Love Is Murder

Rating:
Summary: Fast and Furious Fun
Review: I just read LOVE IS MURDER, and found it a fast, funny read. For a behind-the-scenes look at the writing and production of daytime dramas, it's terrific. For plot twists, quirky characters, and humor, it can't be beat.

Rating:
Summary: Chasing the blues away...
Review: I'd just read a couple of angst-ridden books in a row, and I was looking for something light to cleanse the palate... I picked up Love Is Murder, expecting something light and fluffy -- I had no idea it would be so funny, and such a solid mystery! Good characters whom I bet I could recognize in person, and an interesting mix of people to read about. A solid mystery debut from a writer to watch out for.

Rating:
Summary: A Soapy Spectacular
Review: IÕve never been a big fan of that TV genre known as the soap opera. All those Evil Twins, Secret Weddings, and dramatic Wurlitzer organ trills were, to me, the very worst part of getting sick as a kid. I could deal with nasty-tasting medicines, fevers, aches, even nauseaÑit was hour after hour of Susan Lucci and Luke & Laura on the tube that took all the fun out of a day in bed.

Linda PalmerÕs LOVE IS MURDER, however, could change my mind. This is a terrific debut mystery on every score. Palmer has crafted a wry and sardonic heroine in Morgan Tyler, head writer on the tremendously successful soap LOVE OF MY LIFE (which she is careful never to call anything but a "daytime drama.") A few years after the tragic death of her beloved wildlife-photographer husband, TylerÕs life has become a solitary round of takeout food and marathon sessions at the keyboard. Despite the efforts of her glamorous best friend Nancy, Tyler spends most of her daytime hours shuttling between her apartment and private office, located on separate floors of ManhattanÕs famed Dakota, and buying clothes on QVC and the Home Shopping Network by night.

All this changes when sleazy Damon Radford, universally reviled head of daytime programming for TylerÕs network, is nearly killed by a hit-and-run driver. Before you can say "Love Child with Amnesia," TylerÕs narrowly escaped her own death by car, gotten asked out by the lead homicide detective, become the chief suspect in his investigation, and eaten Cuban food with his wacky Aunt Penny. And all thatÕs *before* the bookÕs first murder.

Linda Palmer is a writer whose prose snaps and crackles. She grounds this mystery in just enough concrete back-stage detail to make the world of soaps come alive (from ad-libbed Emmy speeches to making stories peak in May, November and February), without ever letting up on plot tension. SheÕs got New York down so cold it made me homesick, and has quite a way with a one-liner. But best of all, sheÕs rendered a cast of characters I canÕt wait to see more of: the annoyingly blonde and svelte sidekick Nancy, the only slightly disturbed Aunt Penny, the pair of hunky guys ultimately vying for TylerÕs attention, and of course feisty Tyler herself.

I very much hope that this series is as long-lived as the fictional soap itÕs centered around (that would be three decades and counting). Linda Palmer writes such a cozy great page-turner, I might even give the soaps another try the next time IÕm stricken with a nasty bug on a school dayÑeven though IÕm a grownup, now, with cable.

Rating:
Summary: amusing chick-lit amateur sleuth
Review: She married her photojournalist husband when she was nineteen and spent most of the years they had together taking incredible pictures in the wilds of Africa. When he dies in an automobile accident, Morgan Tyler returns to the United States and moves in with her best friend until she can decide what she wants to do with her life. The head writer of the soap opera Love of My Life takes her under his wing and teaches her the ropes. When he is paralyzed due to a heart attack, she becomes the show's news head writer.

Damon Radord, Vice President of Daytime Programming, thinks every woman in the world loves him. Morgan constantly ducks his passes but when he is murdered she feels no joy. The two homicide detectives assigned to the case think she is a viable suspect because of all the alterations they had in front of witnesses. When a second person connected to the show is killed, Morgan decides that the only way to clear her name and stop living in fear is to find the perpetrator, only this time she comes closer to dying than she ever did before.

This debut chick-lit mystery is an amusing amateur sleuth tale that gives readers an insider's look at what goes on behind the scenes of a soap opera. The protagonist is a vulnerable person who attracts the attention of two sexy men and doesn't know how to deal with it since she never dated a lot before she married her husband. LOVE IS MURDER is a great puzzler with so many suspects who had a motive to see the victim dead that readers won't be able to guess who the killer is until the author chooses to reveal the perpetrator. Linda Palmer's first novel is a definite winner.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Hang on
Review: This book will keep you up all night reading. Once you start reading it you can't put it down.