MURDER WEARS A LITTLE BLACK DRESS by Debra Sennefelder is the first novel in the Resale Boutique Series. The novel is due out on January 22nd 2019 by Lyrical Underground.
After getting fired from her coveted job as a fashion buyer, Kelly Quinn abandons New York City and moves back to her small hometown of Lucky Cove. As if getting fired wasn’t bad enough, Kelly’s grandma has recently passed away and left her consignment shop to her granddaughter. Kelly is trying to turn the consignment shop into an upscale boutique, but things don’t quite go as planned. When a local psychic tries on a little black dress and has a vision of a man being murdered, Kelly’s shop suddenly becomes the newest paranormal hotspot on Long Island. Kelly finds herself caught up in a murder investigation when she stumbles upon the psychic’s murdered cousin and finds herself at the top of the police’s suspect list. It’s up to Kelly to clear her name before the killer catches up to her.
MURDER WEARS A LITTLE BLACK DRESS is a light, quick read. There is enough suspense and action to make it a page turner. I finished the novel in one day. The novel is well plotted, and Sennefelder kept a good balance between Kelly’s amateur investigation, her personal life, and her work on revamping and running the consignment shop. Kelly also has a believable reason to get involved in the murder investigation – she not only finds the two dead bodies, but she is a suspect in both of them. The murders are also having a negative affect on her consignment shop – the first victim’s cousin had a psychic vision in Kelly’s store about a man being murdered, and this drives away paying customers while drawing in crowds of looky-loos and fans of the paranormal. The paranormal aspects added an extra element that kept things exciting. My only issue was the killer’s identity – I didn’t feel like there was enough detail and setup to make the reveal believable and reasonable.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.