Memorabilia to Die For
When A Killing in Costumes crossed my radar, the premise appealed to me. It only took me two and a half years, but I finally picked up the book. While this fiction debut from author Zac Bissonnette had some issues, I enjoyed it overall.
Jay Allan and Cindy Cooper were on their way to being the next Hollywood It couple back in the 90’s. With jobs on a soap opera and a concert tour, they were gaining fans. That is until they divorced when they realized they were both gay. They maintained their friendship, and now they have reunited as business partners to open a Hollywood memorabilia shop in Palm Springs.
However, business isn’t exactly booming, and their store, Hooray for Hollywood, might close if things don’t change soon.
Enter Yana Tosh, a diva who, at ninety, has decided to sell her collection of vintage costumes. She has contacted Cindy and Jay about the job, something they are both eager to tackle since it could spell the salvation of their store. But Yana is considering a larger firm as well, and when their chief competitor dies, the police look at them as suspects. Can Jay and Cindy figure out what really happened?
As I said at the beginning, I mostly enjoyed this book. But there were some weaknesses, mostly in the writing. The style kept me just a little outside the story at times. When we’d get into a scene, I’d feel more at home, but any exposition was less welcoming. I think part of this was due to us being told things instead of shown them. Yes, it really does make a difference.
But I did enjoy the book overall.
We got a couple of chapters introducing the characters, including the suspects and victim, before he dies. Once that happens, we have several great twists along the way to the climax. I was surprised by the ending, but it made sense when Cindy and Jay laid out how they reached that conclusion.
And make no mistake, both Jay and Cindy are lead characters. We get scenes from both of their third person points of view. Their deep friendship comes through easily, and I enjoyed following them around as they solved this case. The rest of the cast are interesting as well, and the suspects kept me guessing.
And there’s the Hollywood component. Anytime there was a mention of a prop or costume from a particular movie, I smiled, even if I hadn’t seen in. Jay especially likes older music, and there is plenty of talk about those songs as the book goes along.
Since this book came out in the summer of 2022, I’m guessing A Killing in Costume is going to wind up being a standalone rather than the first in a series. That’s too bad because I would like to revisit the characters. But this book does leave everyone in a good place, which is nice.
So, if you’ve hesitated to pick up this book, give it a shot. I’m glad I did.
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