Every woman would kill for one . . . Manhattan fashionista Kelly Quinn thought she’d left her upstate New York town far behind . . . until the Seventh Avenue expat returns home to revamp her grandmother’s consignment shop into an upscale boutique—and unwittingly sets a trend for murder . . . After her rising career as a Manhattan buyer is derailed, Kelly has mixed feelings about relocating back … Kelly has mixed feelings about relocating back to Lucky Cove, in spite of her big plans for the soon-to-be-renamed Curated by Kelly Resale Boutique. What’s left of her luck starts running out when a customer puts on a black lace dress that triggers visions of someone being murdered. As if the haunted “Murder Dress” isn’t enough to kill business, the psychic’s doppelganger cousin has just been found bludgeoned to death.
Was Maxine LeMoyne the real target or was it a case of mistaken murder? With some creepy pre-Halloween bargain hunters walking the night and Kelly suddenly a person of interest, a second murder rocks the close-knit town. Now Kelly could be the one who ends up talking to dead people when she’s stalked by a killer determined to take her out in high style . . .
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It was well plotted . Characters were genuine. It kept me entertained.3
Excellent
A fun, new cozy series, featuring fashion and murder, while introducing readers to Kelly Quinn and friends! After assuming ownership over her recently deceased grandmother’s resale boutique, Kelly is haunted by townsfolk after a local psychic says the previous owner of the little black dress in her store was worn during a murder. Kelly is able to pinpoint the past owner of the dress all while she works on building business for her shop as locals aren’t sure they want to participate in buying goods if the goods tell their own stories! Join this new and fun crew while they try to solve a local mystery while trying to stay out of the local detectives crosshairs as suspects themselves. This new series is sure to delight and entertain readers!
Suspenseful keeps you guessing
I was so excited when I heard author Debra Sennefelder had started a new series! Already in love with the first book in her Food Blogger Mysteries (can’t wait for the second), I knew I was in for a good read. I was wrong. It was a GREAT read!
Hooked from page one with an unhappy customer/consigner, and a do-we-have-to-have-this-talk-again moment between protagonist Kelly and her store employee, I was reminded of my twenty plus years in retail. I felt like I was standing in the store watching it all play out. That is until the next scene when the action hit the fan and MURDER WEARS A LITTLE BLACK DRESS went into high gear! Read in one sitting, I was out of breath by the last sentence.
Fantastic storytelling, wonderfully written characters, and a first-class mystery with a reveal that left me totally surprised, there wasn’t a thing I didn’t enjoy about this book. Readers, clear a day on your schedule because you’re in for ten times more than what you bargained for.
MURDER WEARS A LITTLE BLACK DRESS is officially one of my favorite books of 2019!
Weak plot. Flat characters. Writing not particularly good.
Slight, but pleasant.
I am going to start with what I DID NOT like about this book and then move on to the rest of my review:
1. PLEASE, whom do I need to speak to to stop authors from using the premise of the main character being seen as guilty when the murder occurs? Especially in almost ALL new, first book cozies? Please, please, P L E A S E stop this. It is old, overdone and is driving me [and quite a few other people from what I have read] crazy. It has been done to death [seriously, no pun intended there] and it needs to stop. Now. Please. And in case you couldn’t tell, that is how this book opens. Girl moves back home because her beloved Granny has died and left her a store and she had just been [conveniently] fired from her “big city job” and is able to take over and a person is murdered and she is the main suspect.
AND, while we are at it…
2. WHY do we have to have a MC who is heartbroken, jobless, only back home because someone died etc etc. to have a story? Cannot it be someone who is already established in the community they grew up in? There is only one series that I know of that has done that and even in that one, the people were opening a new business because their other job failed. Okay, there are two [because another one popped into my mind as I was typing that], but that is all. Does everyone need to have an issue, heartbreak or a dead relative to have a good story? Sigh.
