Dying in Style (Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper, Book 1)
by Elaine Viets
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Book Summary Information
Author: Elaine VietsEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-10-04
ISBN: 0451216792
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Signet
Book Reviews of Dying in Style (Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper, Book 1)
Book Review: Mystery Shopper Finds A Mystery
Summary: 3 Stars
Josie Marcus has an unusual job, Mystery Shopper. She does this everywhere, from the highest class shops to the local chicken joint, she checks out their service, their cleanliness and if they're making the proper sales pitches for any specials that the business is offering.
You would think this would be both fun and easy, but as anyone who has ever gone shopping knows, you can run into some really bad service, and if someone figures out you're the mystery shopper it could prove dangerous.
It was after doing a shopping trip to Danessa Celedine's shop that all the trouble started. It was bad enough that the shop wasn't as pristine as it was supposed to be and that the sales clerk was rude, but after turning in her report Danessa herself shows up threatening to sue Josie for the bad report. (She's trying to sell her business to a large corporation and a bad review could kill the whole deal).
It gets worse when her weasel of a boss takes Danessa's side and wants to lay her off. But all this becomes a moot point when Danessa ends up dead, strangled in her own shop. Surprise, Josie seems to be the top suspect to the police.
Just because she threatened to kill Danessa and the belt that she was strangled with only had Josie's fingerprints on it should make her top suspect. Then Danessa's boyfriend is found poisoned in their palatial home.
With all eyes on her, Josie decides she better do some investigating on her own, or her nine year old daughter Amelia will be visiting her on weekends at the prison.
Highlights:
Mystery shopper is an interesting and very different type of job for the heroine to have. I like the descriptions of Josie actually doing her job.
Josie is an interesting character, she lives with her mother and daughter Amelia.
Amelia, cute but not irritating and very smart. At times she appears smarter than her mother.
As in her other books, the dialogue is great and you get a real feel for the characters.
Lowlights:
I don't know if the author is not able to write a good relationship for her heroine's or she really thinks all men are lying, cheating creeps, but as in her two previous series, none of the men in this book are interesting. In her Francesca Vierling series, the boyfriend is nice but she destroys the relationship for no reason and what was supposedly a happily married cop in the first book turned out to be a lying, cheating rat in the second. In her dead end job series, Helen's husband lied and cheated on her and then got alimony when she divorced him, her first boyfriend in Florida turned into an insane stalker and Phil the pothead turned out to be boring and not very sensitive when he became a real character and not just the guy no one ever saw. Of course in this series, her daughter's father turned out to be a lying bum. And everyone else, from the cops, to her best friends husband to everyone in the neighborhood is cheating on their spouses. Josie's two choices of men are Stan - who might as well wear a sign that says "NERD" around his neck and Josh, who owns a coffee shop. Josie finally thinks he's working up to ask her out when all he's doing is asking if she would read his unpublished novel.
Costume changes. I don't know why you have to change what you look like or wear to go mystery shopping. Isn't the point to see how they serve everyone. And I don't believe any company would want you to go mystery shopping at their place of business dressed up like a hooker. Everyone, including her daughter is embarrassed at how she is dressed, and tells her, but for some reason Josie thinks this is the way you have to dress to check out a Chicken Place.
Overall this is a fair read. Considering I didn't like the first book in both of her other series, I'm expecting this to get much better as it goes along.
I thought the mystery itself was a little boring, but Josie's detective work was very interesting to read.
Josie is an interesting enough character that I do want to get the next book in the series.
Summary of Dying in Style (Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper, Book 1)
Mystery shopper Josie Marcus's report about Danessa Celedine's exclusive store is less than stellar, and it may cost the fashion diva fifty million dollars. But Danessa's financial future becomes moot when she's found murdered, strangled with one of her own thousand-dollar snakeskin belts-and Josie is accused of the crime.
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