Dying in Style

By Elaine Viets

Suburban single mom, Josie Marcus, loves being a secret shopper. But when she’s framed for the murder of a famous handbag designer, Josie discovers that secret sleuth might be a better fit…

Josie’s excited about her latest assignment: mystery shopping the stores of St. Louis’s premier handbag designer, Danessa Celedine. A stunning socialite who frequently makes headlines with her hot Russian lover, Serge, Danessa sells exquisite purses to the rich and famous for a small fortune. Unfortunately, the Celedine shops aren’t nearly as dazzling as their clientele and Josie’s negative report could kill a lucrative deal to sell the handbag empire. Danessa swears it will also cost Josie her career.

Businesses often live and die by Josie’s reviews, but when Danessa and Serge are found murdered, she’s suddenly linked to an actual homicide…as the chief suspect! Now, Josie will need all her secret shopper subterfuge to investigate the crimes, clear her name, and stop the killer from claiming another fashion victim.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jabberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 13, 2018
• ISBN: 9781625673336

Elaine Viets

Elaine Viets has written 33 mysteries in four series: the bestselling Dead-End Job series with South Florida PI Helen Hawthorne, the cozy Josie Marcus Mystery Shopper mysteries, and the dark Francesca Vierling mysteries. With the Angela Richman Death Investigator series, Elaine returns to her hardboiled roots and uses her experience as a stroke survivor and her studies at the Medicolegal Death Investigators Training Course. Elaine was a director at large for the Mystery Writers of America. She's a frequent contributor to Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and anthologies edited by Charlaine Harris and Lawrence Block. Elaine won the Anthony, Agatha and Lefty Awards.

Reviews for Dying in Style

[carlathelibrarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a fun read. Josie is a single mom who supports herself and her daughter working as a mystery shopper. She wears various costumes depending on what type of establishment she is reviewing. The descriptions of her outfits and experiences are pretty humourous. When she reviews an upscale accessory boutique that is possibly being bought out by a conglomerate, she gives it a horrible review. When the owner berates her and her boss puts her on leave, she is angry. The owner of the boutique turns up dead and guess who is suspected. Add in the life events of her mom and daughter and you have an enjoyable mix.

[thebacklistbook · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Dying in style was entertaining, and quite light for a murder mystery, an appropriate read for any age level, only possible trigger would be if you have a loved one that passed away who was murdered.

[mlake_22 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Josie Marcus is a mystery shopper - hired by the head office of chain stores to go in and check customer service and cleanliness anonymously. Sometimes she gets found out and things get exciting. Josie is a scrappy single mom devoted to her daughter. This was a fun fast mystery - I did know what was going to happen until the very end.

[ocean_mist · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There is a lot of humor in Elaine Viets' books, this one is no exception. I read her series Dead-end Jobs as well and thoroughly enjoyed it. This new series by her is just as funny and the characters are very likable. Plus, she does so much research for the "behind the scenes" part of her books that I just really enjoy all the stories and have learned a lot.I also enjoy her books because there is no unnecessary raunchy sexual scenes nor undo details of violent murder.NOTE: Do you want to laugh out loud? Read her books! :-D

[msgemini_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This mystery kept me guessing. Great start to the mystery shopper series! I am looking forward to reading more.

[darla_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A NEW series. I was disappointed it wasn't another Dead End Jobs story, but I had a hard time putting it down anyway. I suspect that EV researched "mystery shopper" as a Dead End Job, but discovered it had more potential than just one book, so decided to make a new series with it. Single mother Josie is a mystery shopper. When she gives a chain of upscale boutiques a poor review, it garners first threats from the owner, then the threat of arrest when the owner is murdered. Pretty good, but not quite up to the Dead End Jobs books. Her sidekick socialite friend is a great character, but her shopaholic mother is really annoying.

[caro_9 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Didn't work for me -- too much telling and not enough showing. Not interested in buying other books in the sereis.