3. WHY are all the cops either hard-nose [and if they are women, they have massive attitude and dress poorly] and mean or they are so stupid that you cannot help but roll your eyes every time they open their mouths or try and solve the murder? OR they have to be awesome so the MC will fall in love with them and they can be their big, bad protectors. PLEASE. Stop this as well. PLEASE.
This book has two of the above and it was annoying. And WHY does the “hard nose” cop have to have tunnel vision? Really? I am pretty sure that there are good cops out there that are NOT like that. Ugh.
Now that that is out of the way, let’s move on to what I did like about this book.
1. The length. This was almost the perfect length for a cozy. It could have been a touch longer so the reveal wouldn’t have felt so rushed, but for the most part [and for a first book] it was a good length and the pacing was really good as well.
2. The characters. I really, really like these characters quite a bit. Usually it takes me a couple of books to settle in with the characters, but these grabbed me right from the first and that was cool [perhaps because I lived in NY and loved the city like the MC does and i now live in a small town and I know the gossip and crap that goes on in that arena as well]. The characters work well together and have a good rapport and flow with each other and that made easing into a new book relatively easy. I do with the accident with Ariel was more fleshed out and the reasoning behind Kelly and Caroline’s estrangement was also more fleshed out, but perhaps we will see more of that should this series [and I for one certainly hope it does] continue.
3. I like the idea of this book. A boutique resale shop is VERY NY and very en-vogue there and is a perfect setting for a cozy series. I like how the MC faced dilemma’s of having to take over her Grandmother’s shop and the resistance she faced – it was the perfect amount mixed in with the encouragement from her best friend; just like it would be in real life.
4. The smarmy uncle and step-aunt. Been there, done that. And they are perfectly done.
Overall, I liked this book very much – I had to give it three stars because of the reasons stated at the beginning of the review, but I will absolutely read the next one and have a feeling they will get better with each book. I look forward to finding out if I am correct!
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for providing the ARC for this book in exchange for an honest review.
I love the way the story started
I liked this story. It had an interesting premise. Psychic sees a murder when she tries on a consignment dress.
This was a fast read with interesting characters.
Kelly Quinn’s grandmother left her a consignment shop located in Lucky Cove, NY. The shop is rundown and Kelly wants to update and revamp the space into an upscale boutique. Her grandmother’s best friend, Pepper, works at the shop and is wary about the changes.
When Bernadette, the psychic, has a vision while trying on the black dress she deems the dress haunted. Business slacks off and Kelly tries to determine if a murder was committed and is it connected to the dress.
I volunteered to read and review an ARC of this book provided by Lyrical Underground and NetGalley. These are my unsolicited opinions.
MURDER WEARS A LITTLE BLACK DRESS by Debra Sennefelder
The First Resale Boutique Mystery
After a humiliating dismissal as a buyer for a New York department store, Kelly Quinn has returned home to Lucky Cove. Restyling her late grandmother’s consignment shop into an upscale clothing boutique is a challenge, however. Pepper, her grandmother’s best friend and Kelly’s employee is not shy about voicing her displeasure about the changes Kelly wants to make. When a local psychic collapses after receiving a vision when trying on a dress in the shop, the resale boutique gets lots of publicity. People are coming to hear about the “murder dress” and visit the “haunted shop”, but not buying any wares. Desperate to stop the negative publicity, matters get worse when Kelly becomes a suspect after she finds the murdered body of the psychic’s cousin. Now she’s determined to find the truth behind, not only the current murder, but the “murder dress” while she wonders if her decision to come home was the right one.
MURDER WEARS A LITTLE BLACK DRESS is about growing up, finding your place, and fighting for what’s right. Kelly Quinn is a likeable, if somewhat juvenile protagonist. In fact, almost all of the characters are a blend of likable with notable character flaws…except for the obvious bad guys like Kelly’s uncle and his new wife who are completely unpleasant. One of my favorite characters is Kelly’s cousin, Frankie. A chef with an interest in the occult, Frankie is a good-natured goof and a peace-keeper in the family. I hope we get to see more of him in future books.
