36) Iced Chiffon by Duffy Brown

The Blurb :

There's always something to gossip about in Savannah, Georgia, and Reagan Summerside always seems to be in the middle of it. She's busy enough running her consignment shop, the Prissy Fox, with her vivacious auntie, KiKi, but now the gossip--and the sales--are about to pick up, after a gruesome discovery...

Reagan's messy divorce has left her with nothing but a run-down Victorian and a bunch of designer clothes. Strapped for cash, Reagan makes use of the two things she has left, turning the first floor of her home into a consignment shop and filling it with the remnants of her rich-wife wardrobe.

Thans to his cunning lawyer, Walker Boone, her ex got everything else, including the Lexus--not to mention a young blonde cupcake. When Reagan finds the blonde dead in the Lexus, she's determined to beat Boone to finding the murderer. As it turns out, the gossip fiends flooding Reagan's shop can give her a lot more than just their unwanted clothes--they have information more precious than a vintage Louis Vuitton...

My Thoughts :

Cozy Mysteries are my weakness lately. I find myself reading more of them than usual and if they have something supernatural weaved into them I can't wait to get my hands on them. Iced Chiffon is one of those non-paranormal cozies that I was curious about. Curious enough to read and review.

This debut in the Consignment Shop Mysteries started off with enough information to keep me going for a good few chapters. However the information kept piling on. Not really information about the mystery but more about the people in and around Reagan's life. I hardly had time to keep them all in check before a body appeared and Reagan suddenly had a shop in her living room.

Now this isn't say the book wasn't good. I actually did enjoy it. The Savannah setting, the nice characters and the funny elements really made this book shine. However the murder mystery was a little bland for my tastes and I figured things out as soon as the character came into play. It was pretty obvious but I wasn't sure of the motive.

Despite the nice location and players it was a little weird that Reagan seemed to think she was going to lose her house. I couldn't quite get my head around her thinking. I can't believe that with the divorce done and dusted that she didn't have the house completely in her name. Why was she paying for her ex's legal fees? It was a weak reason to get involved in the mystery but it got things started.

All in all this was a nice read but there is some room for improvement. All the main elements are there and I can see the Consignment shop having a nice future but I think I need the second book to make a conclusive decision on this cozy theme and set-up. A nice start that I liked a lot but found some faults with here and there.