Drop-Dead Blonde

I wish the Blackbird sisters kept a daily journal so I could keep up with them daily. I love this wacky family. I can't wait for Nancy Martin's next Blackbird sisters book.

Bite sized stories from 4 authors. I was a first time reader new to their works except for Victoria Laurie's. All stories of course involved blonde women as the title suggests. Like they say, blondes have more fun but they may end up in more trouble. Nancy Martin - 2 stars. I found her style of writing difficult to get into. In the first place, all her characters seem to have wierd names that seem to imply that they are rather ditzy. Lots of brand names some imaginary thrown around as the sleuth used to be wealthy. Denise Swanson - 4 stars. Liked the down to earth girl in a small town working as a counsellor in school full time but doubles up as a sleuth during school vacations. Elaine Viets - 4 stars. Interesting plot in this book seen thru a retrospective angle going back to the 1970's. Victoria Laurie - 5 stars. Ah, my favourite amateur sleuth author who never fails to deliver with her protaganist, Abby Cooper's, pyschic powers in solving crimes.

Do blondes really have more fun? Sure and the authors in this book show that even dying can be a ball. Get ready for four funny stories, each taking a different kind of blonde and showing what can happen when girls just want to have fun. Nancy Martin's "Slay Belles," puts Nora Blackbird on the trail of a shopaholic who will do anything for the perfect purse. Dogs, sisters, and the general madness of Christmas make this a fun read. Elaine Viets' terrific "Killer Blonde," gives Helen Hawthorne a break as she listens to her over the top landlady's interesting account of two blondes out of the past who duel to the death over office politics. Denise Swanson's "Dead Blondes Tell No Tales," was my favorite. The ending was a complete surprise and the story had me laughing out loud. In this novella the small town of Scumble River is the perfect setting for a story of shenanigans that occupy school psychologist Skye Denison while she works at a bowling alley during spring break. Skye has to deal with sex toys, false alarms, karaoke, a Marilyn Monroe look-alike contest--not to mention the blonde. Victoria Laurie's "Blind Sighted" was a new character for me. Abby Cooper is a psychic detective who finds her self at a paranormal convention rather than the vacation she thought she was going on. When a nonbeliever is murdered at the seminar Abby decides to find the killer. This charming story rounds out a fantastic foursome.

Four mini-books in one makes for a good book to take along on beach weekends. I'd just read the first Blackbird Sisters mystery last week, so they were still fresh in my mind. Obviously this story takes place after a few more installments of the series, but I enjoyed this one enough to order the others and bring myself up to speed. The Dead End Job series is one of my favorites, and I liked the way the author crafted a mystery from the past. It was something different and quite enjoyable. The Denise Swanson story is the one that lost me. I've pretty much given up this series because Skye and all her friends are such nerds that it's painful and unbelievable to read about them solving mysteries (and even more painful to read about Skye trying to be romantic and sexy). Add in the silly characters, and this one was a real bust. This was my first time reading Victoria Laurie, and I really enjoyed it. I'll be picking up the Abby Cooper series soon. Brilliant idea to package her with three established authors in order to get the word out about this new find.