Who Killed Tiffany Jones?

Trying to solve the mystery started off being an exciting idea --until I got to Chapter 5 & other killings - I was bafffled!! This book kept me entertained & intrigued, but also confused, which I guess a mystery is suppose to accomplish. It was a great promotional idea, which I hope other readers participated in the contest. Anxiously, awaiting to see who really "Killed Tiffany Jones" & Company.

Entertainment agent Kim Carlyle is flying high when one of her clients, internationally known singer Tiffany Jones, is on the comeback trail. Unfortunately, that comeback comes to a screeching halt one hot summer night in New York City. Instead of making a scheduled performance at the world famous Apollo Theatre. Tiffany Jones is making an appearance at the city morgue, with a toe tag as her most distinctive accessory. Tiffany's death sets the music world abuzz because something just does not seem quite right about her death. Kim believes her client has been murdered and is prepared to let the police handle the investigation. When another of her clients is murdered, she has to get involved, Kim is a former New York City police officer, so investigating crimes is like breathing to her. As Kim digs into her investigation, she uncovers a trail of dead bodies with an international connection. Who Killed Tiffany Jones is a suspense filled mystery that will keep readers on their toes. It also has a unique twist; instead of providing readers with the solutions to the crimes, the book provides the reader with the opportunity to solve the murders and the chance to win $10,000 if the reader comes up with the correct solution. If you had any doubts about reading this novel, cast them aside, reading Who Killed Tiffany Jones might pay off.Reviewed by Simone A. Hawks

The buzz around the broadcast of Who Wants to be a Millionaire fostered a spinoff on Russian television called Who Would Like Dinner? Then there was ABC-TV's quasi game-show-as-moody-melodrama Push, Nevada, offering a cool million to viewers to figure out where the interactive series' missing cash is stashed, now cancelled and wrapped in legalities about the loot. But the real deal is Who Killed Tiffany Jones? (Amistad Books, New York City; ($$$$0/hardcover; 190 pages), written by the fictitious Mavis Kaye. The novel from the HarperCollins imprint rewards ($$$) to the reader who can part the mists surrounding 13 murders, three methods of smuggling diamonds and just who is Sally. With a March 1, 2003, deadline for entries, a rush to judgment could turn a double-edged sword into a triple-bladed saber, as each succeeding chapter slashes the guts out of certitudes derived from the one before. The months it may take to ponder and postulate, however, could easily drive even Elmore Leonard or Walter Mosley afficionados stone crazy.The challenge to armchair super-sleuths is made more difficult by the quality of the writing. The reader who isn't focused on copping the cash will probably drift into the clutches of a well-told story. Tiffany Jones, queen of a long-dead disco era, is making an unprecedented comeback, headlining a night at the Apollo alongside such heady company as Boyz II Men and Soul II Soul. She's introduced as "delightful, divine and delicious," fresh from a European tour and the Oprah show, as her 16-piece tuxedo-clad orchestra blares Satin Doll. But the diva doesn't deliver on the entrance; instead, she's found dead on the dressing-room floor, with the door locked from the inside and no other apparent signs of foul play. From Harlem to Amsterdam, Las Vegas, Dallas, Atlanta, over to Freetown, Sierra Leone and back to Warren, Ohio, the fast-paced plot unfolds and enshrouds itself simultaneously with such an intriguing itinerary that the reader runs the risk of being lulled into the plush recline of a train-window survey, unwilling to make distinctions among a rich panorama of hot-lead vistas and dead-end side streets. Word portraits of the world tour create a shifting ambiance: the pulsing decadence of the international club scene, the grim unfinished backroom of a Harlem storefront, the gothic decay of the New Orleans garden district. When the book turns to character development, however, the risk to the reader is frustration at the loss of quickly made acquaintances brought to life and killed off within a few pages. While some characters are thrown in to divert the journey down ambiguously blind alleys, others meet their grisly fates only after initially establishing themselves as the seemingly obvious manager of the mayhem.Halfway through the tome, readers are introduced to Mariana Blair, a 28-year-old London tabloid journalist, who starts putting pieces together and knows she is on to the biggest story of her career. "One that would l

Tiffany Jones is a former disco diva who fell from grace in the '80s. She is well on her way to making a comeback when she is found dead in her dressing room after missing her curtain call at the Apollo Theater. Although the circumstances surrounding her death do not seem out of the ordinary, Tiffany's manager Kim Carlyle is not so sure. Tiffany's demise sets off a series of strange occurrences, and as the story evolves, WHO KILLED TIFFANY JONES? becomes one of several questions needing an answer in this interactive mystery novel. A Techno-geek like myself would also enjoy interacting with the book, a web site, and maybe other readers, tracking my progress with an online log of some sort. WHO KILLED TIFFANY JONES? could easily spark a movement of more interactivity in the mystery genre.Reviewed by Elisa Kai Smith

Tiffany Jones was to be the headliner in the show at the Apollo Theater. When the emcee called her name, no one appeared. Someone comes out and whispers in his ear and the lights come on and the show is over. Tiffany Jones is in her dressing room and she is dead. No one knows what happened. This book combines diamond smuggling and the entertainment industry. Tiffany's manager, Kim, is searching for answers and one of the victims, posthumously, has supplied her with information as to who could be the killer.You, the reader, must put the pieces of the puzzle in place and find the murderer. Enter the contest and with the right guess, you will be [money] richer. Jeanette[organization]