Handbags and Homicide by Dorothy Howell (2008, Hardcover)

What's not to like about a mystery where the heroine's best friend recommends that she sell stuff on eBay to help recoup the rent money she's spent on expensive designer handbags?

Haley Randolph suffers from an upscale addiction: She's a self-professed "handbag whore" who's just gotta have it, whether it's the newest red leather Notorious bag or her own personal Holy Grail, the Louis Vuitton organizer. She's even taken a second job at the midrange Holt's department store so she can buy everyone she knows a genuine designer handbag for Christmas. Oh, and then there's that little miscalculation with her checking account; the bank would really like her to repay their $800 overdraft. Preferably right now.

Then she loses her primary job at prestigious Pike Warner -- "the biggest and best law firm in the entire world" -- and finds the ultimate fashion victim, a dead body in the stockroom at Holt's, where the security videotapes show only her being present before, during, and after the murder. Suddenly the 20-something slacker's charmed life is going to hell in a handbag.

"Stephanie Plum goes retail," gushes one of the book's review blurbs, and it's not far from the truth. Haley's efforts to find the killer and avoid having to actually wait on customers make for a funny and fast-paced read, and even the minor characters are very well drawn. I particularly liked Bella the hair queen and "the girl who lost 30 pounds" who is always seen in the break room, eating.

The ending is something of a cliffhanger (which hopefully was setting the tone for the book's sequel) but the rest of "Homicide and Handbags" was an entirely satisfactory experience as well as a vicarious shopping trip that cured me of wanting anything at retail price for the foreseeable future. But that's just me. If you're looking for a fun new cozy, then you're sure to enjoy the ride plus quite a few laughs along the way.

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I love this book! Heroine Haley Randolph is fascinating. She is a snob, a compulsive shopper and spender, somewhat of an airhead, and she lies constantly. I don't think many people would want to date Haley or be her BFF, but reading about her attempts to solve a murder --- as well as attract a boyfriend and keep a job --- are laugh-out-loud funny. I crack up just thinking about Haley finding a co-worker, Richard, "in women's lingerie." Richard's dead body is lying in the women's lingerie section of a department store stockroom, but of course from the way Haley phrases it everyone thinks Richard is WEARING women's lingerie, so throughout the book people keep asking Haley if it's true she found Richard "wearing fishnets and a thong," and Haley can't understand how that rumor got started! Haley's irresponsible twenty-something is a fresh voice in the women's cozy genre at a time when many cozy heroines are starting to sound the same. I can't wait to read the second book. This is a series that definitely stands out in a crowd!