Title: Pretty, Hip and Dead
Author: Madison Johns
Published: February 2014
Published By: Outrageous Books
Format Read: Kindle for PC, eBook
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Date Read: August 22 2015
Rating: 1/5
Kimberly Steele is the new spokes model with a lotion line for
pregnant women. Unfortunately the ex-girlfriend of her new husband also models
for the same company advertising its release of a perfume and the two women are stuck
together doing photo-shoots. After an altercation that lands Clare in the lake,
Kimberly visits her house to try to make amends. There she finds the
woman dead and in turn becomes the number one suspect. Knowing his wife is
innocent lawyer Jeremy hires two elderly private investigators: Agnes Barton
and Eleanor Mason to solve the crime and clear Kimberly’s name. Pretty, Hip
& Dead is a crossover story involving Kimberly and Agnes from Madison Johns
Pretty and Pregnant novella.
For a supposedly humorous cozy mystery, Pretty, Hip &
Dead sure makes for a tough story to review.
I struggled with how I would write this and what approach I should take.
I am not one to totally rip an author apart when I don’t like a story. However
I believe that it is important to write and share honest reviews.
With the internet and eBooks, there are so many
opportunities for authors to expose their writing to larger audiences, which is
wonderful. I love to be able to support independent authors, especially when
the quality of their work could rival those who are top sellers. However these
broader exposures and alternative publishing options doesn’t always mean the
quality of the stories are top notch. Often there is a lack of editing and/or
structure that results in low ratings. There are also times when an eBook may
have some spelling and grammar issues, but the plot and characters are strong
enough for the reader to overlook the errors. I had hoped this would be the
case for Pretty, Hip & Dead, but unfortunately it was not.
The idea of a murder involving rival models sounds like
it would be promising. I was also drawn to it because of the two older women
investigators. Madison Johns writes in a note from the author that even though
this is a crossover from a previous novella, it can be read as a standalone.
This pleased me as I hadn’t read the previous story nor had I ever read
anything else by her.
However as I began reading it was clear that I was missing
some key information about Kimberly’s past and how she came to know her new
husband Jeremy. Readers learn that she worked for him, yet there are hints that
he married her to save her modeling contract. Then in another part he claims he
married her because he fell in love with her, meanwhile he had previously
proposed to the murder victim Clare. This is just one example out of many that
show how unclear story line is.
The mystery itself had very little structure and the dialogue
was hard to follow. The main character came across as an airhead and very naïve,
qualities that I assume were meant to come across as humorous. The
investigators Agnes and Eleanor didn’t seem to possess any qualities worthy of
the position whatsoever, which lead to the crime not really being solved, but
admitted to by the murderer.
In the end I found myself more frustrated than entertained.
I definitely won’t be continuing on with this series, nor would I recommend it
to anyone.
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