Perish by Pedicure

I am a sucker for trade shows. When people involved in any industry or business gather to discuss their products and work you can learn the most interesting things. In Perish by Pedicure, a murder takes place during a beauty show in which salon owner Marla Shore is participating and Cohen gives us a glimpse behind the big hair of the professional beauty world that is both enlightening and entertaining. Heroine Marla Shore has agreed to help out at a beauty industry trade show in nearby Fort Lauderdale in exchange for some publicity for her own salon. She is desperately trying to juggle her show responsibilities, her salon commitments, her renewed friendship with an old college roommate, and her widowed fiancé's former in-laws, who are now staying with her and whom she seems unable to please. And then there is a murder. Marla's college roommate (also a houseguest) appears to have been the last person to see the victim alive and is the number one suspect. While your first inclination might be to dismiss a book with the word pedicure in the title, Cohen has created a good book and series. The setting is interesting, the plot is good and well thought out, and Marla Shore is a character with depth. We learn more about her in this book as her hostile houseguests question her ability to be a good step-mother to their granddaughter due to her involvement with criminals, her professional life, and her Jewish religion and its possible impact on the child's Christian upbringing. This book has some real meat mixed in amongst the lighter moments. Favorite character? Goat, Marla's neighbor. Did I guess it? No. Will I read another? Yes. [...]

As if Marla Shore wasn't busy enough, now she's working for Luxor Products as a styling assistant at a local conference and her fiancé's parents of his dead wife are staying at her house to see whether she'll be a good step mom for Brianna. And her friend Georgia, who helped her get the job with Luxor, will be staying with her through the weekend conference. She hopes her work with Luxor will bring her salon more business, especially after she moves to her new location. She's also hoping to gain more experience and possibly travel with them in the future to other conferences. Luxor director Christine Parks isn't well-liked. This is quickly evident to Marla as she gets to know the staff while setting up for the conference. When Christine ends up dead from poison, Marla begins to suspect everyone and works at trying to uncover the truth. Unfortunately there is another death. Can Marla discover the identity of the killer without putting herself and others in danger? Can she get through this week with Dalton's ex-in-laws in her house? I really enjoy this series. Marla is such a fun character. She just can't keep herself from sleuthing. Dalton isn't the investigator in this mystery, but he still provides some needed data for Marla to unravel the mystery. I also like the Florida setting. The author has done a great job of creating the characters and plotting the story. And there are plenty of red herrings and twists so that you aren't sure until the killer is revealed who did it. I highly recommend this book and the whole series.

Hair salon owner and stylist Marla Shore is not having an easy week. Her fiancé's in-laws from his dead wife are coming to town to stay in her home to check her out and insure she is right for being the stepmother of their granddaughter Brianna. She is also working for Luxor Products as an assistant hair stylist t at the Supreme Shows Conference. Marla hopes to gain experience, a better job, and an avenue to visit places she dreams of seeing. When Marla arrives at the convention center, she meets Luxor director Christine Parker, but notices that all of the employees seem openly to despise the head honcho. When an anonymous person sends Christine a drink, she takes some and soon feels ill. The next day she is dead, a victim of poison. Marla turns sleuth, but fails to uncover the culprit before another homicide occurs. Nancy J. Cohen has written a cleverly constructed and entertaining murder mystery starring a likable heroine who knows better, but cannot stop herself from sleuthing. In this case, the victim is so vile that a horde seems to have wanted her dead making motivation difficult to use as a means of weeding out the killer. PERISH BY PEDICURE is filled with hair splitting humor, unexpected nail biting twists, and a bad hair week caused by future in-laws while Marla cuts to the roots of the case. Harriet Klausner