Book Review: A Disguise to Die For by Diane Vallere (Costume Shop Mysteries #1)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Fully fleshed out characters; fun setting; wonderful mystery

Cons: Any cons have been disguised

The Bottom Line:

New series debuts

Outstanding characters and

Page turning story

I Won’t Disguise My Love of This Debut

Months ago, Diane Vallere told me about her upcoming Costume Shop Mystery series, and I immediately started looking forward to it because it sounded like a fun setting for a mystery series.  Now that I’ve read A Disguise to Die For, I can tell you it exceeded my expectations.

Margo Tamblyn has returned to her home town of Proper, Nevada, and the family costume shop, Disguise DeLimit.  It’s supposed to be temporary until her father has recovered from a heart attack.  It’s a good thing she is there to help out since Blitz Manners has just placed a rush order for 40 detective costumes for his upcoming birthday party.  The costumes cover the range from books and TV and include many famous detectives.  Blitz himself has reserved the classic Sherlock Holmes costume.

The party has just gotten into full swing when Margo walks into the kitchen to find Blitz dead on the floor and Margo’s friend Ebony standing over the corpse with a knife in her hand.  Naturally, the police begin to look at Ebony as their chief suspect, and a secret in Ebony’s past might be her motive.  However, Margo knows Ebony and knows her friend couldn’t have done it.  Can Margo use detective costumes to bolster her own abilities and figure out which of the other detectives is a killer?

Since I’ve previously read two of Diane’s books, I knew to expect a puzzling mystery with plenty of suspects and red herrings.  On that front, the book delivered perfectly.  I had no clue what was happening until Margo figured it out at the end, yet the ending was perfectly logical with great clues along the way.  I do think one red herring wasn’t completely resolved, although it is a very minor issue that doesn’t truly matter.  And there are some masterful red herrings along the way.

What I think surprised me most about this book was the characters.  There was a depth to them that I don’t usually see in the books I read, and certainly not in the first in a series.  Usually, a debut is just worried about introducing the characters and the setting of the series, and deeper development comes later.  This book delved much deeper than that, yet that development was completely organic to the story and didn’t slow things down at all.  Heck, the victim was even a much fuller character than normal by the time the story was over.

And, of course, the costume aspect was a complete blast.  I’m not much of a costume guy, but that’s because I’m not super creative when it comes to pulling things together like that.  I got a kick out of the detective name dropping that happened in this book, everyone from Sherlock Holmes (obviously) and Miss Marple to Shaft, Columbo, Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames, Frank and Joe Hardy, Veronica Mars, and Trixie Belden.  Yes, that last one is a huge bonus for me since I’m still a huge Trixie Belden fan.  At the end of the book, we get a complete list of the detective costumes mentioned in the book as well as some suggestions for recreating four of them yourself.  Not to mention Margo regularly dresses in costumes, and I always got a kick out of seeing what she’s pick from day to day.

Plus there are also a couple of recipes in the back.  One is guaranteed to give you a great laugh.

I never wanted to put this book down, and the pages flew by all too quickly.  When you pick up A Disguise to Die For, you’ll lose yourself in the costumes and pages.

NOTE: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Giveaway!

Thanks to the publisher, I have one copy of this book to give away.  Because it is a physical book, the contest is limited to residence of the US.

Just leave me a comment with your e-mail address so I can get in touch with you if you win.  I will pick the winner next Tuesday, February 9th, so please leave your comment before 12:01AM Pacific Time on 2/9.  You will have until midnight on 2/14 to get back to me, or I will choose a new winner on 2/15.