Homicide and Old Lace (Mandy Dyer Mystery)

Rating:
Summary: another terrific Mandy Dyer book
Review: Olivia Torkelson needs her grandmother's wedding dress dry cleaned and altered so that she can wear it for her own upcoming wedding. Dyer's Cleaners was recommended highly for the job, and Mandy Dyer expected nothing form this job except a big cheque. And then Mandy discovers that naive and vulnerable Olivia is marrying Mandy's womanising ex-husband! Although Mandy's natural inclination is to backout of the whole transaction, she allows herself to be persuaded that a 'job is a job' and to carry on with the alterations and to just avoid running into her sleaze bag ex-husband, Larry Landry.

Unfortunately, circumstances force Mandy into delivering the wedding dress personally, and this inevitably leads, several hours later, to Mandy discovering the bride-to-be in all her wedding glory dead with caddish Larry standing over the body! The police seem to have narrowed the suspects down to Larry and Mandy. And in spite of Mandy's policeman boyfriend's displeasure at her involvement, Mandy feels that she has to discover who murdered Olivia. The suspects are many-- from the second bitter ex-Mrs. Landry to Olivia's old boyfriend. Mandy first thought is that someone is trying to frame Larry; and then there is a second dead body and it looks as if someone is actually trying to frame her!

A good mystery and a fun read.

Rating:
Summary: Original plot, and amazing characters
Review: One way I know if I like a book is how many paragraphs or pages I skim or skip. Simply put, the more I skim, the further the book sinks. No problems here!

One thing about the Mandy Dyer Mysteries is that they simply get better as the series progresses. I did not find myself skimming because her characters were interesting and drove the book.

This time, Mandy is confronted with the dilemma of cleaning the wedding gown of her ex-husband's fiancee. She tells herself that business is business and takes the job anyway. But in true Mandy Dyer fashion, she finds herself involved in a murder investigation when she walks in on her ex-husband leaning over the dead body of his fiancee on their wedding day.

As if that is not bad enough, Mandy begins to realize that someone is carefully setting her up to take the fall for this murder. As the noose tightens and all fingers point to her as the jealous ex-wife out for revenge, Mandy must use all her resources to find the killer and save herself.

I simply loved the interactions of all the characters in this book, especially between Betty the bag lady and Mandy's mother. Two women,who in their effort to help Mandy out of her dilemma end up causing her more trouble. They are two women from different ends of the spectrum and reading their verbal exchanges will have you laughing. I recommend this book to anyone who likes mystery heavily laced with fun.

Rating:
Summary: another terrific Mandy Dyer book
Review: This is another terrific entry in the Mandy Dyer drycleaning series. (And if you think drycleaning is dull, you need to hang out with Mandy a little more!) The book is well-written, with believable characters and some nice twists that had me guessing right up to the end.

Rating:
Summary: A delightful book--good characters & a good mystery
Review: This is the first Mandy Dyer mystery I've read. I immediately ordered 2 more. The characters are well written, the mystery doesn't bog down, and I find I am interested in seeing how the characters evolve.
Mandy Dyer-owner of Dyers Cleaners-is brought a dress to clean & alter for a 'new bride'. Along the way, she finds out the groom is her lying, cheating, ex-husband. When murder is discovered, she's right there. Did the murderer send the bride to her shop? Was the bride aware of who Mandy was? Does Mandy's relationship with her (cop) boyfriend sink or float? These questions and more keep the book hopping. It was a great read.