While the first Resale Boutique Mystery should not be classified as a paranormal mystery, I really enjoyed its paranormal aspect. The mystery here was interesting, with many angles, as was Kelly’s involvement and increasing belief in Bernadette’s psychic ability. MURDER WEARS A LITTLE BLACK DRESS is a good start to a new series.
FTC Disclosure – The publisher sent me a digital ARC provided through NetGalley, in the hopes I would review it.
4.5 STARS
A great start to a new cozy series!!!
Kelly Quinn finds herself back home after her grandmother passes away. Her hometown is a far cry from Manhattan, but she has plans to revamp her grandmother’s consignment shop, even giving it a new name. The last thing she expects is to be in the middle of a complicated murder investigation of not one but two murders. Not only is she a person of interest, but she is also in danger. On top of that….her uncle wants her to sell him the shop. Yes, Kelly’s life just got really complicated.
I enjoyed everything about the story. It was well-written, and the author threw in twists and turns that kept me guessing. There was also a great cast of secondary characters as well and a possible future romance for Kelly. Kelly also does some maturing throughout the book as well. She begins to realize what is important in life. All of these components combined perfectly for a great cozy mystery. I’m really looking forward to the next book in the series!
Formula for murder: Take one former Manhattan fashionista who now runs her late Granny’s consignment shop, add a local psychic, a difficult customer, the psychic’s lookalike psychic cousin, and one little black dress.
Kelly Quinn’s life is not the way she hoped it would be when she left for fashion school several years ago. First, she was fired – fired! from her job at a top-notch fashion boutique in NYC with her career seriously derailed. Granny, Martha Quinn, passed away, leaving Kelly the consignment shop that she and close friend Pepper had nurtured for many years. While going through the rooms and inventory that includes clothing, home furnishings, and tchotchkes, she determines what must “go” during a huge, 3-day sale to clear out home furnishings, décor, and out-of-season clothing. After working for Granny all these years, Pepper finds it a hard to see what Kelly is doing to Lucky Cove Consignment Shop, including changing the name to Curated by Kelly Resale Boutique.
Day One of the sale brings in many customers until Bernadette, a willowy blonde psychic, tries on a little black, lacy dress. Kelly saw how wonderful Bernadette looked in it, but the local psychic had a vision of someone wearing the dress and being responsible for a murder, then collapses. In the door ran a woman who looked just like the psychic, stating that she is Maxine, Bernadette’s cousin. Just like that, the shop began to clear out and the 3-day sale crashed.
The woman who consigned the lacy dress is the most challenging customer of the shop, Irene Singer. Her husband had recently died in an accident while returning from a spur-of-the-moment fishing trip. Irene was wearing the dress when getting the call that her husband died in a fiery inferno. After seriously annoying Irene, Kelly had a call from the shop that Bernadette wanted her to go to her home immediately. Arriving, the door was ajar, and the psychic did not answer when Kelly called her. Kelly found a body with a head wound and Bernadette entered the room; her lookalike cousin has been murdered. The prime suspects are Kelly and Bernadette.
The characters are defined well. I like Pepper and Ariel the best. I didn’t like Kelly very much. She seemed too stuck up, ungrateful, and made many rash decisions, such as visiting the lady who had owned the little black dress. She and Pepper change the most throughout the novel, however, making Kelly more likable by the end. Pepper changed quite a bit throughout, also. She wanted to protect what Granny had built over the years, but her love for Kelly and Granny saw her through to become someone who fit beautifully into the boutique. Ariel was someone who Kelly hadn’t hoped to see again, but they complement each other well. Ariel has learned much through adversity and is a huge help and encouragement to Kelly.
The mystery outweighed my lack of affinity with Kelly. There seemed to be such good suspects but one by one they fell away. Threats against Kelly proved that folks were not who they appeared to be. I was quite surprised with the resolution to the murder and the little black dress. All loose ends were tied up, and the end was satisfying. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys fashion and accessories, cozy mysteries, and seeing how even the unhappiest circumstances can lead to rewarding new choices.
From a grateful heart: I received an e-Arc of this from the publisher and NetGalley, and this is my honest review.