Reviewed By Liz

ISBN 0-7582-1224-0

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.

Mystery Book Reviews by Liz at http://reviewedbyliz.com ©2007

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