Died to Match

This is the second book in the Carnegie Kincaid wedding planner mystery series and Deborah Donnelly just keeps getting better. I have to confess that although Carnegie Kincaid (6' and a redhead) looks nothing like J Lo - I can still see Jennifer Lopez as the Wedding Planner in this characterization.Deborah Donnelly does a GREAT job with introducing very off-beat weddings and parties in this series AS WELL AS the various problems that her wedding planner encounters. I think that it would be very easy to resort to trite, old wedding disasters - but Donnelly manages to avoid this.Other reviewers have mentioned that the novels were too long or characters weren't developed enough. Good grief. The plots are DEVELOPED and the characters' personalities are being revealed a little at a time as this is a series. With each book, another layer of the characters' personaes are exposed.Keep it up Donnelly - this series is great!

I picked up this book as a lark and after the first few pages I was hooked. Carnegie Kincaid is like a grown-up Nancy Drew. This book was funny, entertaining, and had me anxiously awaiting Donnelly's next release.

I loved the first book in this series, Veiled Threats, so even though I was predisposed to like this book, as well, it exceeded my expectations in every regard. The author has created a terrific protagonist in Carnegie Kincaid, a six foot tall redhead, who lives on a houseboat on Lake Union just north of downtown Seattle. From there she also operates her struggling business, Made In Heaven Wedding Designs. Surrounded by a cadre of unique and very talented friends of the sort needed by a wedding planner, Carnegie not only knows Seattle like the palm of her hand, she provides the reader with a constantly entertaining travelogue. Seattle, of course, is the home of lots of water, the Space Needle, and the fairly new Experience Music Project on the grounds of the Seattle Center. The EMP would be a wonderful place for anything at all, considering it was designed by the world-famous architect, Frank Gehry, noted for his uniquely marvelous swooping and swirling buildings. Seattle is also the home of Microsoft. And millionaires.It is one of these latter persons, Elizabeth Lamott, a 29 year-old female, now retired from Microsoft, who is the current bride. With tons of money at her disposal, she can ask for anything; getting it is sometimes the problem. Her groom is Paul Wheeler, news editor for the Seattle Sentinel. The opening scene of their coed bachelor party at the Seattle Aquarium is delicious--the guests are all in masquerade, which of course, interferes greatly with trying to solve the murder of a bridesmaid that takes place during the party. Several of Carnegie's friends from the first book appear in this one as well. Aaron Gold, a reporter who has a nose for gossip as well as news, seems to always pop up just when he shouldn't. It's fairly obvious he has his eye on Carnegie, but from her six-foot vantage point, his five-foot-eight or so is little more than a pest. Lily James, the black librarian and single Mom who supports Carnegie no matter what; Boris, the very Russian floral designer and Eddie, Carnegie's business partner. Add to this mix the very punk and lesbian Juice Nugent, cake baker extraordinaire, plus police Detective Lieutenant Michael Graham, and you have the ingredients for a possibly zany merry-go-round. Donnelly's writing and story-telling ability, however, are splendid, and she keeps a tight rein on all these disparate elements, never letting any one aspect overshadow any other. Personally, I thought the book well worth reading for this one sentence: "My current finances restricted me to a charming little vehicle, lovingly crafted in Eastern Europe, that combined the roomy elegance of a soup can with the horsepower of a sewing machine." My daughter had one of those cars, and I think a better description was never penned. Never! It would be hard to find a more enjoyable book, I think. Now, to develop a bit of patience while waiting for the next one.

Died to Match is enjoyable and humorous. Carnegie Kincaid is an unlikely heroine who skips from one adventure to another. If you like mysteries without all of the sex and gore, you will enjoy this book.

Carnegie Kincaid is a wedding planner who lives on a house boat in Seattle. Her business needs an infusion of cash so she agrees to coordinate the engagement party of Paul Wheeler and Elizabeth Lamott at the Seattle Aquarium. Since the party is on Halloween night, everyone is in costume having a good time and making merry. Just as Carnegie is about to call the party a success, she stumbles across the murdered body of one of the bridesmaids.Another bridesmaid claims that somebody threw her into Elliot Bay even though because of her track record nobody takes her seriously except Carnegie. As the Lamott/Wheeler wedding approaches another bridesmaid is murdered leading Carnegie to think that somebody is stalking them. She conducts her independent investigation in the hope that the wedding day will be killer free.Carnegie is an off-beat heroine that readers will adore and her wannabe lover goes through all sorts of emotional gyrations just to keep up with her. DIED TO MATCH is a humorous amateur sleuth novel with so many serpentine twists and turns that the audience will feel like they are on a roller coaster. Deborah Donnelly is a fresh new voice in the mystery genre.Harriet Klausner