A Disguise to Die For gives new meaning to dressed to kill
A Disguise to Die For: A Costume Shop Mystery
by Diane Vallere
Berkley Prime Crime
Mystery & Thrillers
Pub Date: February 2, 2016
Review
With the help of Disguise DeLimit, you can become anyone or anything your heart desires. Margo Tamblyn and her father have been providing costumes to Proper City residents for many years. Their shop has been celebrated for the variety and ingenuity of their costumes and the parties they have arranged with the help of Ebony Welles, Proper City’s premier party planner. But throwing together 40 custom costumes for a detective themed birthday party overnight for a spoiled rich boy - that’s a tall order, even with a 20 thousand dollar cash deposit. When Blitz ruins the party by showing up dead, suspicion falls on Ebony who has a history with Blitz’s family that she would prefer to keep quiet. If she is to help her friend, and protect the family business, Margo has to unmask the real killer.
A Disguise to Die For is a nice beginning to what promises to be an interesting series. Margo Tamblyn has character, and a charming habit of dressing in costume according to whim. Like Madison in Vallere’s Mad for Mod series, Margo is comfortable in her own skin and confident in her expression. I didn’t feel any real chemistry between her and Tak, the novel’s love interest. While she was fully fleshed out, Tak was more of a sketch - a work in progress. I did like her father and Ebony who came across as real, but many of the other characters were more two dimensional. This could easily be because the novel was designed to introduce Margo and provide her with a reason to stay in Proper City and run Disguise DeLimit - ie. put her in position for future novels. A costume shop offers endless possibilities for an amateur detective.
A Disguise to Die For is definitely an enjoyable cozy, even if there are a few small flaws. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Masking for Trouble. If you like cozies, Diane Vallere’s A Disguise to Die For is a good choice. As a bonus, Vallere even provides recipes and costume suggestions.
4/5
I received a copy of A Disguise to Die For from Berkley Prime Crime in exchange for an honest review.
—Crittermom
Description
Someone is dressed to kill in the debut Costume Shop Mystery from the national bestselling author of the Material Witness mysteries.
No sooner does former magician’s assistant Margo Tamblyn return home to Proper City, Nevada, to run Disguise DeLimit, her family’s costume shop, than she gets her first big order. Wealthy nuisance Blitz Manners needs forty costumes for a detective-themed birthday bash. As for Blitz himself, his Sherlock Holmes is to die for—literally—when, in the middle of the festivities, Margo’s friend and party planner Ebony Welles is caught brandishing a carving knife over a very dead Blitz.
For Margo, clearing Ebony’s name is anything but elementary, especially after Ebony flees town. Now Margo is left to play real-life detective in a town full of masked motives, cloaked secrets, and veiled vendettas. But as she soon learns, even a killer disguise can’t hide a murderer in plain sight for long.
INCLUDES RECIPES AND COSTUME IDEAS!
FIRST IN A NEW SERIES!
