DEADLY DÉCOR – Karen Rose Smith
A Caprice De Luca Mystery , Book 2
Kensington Books
ISBN: 978-0-7582-8486-0
June 2014
Cozy Mystery

Present Day Kismet, Pennsylvania

More and more sellers of upscale houses and their realtors call upon the services of Caprice De Luca to stage their homes. They generally choose a theme, and Caprice helps them declutter the house and do what it takes to present an attractive package. Her open houses are welcoming events with food catered by her sister Nikki. At present Caprice is marketing a house owned by online matchmaking entrepreneur Eliza Cornwell that is decorated all in shades of purple. Caprice calls on painter Bob Preston when changing the look for the chosen theme, Baroque Bedazzle . Caprice wonders if there is anything between her client and Bob, who has a lady-killer reputation. A little later, she also wonders if Bob has anything to do with the trouble between her sister, Bella, and her husband, Joe. Bella and Bob dated before her marriage, and she was recently seen having coffee with him. When Bob is found dead, Bella and Joe top the police's list of suspects, but Caprice doesn't trust the lead detective to look at anyone else. Didn't she have to prove her friend Roz innocent of killing her husband last May? (See STAGED TO DEATH, December 2013) Against warnings from her family and friends, Caprice sets out to investigate on her own. She finds at least three others with motive to kill Bob.

DEADLY DÉCOR is much more than a mystery. The home-staging business is intriguing and amusing and there is plenty of family dynamic with the large, close De Luca family: grandmother, mother, father, two sisters, brother and a brother-in-law, not to mention the stray animals that Caprice attracts. Then there are the romantic possibilities. Caprice is presently seeing Seth, a doctor at the local urgent care center. But are there any leftover feelings about Grant, her old high school crush who's now her brother's law partner?

I highly recommend DEADLY DÉCOR to you as an entertaining read about the doings of a stubborn, caring, and likeable heroine…and look forward to the next chapter set in this warm, if slightly quirky, small town.

Jane Bowers