Haute Time in a Small Town
Style and fashion are not things that have been at the top of most people’s minds this year since we are spending so much time at home. But a good mystery never goes out of style, so I picked up Some Like it Haute, the fourth in the Samantha Kidd Mysteries, expecting to have a great time.
Samantha Kidd has landed yet another temporary job in her home town of Ribbon, Pennsylvania. This time, she’s helping her ex-boyfriend’s maybe ex-girlfriend prepare a fashion show. Amanda is going to turn heads with this collection – assuming nothing goes wrong before then. Samantha thinks everything is going well, so she is surprised when she is fired the night before the big event. Then she is attacked on her way out to her car as she leaves. But when disaster strikes the show, Samantha begins to suspect that something larger is at work. Can she figure out what is going on?
This book did start out with one of my least favorite storytelling techniques – putting Samantha in a situation and then backtracking to see how she got there. (15 plus years later, and I’m still not over Alias season 3, which WAY over used that.) Fortunately, it was only a couple of chapters before we were up to date and could move forward, so this is a minor issue.
And what a plot we got. It really does jump right into the story, and Samantha is moving from one suspect or event to another non-stop as she tries to figure out just who attacked her, why, and how it ties into what happened at the show. The climax was suspenseful and completely satisfying.
Even with the fast pace, we still had time for character growth. It was nice to see Samantha mature a little over the course of this book. We see a bit more of some of the supporting characters in the series as well, but this is really Samantha’s show, as is usually the case for the books in this series. Not that this is a complaint in any way. The rest of the cast feel real as we are reading the book.
I’m a guy, so fashion isn’t exactly my thing. Here, it is the background to the mystery, and I didn’t feel like I was missing anything by not being more knowledgeable on the subject. At the same time, I was impressed with how Samantha’s expertise lead her to pick up on a couple of clues.
Some Like it Haute is a wonderful mystery from start to finish. It will capture your attention and leave you ready to find out what happens to Samantha next.
Be sure to check out the rest of the Samantha Kidd Mysteries.
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