Laura Bishop just nabbed her first decorating commission—staging for sale a 19th-century mansion that hasn’t been updated for decades. But when a body falls from a laundry chute and lands at Laura’s feet, replacing flowered wallpaper becomes the least of her duties. To clear her young assistant of the murder and save her fledgling business, Laura’s determined to find the killer. Turns out it’s … out it’s not as easy as renovating a manor home, especially with two handsome men complicating her mission: the police detective assigned to the case and the real estate agent trying to save the manse from foreclosure.
Worse still, the meddling of a horoscope-guided friend, a determined grandmother, and the local funeral director could get them all killed before Laura props the first pillow.
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STAGING IS MURDER by Grace Topping | A Henery Press Mystery. If you like one, you’ll probably like them all.
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Laura Bishop is just getting her home staging business off the ground, and she is thrilled to land Victoria Denton as her first client. Victoria can make her reputation in their small Pennsylvania town. Unfortunately, Victoria also has a reputation for being hard to work with, and Laura is finding that all too true. Working late one night, Laura is shocked to find Victoria’s dead body. When the police arrest Laura’s assistant, she decides she needs to look into the crime to find out what really happened. But can she do it?
Since this is the first in a new series, we get to meet quite a few new characters here. I enjoyed Laura and her friends, although they do have a little room to grow as the series progresses. The plot starts off strong, but bogs down a bit as Laura struggles to figure out how to start her investigation. Not that I can say much since I identify with her struggle. Once she gets moving, thanks in part to some blunt questions from her friends (again, too much like me), the story picks up and I was fully on board. The climax was creative and answered all our questions. Laura is a mystery fan herself, and I enjoyed her comparing herself to the main characters in the books she’s read. Each chapter starts with tips on staging your home, and they made me very thankful that I am not planning on selling my condo any time soon due to all the work involved. I’ll just enjoy reading about Laura’s efforts to stage houses and solve mysteries.
Fans of Krista Davis’ Domestic Diva Mystery Series will enjoy this book. It draws you in and keeps the reader engaged from beginning until end. A strong first installment to the series. The book kept me guessing. I thought I had the ending figured out twice, only to have it turn out I was wrong. I’m looking forward to reading more of Laura’s future adventures!
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Grace Topping starts this book/series out with a big thump. While curbing the clutter in the huge 19th-century mansion, her protagonist Laura Bishop heads to the cellar with a box only to have her client’s body fall from the laundry chute right at her feet. Victoria Denton was difficult but who would have done such a thing?
The police decide Laura’s assistant, Tyrone is their prime suspect. He accidentally broke a vase sending Ms. Denton into a tizzy. She also is on the committee holding Tyrone’s fate in her hands as he waits to hear if he will be awarded a college scholarship. The woman threatened to basically blackball him everywhere and police assume he retaliated. Laura defends the young man but when his grandmother begs for her help she knows she has to do more. Detective Alex Spangler thinks he has his man so Laura grabs her friend Nita Marino and tries to use all the knowledge she has gleaned from reading cozy mysteries to start investigating.
There are such strong characters in this debut. Laura Bishop has left her IT career behind and opened her own business staging homes to help home sellers get the best price and the quickest sale of their homes. She is also new to investigating and admits it which was a big plus for me. She is a very kind person and for the most part, makes really good decisions. Her best friend Nita is the Watson to Laura’s Holmes and they make a good team. The character I liked best was Tyrone. He’s a college student studying design and clearly has talent. He is a hard worker. He has 3 jobs earning money both for school and to help his grandmother. He has such a positive attitude even when things are going wrong. Even behind bars, he was a breath of fresh air. I also loved meeting Inky, Laura’s rescue kitty.
The story flowed well for me. There are several suspects and some great twists. Tossing the victim down the laundry chute was a bit eerie. I love big old homes that have them. My aunt had one in her newer home but the opening was nowhere near large enough to stuff a body through. I enjoyed following along with Laura and her investigation while she continued to work on the mansion to get it ready for an open house. The mansion needed a lot of help and I was surprised by all Laura did with the help of so few people. The author found a nice balance between solving the mystery and everyday life. Humor was also incorporated in a very thoughtful way.
Each chapter starts with a staging tip and the staging theme was super interesting to me. Not that I’ll ever need to stage a home, but several tips made sense to brighten up the home I have.
This series is off to a great start. The characters have plenty of room to grow. The theme provides endless possibilities. I am really looking forward to book #2.
Author Grace Topping debuts nicely with her Laura Bishop Mystery series from Henery Press. This cozy is a light read with lots of plausible suspect’s and a killer who was cleverly snuck into the plot and never even on my radar! There are plenty of chuckles along the route to the satisfying conclusion.
Protagonist Laura Bishop is a beginner in the home staging business and her very first client, Victoria Denton, is a doozy! Nita, Laura’s best friend, has a huge Italian-American family who embrace Laura as family, also, and they are a delightful bunch and a great help to her. The supporting cast is great and I look forward to learning more about them in future stories. Laura’s rescue cat, Inky, is a comforting and precious pet character. I enjoyed the tips for staging your home for an open house that the author shares at the first of each chapter. I feel this new series is off to a great start!
Thanks to the author for providing an ARC galley for my honest review.
Put me in mind of a Sunday night mystery
STAGING IS MURDER by Grace Topping
The First Laura Bishop Mystery
Laura Bishop has landed her first job as a professional home stager, beating out her old high school nemesis to stage the Denton house for sale. Along with her young assistant Tyrone, Laura is ready to make her mark, especially since she doesn’t return to her well paying, but soul numbing IT career. Despite the difficult owner and tight deadline, Laura is making progress. But while working in the basement, the owner’s body falls from the laundry chute….dead. The police arrest Tyrone whose Grandmother pleads with Laura to find the real killer. Relying on her memories of mystery novels and movies and help from her best friend, Laura tries to uncover the real killer, but will the killer find her first?
