A Killer Workout
A Fat City
Mystery with Kate Gallagher
Kathryn
Lilley
Signet (Mass Market Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-451-22535-X (045122535X)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-22535-1 (9780451225351)
Publication Date: October 2008
List Price: $6.99
Synopsis (from
the publisher): Plus-sized reporter Kate Gallagher decides to report
for duty at Body Blast, a boot camp-style fitness program. But then her
roomie is discovered with a broken neck at the foot of the climbing
wall. It’s not the first suspicious accident at the
camp—another woman recently fell to her death during a Wilderness
Challenge.
Kate knows that losing weight is hard, but now it looks like it’s
turning into mortal combat.
Review: Kathryn
Lilley's second Fat City mystery, A
Killer Workout, has intrepid (and just a tad overweight)
reporter Kate Gallagher heading off to a boot camp for dieters,
cleverly disguised as a spa, and finding exercising can be murder.
Kate has left her job as a news producer for Channel 9 in Boston and is
now working as an investigative reporter for Channel 12 News in Durham
(the “Diet Capital of the World”). Kate herself is not
having any luck dieting but she is determined to lose some weight. She
decides to take a few weekends off to go to the Body Blast, a health
spa in the Great Smokies. Here she shares a room with 19-year-old
Marnie Taylor. Marnie had been dropped off by her boyfriend who threw
her bags out of the car and left her standing there crying. The next
time Kate sees her roommate she is leaving the room of one of the
counselors. Again, Marnie is upset and crying. And again she will not
tell Kate why. After a grueling workout and a less than filling meal
Kate and Marnie are exhausted so sleep comes easily ... at least for
Kate. When she awakens, Marnie is gone. When she doesn't show up for
exercise a search is started. Marnie is found at the foot of a climbing
wall that she had tried to climb the day before as a part of their
exercise but had failed. She has bruises on her body and her neck is
broken. Investigating Marnie’s death for the station, Kate comes
across news items that referred to another tragic death by accident of
a girl who had fallen from a cliff during a walking exercise. This
girl, too, was badly bruised and died of a broken neck. Kate's
determined investigation tags her as “The Terminator” by
someone at the spa, someone who decides that The Terminator needs to be
terminated.
Kate Gallagher is an appealing character and A Killer Workout is a charming cozy
mystery with a considerable dose of comedy. The contrast between the
mental image of a luxurious spa with fine cuisine and the realities of
a boot camp-type environment with insipid tasteless food is strikingly
depicted and well suited to the plot. Even the newcomers have their own
acronym: NOBIT (novice boot in training). No doubt Kate burned off more
calories investigating the murders than she did at the hands of the
exercise instructors, but that's what she does best. Finally, the
witticisms at the beginning of each chapter are not only a hoot to
read, they actually make a lot of sense.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of A Killer Workout and to Penguin Group for providing a copy of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read A Killer Workout? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series …
Dying To Be Thin
Signet (Mass Market Paperback), October 2007
ISBN-10: 0-451-22240-7 (0451222407)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-22040-4 (9780451220404)
A Killer Workout
Signet (Mass Market Paperback), October 2008
ISBN-10: 0-451-22535-X (045122535X)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-22535-1 (9780451225351)
Omnimystery keywords for A Killer Workout ...
Location(s) referenced: Durham, North
Carolina.
