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Category: Mystery
Series: An Isobel Spice Mystery
Author: Joanne Sydney Lessner
In the world of PR, there’s only one crime worse than killing a deal—killing a client. Aspiring actress and office temp Isobel Spice finds a warm welcome at Dove & Flight Public Relations, thanks to her old school friend Katrina Campbell. However, the atmosphere chills considerably when Isobel unwittingly serves an important client a deadly dose of poisoned coffee. Her stalwart temp agent, James Cooke, rushes to her aid, but balks when he learns that the victim was the fraternity brother who got him expelled from college. News that Dove & Flight is being acquired by an international conglomerate quickly supplants the murder as the hot topic of office gossip, but Isobel is convinced the two events are related. When all roads of inquiry lead back to Katrina, Isobel is forced to consider the possibility that her friend’s killer instincts go beyond public relations. Please note: this is a cozy mystery with an edge; contains some adult language.
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Reviewed by Awesome Indies
June 20, 2013
Joanne Sydney Lessner delivers another well-written story with her latest Isobel Spice murder mystery. She’s a kind of a modern day, American and younger version of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple. Isobel a likeable character and the story is very entertaining. It’s well paced and has a strong plot with the kind of surprises one expects in a mystery. It also has a romantic element that is very well done.
I enjoyed meeting Isobel and James again, and the dramatic tension in their relationship was true to form from the first in the series. What I loved most about the book is how Lessner weaves James’s past into the story and how the culmination of the story healed an old wound. Jame’s struggles were in many ways the real guts of this story. The end was excellent, completely unexpected, very dramatic and very satisfying.
This is the second Isobel Spice book I’ve read and the third one written by Joanne Sydney Lessner . All her books are guaranteed good reads, but I have to admit that Bad Publicity isn’t my favourite. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an excellent book, it just didn’t have the cleverness of Pandora’s Bottle or the pizzaz of the Temporary Detective.