I enjoyed my first trip to Louiston, Pennsylvania. For the most part, I liked Laura. I found her nervousness and aversion to good looking men a bit annoying, but on the whole she is a likeable protagonist with lots of room to grow and evolve. I absolutely love Mrs. Webster. Tyrone’s grandmother is a tiny dynamo and I certainly want to be on her good side. Best friend Nita Martino is a good foil and brings exuberance and fun. I also really like Madame Zolta and hope we see a lot more of her in upcoming books.
STAGING IS MURDER sets the stage for a solid mystery series. There’s an interesting plot and engaging characters, with just enough zaniness to promote laughs, but keep things real.
FTC Disclosure – The publisher sent me a digital ARC provided through Edelweiss, in the hopes I would review it.
Laura Bishop has an eye for design…and solving crimes. This mystery featuring a professional home stager as our amateur sleuth was full of twists and the most spectacularly placed red herrings…Grace Topping is a professional home stager of the perfect crime. As a frequent mystery reader, I pride myself on being able to ferret out the killer ahead of time. Topping’s grand reveal, though, left me entirely surprised, and I really like being surprised when I read a mystery. With lovable supporting characters and a potential love triangle, I can see that the personal development of these folks will be just as thrilling to read as the mysteries as this series continues.
I so enjoyed this book. I learned a great deal about home staging while being totally entertained by the mystery.
Love the characters. The author did a great job of building the world and describing the rooms as well as bringing the main character to life. It was fun, fast-paced, and intriguing. Looking forward to reading more books in the series.
First in a new series about a home stager. A fun read.
Bravo, Grace Topping. I loved this debut cozy mystery. Can hardly wait for continuation of this series!
The lovely cover has always caught my eye and I finally read this wonderful first book in the series. Laura is an awesome reluctant sleuth who is talked into helping a friend find the real killer. Laura is a strong, smart lead who I enjoyed reading about since she thought things through and didn’t keep jumping into dangerous situations, which she easily could have. Love her amazing supportive friends. Nita and family are so wonderful and so funny. Laura and the hair spray are hilarious. Lots of suspects to keep you guessing.
If you’re a fan of all those home remodel shows, you’ll love this first in a series by a new author.
What a great first book to a new series! I enjoyed this cozy from start to finish. The more I read, the better it got. The characters are well developed and likable. As a bonus, there are staging tips headlining each chapter. All make this a fun, engaging, intriguing read. I look forward to reading the next book!
I enjoyed this book so much! I had not heard of staging houses as a job before. I have seen it often enough in looking at houses for sale. What an interesting job! I enjoyed the author’s tips at the start of each chapter too. I like Laura. Actually there are a lot of fine characters in the book. I loved Mrs Webster and hope she continues helping Laura. Nita is a true friend..the kind who helps you with a dead body. I love her as Laura’s partner. There’s a couple potential love interest, too, but that doesn’t take over the story. I enjoyed the mystery and trying to figure out the who and why. I did not completely uncover it. I am looking forward to the next book. If you are looking for a cozy mystery, don’t pass this one by.
A well-plotted, delightful debut! I’ll be on the lookout for the next Laura Bishop mystery!
It’s raining bodies! Oh, just one body but still!
Staging is Murder by Grace Topping is a fun mystery with a reluctant amateur detective. This book is a wonderful start to a new series. I can’t wait to see what Laura and Nita get into next.
The reluctant sleuth, Laura Bishop
Laura Bishop really doesn’t want to investigate a client’s murder, but she wants to help out her friend Tyrone who is accused of the murder. She promised his Grandmother that she would clear his name. Laura really doesn’t know what she is doing, she has read many mysteries, but she doesn’t remember how the sleuths figured it out.
What I like about Laura is even though she doesn’t feel courageous she is. She stands by her word which I feel like not many people do anymore. The one thing that bothered me about Laura is she is holding on the negative opinions of her dead family members. She needs to embrace the positive aspect of her new life and live the way she wants to live.
Nita Martino
Nita is that crazy friend that pushes us to do the insane things that we never think we can do. I love Nita and her large, loud Italian-American family. They give Laura the support that she needs, with a side of teasing, picking and lots of food. Nita and her husband seem to feed everyone that enters their home. Which is most likely due to them being recent empty nesters.
Nita’s character gives the story the humor and warmth that is needed to keep Laura grounded and moving forward, not only with her looking for clues but also to provide Laura with the confidence to be the Staging professional that she wants to be.
Mystery
The mystery is kind of funny and yet the clues are laid out well, with plenty of suspects and red herrings to throw us off. I enjoyed the small-town atmosphere and how the characters all went to school together. Which made it even harder to figure out who would have wanted to kill Victoria Denton as the list was relatively long. The victim was not a nice person.
4 Stars for Staging is Murder by Grace Topping
My rating for Staging is Murder by Grace Topping is four stars. The story is charming with references to many great detectives. I enjoyed this book and looked forward to the next one in this new series. I recommend it to all the cozy mystery readers out there.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the Great Escapes Book Tours. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Staging is Murder by Grace Topping.
Anyways, until next time,
Karen the Baroness
Happy Reading
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Lots of hints as to how to stage your home but too much information about how hungry Laura seems to be and how afraid she is most of the time. But some interesting characters and a different setting for a cozy.
A great mystery, twists and turns.
It kind of dragged on
very entertaining as well as informative about house staging, sad about one character, but that is live, so it was also realistic. looking forward to reading another by this author