Murder Is a Girl's Best Friend

Twenty-eight-year-old Paige Turner just wants to make it through the Christmas season alive. After all, with all of the crime on the streets in New York City, and the hustle and bustle of Christmas shoppers, the holidays can really take a toll on your health. Especially if it's the year 1954, and you're a woman working at a pulp mystery magazine known as DARING DETECTIVE, and all you want is for your Detective boyfriend, Dan Street, to be supportive of your chosen career. But suddenly the Christmas holidays take a turn for the worst, when an old army buddy, known as Terry, of Paige's now-deceased husband shows up, asking for her help in solving the crime of his little sister's murder. Terry knows that his sister wasn't the victim of a simple robbery, she was murdered, and he knows why, for he found a stash of diamonds hidden in a box of oatmeal. Obviously it's exactly what the murderer was looking for. Now the killer is watching Paige's every move, waiting for the perfect time to strike. Amanda Matetsky has created on of the most interesting, and intriguing mystery characters ever. Paige is an enjoyable new character, whose crazy quirks will have all readers laughing out loud, while at the same time itching to find out who the killer is. Paige's fantastic friends, and snoopy personality will keep the pages of this book turning until the very end. A must-read mystery, even for those who don't normally read books from the mystery genre. Erika Sorocco Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

Paige Turner is a spit fire young woman living in the 50's and working as a writer for a detective magazine. She gets a lot of grief about her name, especially where she works. She works with all men who expect her to wait on them and do most of the work while they laugh and slack off. The thoughts she thinks about them inside her head are funny! She gets caught up in a murder mystery and goes out to try to solve it herself and you can't put the book down! There's swearing which was disappointing. Otherwise, great book!

MURDER IS A GIRL'S BEST FRIEND, but only when it is in a book written by Amanda Matetsky. I am not ordinarily a reader of fiction, and rarely a reader of mysteries. I prefer to read biographies of people who are accomplished and productive, which makes me feel accomplished and productive since I am astute enough to read about them. However, when I heard that Amanda had written a sequal to MURDERERS PREFER BLONDES, I found myself anxious to see it. Ms. Matetsky writes so well that it seems like I am reading Paige Turner's bio. I can easily picture her, due to the wonderfully descriptive nature of the writing (just as I can do in good bios), I can follow her thoughts, see exactly what she is wearing (and why), picture her office and both her friendly and "unfriendly" colleagues and boss. And as a child of the fifties, she brings it all back, including the authenticity of all the streets, restaurants, "colloquialisms", etc. Because I am not a professional reviewer, you have no reason to trust me. However, BECAUSE I AM NOT a professional reviewer, and have no stake in the selling of the book, newspaper, magazine, TV station, etc., well, you figure it out. I enjoyed the book. And...you will too.

Read in one sitting is best, because this is a page-turner. No pun intended, because the "detective" in this book is named Paige Turner, a name that never fails to prompt a reaction, usually laughter. This mystery is set in December, 1954 in Manhattan. Paige is an aspiring mystery writer working in an under-appreciated and underpaid job in a sexist (this is the 50s, after all) detective magazine office. Her boyfriend is a homicide detective who would like her to not investigate any murders, but when a friend of her late husband's approaches her about investigating his sister's murder, she can't resist. The big clue he has brought her is a fortune in diamonds he found hidden in an outmeal container -- clearly the motive for her shooting death, which the police put down to an interrupted random burglary. The plot moves right along and the reader is soon feeling like she's right there with them, in an over-the-fish-shop apartment in the Village in 1954 with Paige, following up on every clue. Although the mystery plotting was well done, the real pleasure in this book for me was the characters and setting. I look forward to reading more books by this author.