10: 0-451-21268-1 (0451212681)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-21268-9 (9780451212689)
Hostile Makeover
Signet (Mass Market Paperback), August 2005
ISBN-10: 0-451-21616-4 (0451216164)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-21616-8 (9780451216168)
Raiders of the Lost Corset
Signet (Mass Market Paperback), July 2006
ISBN-10: 0-451-21903-1 (0451219031)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-21903-9 (9780451219039)
Grave Apparel
Signet (Mass Market Paperback), July 2007
ISBN-10: 0-451-221-788 (0451221788)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-221-780 (9780451221780)
Omnimystery keywords for Grave Apparel ...
Location(s) referenced: Washington DC.