 |
||
 |
||
|
|
||
Critic's Corner
|
|
True crime writer and sometime-sleuth Bailey Weggins took the media and mystery worlds by storm in Kate White's sexy and suspenseful debut novel, "If Looks Could Kill." In "‘Till Death Do Us Part," Bailey takes the plunge into a world of designer wedding dresses, domestic divas, and deadly nuptial doings. Bailey Weggins writes for Gloss magazine. Her pieces are gritty true crime, and human-interest stories. She's not connected to the glittery, glossy stuff. She's a Manhattan woman in her early 30s with friends in high places. She was one of five bridesmaids for Peyton Cross when she married David Slavin, a much older and richer man. Peyton Cross-Slavin is a piece of work. She is dubbed the next Martha Stewart with her fancy catering business in an upscale Greenwich, Connecticut community. Peyton is a control freak in every sense of the word. Bailey knows just how controlling Peyton is because she was her roommate at Brown University. Peyton's wedding was, of course, a lavish affair perfect down to the smallest detail. But that was last April and it is now winter. All may not be paradise in the Slavin household, but on the surface one might not realize this. Bailey learns that Jamie Howe, also a bridesmaid at Peyton's wedding, died in an accidental electrocution in her own apartment. It seems a radio fell into Jamie's bathtub. The police find no evidence of foul play. Then, another of Peyton's bridesmaids meets a sudden death. Robin Lolly expires from an allergic reaction to something she either ate or drank. Again, the police rule the death accidental. It is at this point, Ashley Hanes contacts Bailey to tell her she needs help. Ashley, you guessed it, was also a bridesmaid at the Cross-Slavin wedding. It seems Ashley feels neither Jamie nor Robin's deaths were accidental. Now, Ashley is as slim as a French baguette, haughty and the kind of woman who would meet you at a party and look right through you, as if you were a potted palm, but now she needs help from the one person she knows who has the courage to seek the truth. Ashley also has something that could be a clue to why she believes that both Jamie and Robin were murdered and that she and Bailey could be next in line. Ashley requests Bailey go with her to Greenwich to look into the deaths—see if she also feels there is a connection. Bailey believes the deaths are no more than a dreadful coincidence—but tells Ashley she will go see Peyton and make some inquiries. At Peyton's farm home, Ashley falls from a balcony and now three bridesmaids are dead! Since there were only five to begin with, Bailey now feels certain foul play is involved. She sets out to find the killer and the illusive motive for such seemingly senseless murders. