Good old-fashioned murder lurks behind the Old World charm of Santa Fe, New Mexico. And nobody knows that better than former attorney turned consignment-shop owner—and part-time amateur sleuth—Irene Seligman.
When New York assistant DA Irene Seligman moved home to take care of her demanding mother, Adelle, she thought she was leaving a world of corruption and violence behind. But after opening her store, Irene’s Closet, and getting reacquainted with the locals, she learns that something’s rotten in sunny Santa Fe. Even upstanding citizens like her friend Juanita Calabaza, a Native American artisan, can’t seem to escape the decidedly unfashionable surge in crime.
Juanita’s handcrafted jewelry has been known to catch the eye of many a tourist on the plaza in Santa Fe’s historic district. But lately she’s been attracting the wrong kind of attention . . . from the police. With her son missing after falling in with a bad crowd, Juanita foretells the death of one of his associates—which comes back to haunt her when the scumbag actually turns up dead. Now Juanita’s trading in her turquoise beads for an orange jumpsuit, and Irene will need to call upon all her old investigative skills to clear Juanita’s name—before her friend pays the ultimate price.
____________________
Today, when I thought about how to write up this book review, a sentence kept popping into my head
Watch out for a lady in elaborate dressing gown and high heeled sleepers
I am not crazy, nor am I going to give you any spoilers and explain what I mean. Just humour me, watch out for this wonder-lady (not woman, but LADY).
If I ever decide to buy this book I would buy it for my girlfriends, for all of us who have mums still with us. This book, besides being an interesting and informative read (on Native American culture) and being a crime novel to boot, is a good, a feel-good story about mother-daughter relationships.
Accessories to Die For is a revelation of sorts. Appearances can be deceiving, both in a good and in a bad way. Also, people never fail to surprise us. Sometimes, our stereotypes and our life experiences are working against us. We need to stop, to inhale and to listen.. Life just might be not that bad.
At the end of the novel everything turned out well. Murderers were caught. Accessories were returned. Mothers and children were reunited. All is well that ends well.
Hopefully, there will be more in store for main characters in the next book.
All in all, I found this book a very nice read. Reading along I stopped paying attention to the language, to the narration of murder and investigation and became more interested and involved with the lady in high heels sleepers and her relationship with her daughter. I was waiting for surprise from this corner and surprise I got.
Have a read, be surprised.
Svetlana Tishchenko 