Handbags and Homicide by Dorothy Howell

4 Stars
R- 3

You know me, I'm a sucker for a light, fluffy mystery series, and that's what this debut novel promises.

Haley Randolph has it all. Sort of. Except there are those pesky credit card bills and that annoying miscalculation in her checkbook.

So she takes a job at Holt's-- a dive of a department store. But then things start to unravel. She's put on administrative leave at the law firm she works for... and at Holt's she finds the boss dead in women's lingerie. The department, not the clothing. (How do these rumors get started?)

Haley's a fun narrator, though it kills me to think there are real people like her. Retail therapy does not begin to describe it. But I know there are people like that. Add in her crazy stories and fun voice and you're in for an interesting ride.

There is some language, mostly in how she refers to certain female colleagues that she can't stand.

All in all, it's just good silly fun. A good choice for summer.

And it's my first Reader's Choice book this round! (Though, really, if they can't expand the voting options to give a full range of feelings, they should simplify it to a simple "yes I liked it" or "no I didn't"!)