Death Brims over (Brenda Midnight Mysteries)

Rating:
Summary: Funny female amateur sleuth
Review: Brenda Midnight is a Greenwich Village hatmaker who gets robbed of a piece of beaded lace and then finds her best friend, who gave her the lace to work on, killed. From there on it's a comic mystery. The information about the Seventh Avenue and Greenwich Village fashion scene was interesting. There's a wonderful snooty law firm that presents a facade of upmarket efficiency but where nobody really knows what they're doing. (She fakes her way into a job there and pretends to be operating a computer). I was reminded of Sparkle Hayter by the downtown Manhatten milieu, and, to be honest, by the tendency to substitute eccentricity for characterization. ("Slaves of New York" had another Greenwich Village hatmaker).
The plot is fantastic but tight and logically coherent.
I enjoyed this and will be looking for more. The missing star is only because Janet Evanovich and Sue Grafton write within this same category and something has to be reserved for them.

Rating:
Summary: Funny female amateur sleuth
Review: Brenda Midnight is a Greenwich Village hatmaker who gets robbed of a piece of beaded lace and then finds her best friend, who gave her the lace to work on, killed. From there on it's a comic mystery. The information about the Seventh Avenue and Greenwich Village fashion scene was interesting. There's a wonderful snooty law firm that presents a facade of upmarket efficiency but where nobody really knows what they're doing. (She fakes her way into a job there and pretends to be operating a computer). I was reminded of Sparkle Hayter by the downtown Manhatten milieu, and, to be honest, by the tendency to substitute eccentricity for characterization. ("Slaves of New York" had another Greenwich Village hatmaker).
The plot is fantastic but tight and logically coherent.
I enjoyed this and will be looking for more. The missing star is only because Janet Evanovich and Sue Grafton write within this same category and something has to be reserved for them.

Rating:
Summary: Serious crime, comical story
Review: Brenda Midnight is proof that while one can mourn the loss of a friend, life does go on, and even in mourning, there's humor left to life. As Brenda solves her friend's murder, she teams up with quirky allies and bad guys and absurd plot twists.

It's all in good fun.

Rating:
Summary: A very pleasant surprise
Review: I admit it - after reading the back cover, I was expecting this to be just another forgettable, gimmicky, amateurish foray into mystery fiction. I was very pleasantly surprised. Wilson's distinct style comes through right away, and she gives milliner Brenda Midnight an excellent voice that makes her fun to get to know as she discovers strengths she never knew she possessed.

Brenda Midnight owns Midnight Millinery - the Greenwich Village hat shop from which she took her name - and the book opens with Brenda working diligently on the bridal veil for the high-profile, high-profit wedding her dress designer friend Carla won the contract on. This brief intro takes us right into the mystery action as a woman dressed from head to toe in hot pink bursts into the shop, pulls a gun on Brenda, and demands all of the hats for the wedding party. Once Brenda gets over the initial shock of being robbed, she tries to consult Carla on a plan of action for salvaging the wedding, which is just a few days away, only to discover that Carla has been freshly murdered.

To make matters worse, if you can imagine that, Carla bled all over the bridal gown, and the police eschew Brenda's Lady in Pink connection to follow up on bogus accusations that Carla was a prostitute with drug connections. Brenda must now deal with an irate bride and her mother, the ruin of her reputation in the fashion industry, and the loss of her close friend whose name is being dragged through very muddy headlines. Unable to concentrate on her fall line of hats, Brenda turns to her ex-boyfriend Johnny, who isn't a detective but played one on TV once, for help finding the Lady in Pink and restoring Carla's reputation.

What ensues is madness. Brenda impersonates a legal temp in search of a connection between the bride and the Lady in Pink and falls for the law firm's computer consultant, who may or may not be involved in Carla's murder. Brenda's computer nerd friend hacks into the law firm's personnel files, teams up with Carla's artist neighbor to turn Brenda's shop into a desktop publishing studio, and tries to get Brenda and Johnny back together. Johnny, researching his next cop role, buddies up with the investigating officers and, with his agent's help, gets them back on track and locates a connection to an infamous hit man named Snake. (I don't want to spoil it for you by revealing any details, but Snake's non-hostage scene had me laughing out loud.) Also in the mix are an obnoxious yuppie intent on procuring Carla's condo, a secretary intent on blackmailing her boss for a trip to Europe, a philandering art gallery owner, a tiny canine bundle of energy named Jackhammer, a box of hand-sewn silk ties, an estate collection of medieval textiles, an Internet romance, and a dispute over an ugly shag rug.

Wilson deftly combines serious reflection on death and crime with fun potshots at the conventions of the modern mystery novel. The characters are quirky and full of surprises, adding texture without being annoying, and Greenwich Village itself lends character to the book's events. The pacing was excellent, and I thoroughly enjoyed Wilson's witty use of the language. I hope the rest of the series is as good as this one.

(adapted from a "Skullduggery" review)

Rating:
Summary: Serious crime, comical story
Review: I bought this book on a whim, thinking that the plot synopsis sounded interesting enough to give it a try. I wasn't particularly expecting anything great, but was very pleasantly surprised by the story. It grabbed my interest right from the first page, and drew me in. The Brenda Midnight character came across as someone who was willing to go out and be herself, but was also not a character so gung-ho about doing everything that she would grate on my nerves. Just enough of both spunk and a certain amount of worry to seem very real. And I liked the fact that some of what happened to her - and what caused her to be heralded as a heroine - just fell into her lap by accident. She didn't solve everything by brilliant deduction.

Rating:
Summary: Lame
Review: The series has potential, but the first book was very lame.

From the weak plot to the one-dimensional characters, the book lacked any depth. There was so much silliness -- from the cops who "forgot" to withhold something from the public to the way Brenda finagles her way into a temp job at the law firm to the private eye wannabe ex-boyfriend -- and it just kept getting more ridiculous as it went along.

I certainly hope this series improves as it goes along, because it really does have potential.