Reviewer: Connie Payne
Title: Spying In High Heels - 1st in the High Heels Mysteries
Author: Gemma Halliday
Publisher: Dorchester Publishing
ISBN: 0-8439-5735-2
Release Date: August 2006
Genre/Sub-genre: Mystery/Chick Lit
Year/Setting: Present day - LA/Hollywood
Overall Rating: 5.0
Sexual Content rating: None (interrupted attemps, innuendo)
Language (Profanity) Rating: Mild
Violent Content Rating: Minimal/Moderate
Gemma's Website:
www.gemmahalliday.com
Children’s shoe designer, Maddie Springer, has problems. She’s late (in more ways than one) as usual and that unknowingly puts her in the right place at the wrong time.
The right place being the law offices of her boyfriend Richard. They had a lunch date.
The wrong time being the law office of her boyfriend Richard. He's the kind of guy who's punctual with an I’s-dotted-t’s-crossed-everything-in-its-place personality. Always calm and cool. But today he appears distracted to Maddie as she witnesses the conclusion of his meeting. Even more perplexing, he cancels their lunch date and doesn't chide her too much for being late. So not like him. But, no big deal. Maddie really didn’t want to address a certain potential issue anyway.
Soon it does become a big deal, though. Richard goes missing. A client’s wife is found dead, the client is missing, millions are missing, and Richard is the only one who may have some answers. 20 million worth of answers.
Maddie scrambles, blindly may I add (she’s new to this), to find Richard before the police do, namely one Detective (hottie) Ramirez, as her erstwhile boyfriend soon becomes a suspect in all of the above.
On top of her mad dash to find Richard and piece the puzzle together with a bit of help (which she might have done better without) from her sex-crazed best friend Dana, she becomes very attracted to Ramirez (disasters to follow), has to deal with her soon to be wed mother and the bachelorette party and the wedding (all are doozies), and lives through an attack or two. And that’s just the icing on the cake.
Through all of that, Maddie starts to question Richard’s innocence and loyalty as facts about him surface. Facts Maddie had no knowledge of. Now she really has to get to the bottom of this. She needs answers to her ever-growing list of questions. Hopefully it won’t cost her her life to get them.
I really enjoyed reading Maddie’s story, and enjoyed Maddie in particular. She’s fun and endearing. In addition, each character surrounding her is multi-dimensional. In their own way, Dana, Maddie’s mother, Faux Dad, psychic Dorothy and the rest add the right amount of distress and frustration to Maddie’s life as she tries to solve the cases. It’s simply a great ensemble cast of characters.
Spying In High Heels doesn’t read like a debut novel. Gemma Halliday writes like a seasoned author leaving the reader hanging on to every word, every clue, every delicious scene of the book. It’s a fun and intriguing mystery full of laughs and suspense.
Enjoy the ride!
Connie
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