Murder Wears a Little Black Dress

Now I am hooked on two series from Debra Sennefelder. The new Resale Boutique Mystery series hits all the points I love about cozy mysteries. Murder Wears a Little Black Dress provides a challenge for the protagonist Kelly Quinn, it offers her a strong support system of people that we can love, and it offers an intriguing mystery with an unusual slant, not to mention a really great title. For some reason I am attracted to books with resale/consignment shops so that one hit just right, too. Kelly needs a little smoothing out but that is from that is from the changes in her life and we see a bit of that smoothing later in the novel. I look forward to spending more time with Kelly and her friends in the next book in the series. I received a copy of the ARC from the publisher via Goodreads and was excited. It was already on my "much buy" list and I didn't have to wait to read it!

Formula for murder: Take one former Manhattan fashionista who now runs her late Granny’s consignment shop, add a local psychic, a difficult customer, the psychic’s lookalike psychic cousin, and one little black dress. Kelly Quinn’s life is not the way she hoped it would be when she left for fashion school several years ago. First, she was fired – fired! from her job at a top-notch fashion boutique in NYC with her career seriously derailed. Granny, Martha Quinn, passed away, leaving Kelly the consignment shop that she and close friend Pepper had nurtured for many years. While going through the rooms and inventory that includes clothing, home furnishings, and tchotchkes, she determines what must “go” during a huge, 3-day sale to clear out home furnishings, décor, and out-of-season clothing. After working for Granny all these years, Pepper finds it a hard to see what Kelly is doing to Lucky Cove Consignment Shop, including changing the name to Curated by Kelly Resale Boutique. Day One of the sale brings in many customers until Bernadette, a willowy blonde psychic, tries on a little black, lacy dress. Kelly saw how wonderful Bernadette looked in it, but the local psychic had a vision of someone wearing the dress and being responsible for a murder, then collapses. In the door ran a woman who looked just like the psychic, stating that she is Maxine, Bernadette’s cousin. Just like that, the shop began to clear out and the 3-day sale crashed. The woman who consigned the lacy dress is the most challenging customer of the shop, Irene Singer. Her husband had recently died in an accident while returning from a spur-of-the-moment fishing trip. Irene was wearing the dress when getting the call that her husband died in a fiery inferno. After seriously annoying Irene, Kelly had a call from the shop that Bernadette wanted her to go to her home immediately. Arriving, the door was ajar, and the psychic did not answer when Kelly called her. Kelly found a body with a head wound and Bernadette entered the room; her lookalike cousin has been murdered. The prime suspects are Kelly and Bernadette. The characters are defined well. I like Pepper and Ariel the best. I didn’t like Kelly very much. She seemed too stuck up, ungrateful, and made many rash decisions, such as visiting the lady who had owned the little black dress. She and Pepper change the most throughout the novel, however, making Kelly more likable by the end. Pepper changed quite a bit throughout, also. She wanted to protect what Granny had built over the years, but her love for Kelly and Granny saw her through to become someone who fit beautifully into the boutique. Ariel was someone who Kelly hadn’t hoped to see again, but they complement each other well. Ariel has learned much through adversity and is a huge help and encouragement to Kelly. The mystery outweighed my lack of affinity with Kelly. There seemed to be such good suspects but one by one they fell away. Threats against Kelly proved that folks were not who they appeared to be. I was quite surprised with the resolution to the murder and the little black dress. All loose ends were tied up, and the end was satisfying. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys fashion and accessories, cozy mysteries, and seeing how even the unhappiest circumstances can lead to rewarding new choices. From a grateful heart: I received an e-Arc of this from the publisher and NetGalley, and this is my honest review.

It's always fun to get into a new series at book 1. Murder Wears A Little Black Dress was a fun and cozy read! I was intrigued by the cute and fun cover and I was not disappointed. All the characters are fun and bring their own style to this series. The main character Kelly who is struggling to work everything out and manager the consignment shop she inherited is a sweet, strong and savvy business woman. Even though all the drama and haunting almost gets her down she manages to pull up her big girl pants and stand up for herself and make a 'go of it'. Even after being a suspect in a couple of murders and being ridiculed by her uncle and his trophy bride who accuses her of 'playing' Nancy Drew. But in the long run Kelly figures out who is the real murder(s) but not before she's knocked out by one suspect and then held at gun point by the real culprit. I really enjoyed this fun new series and I'm waiting anxiously for more and to find out if Kelly has a 'love' connection with the attorney in town. I received a complimentary copy.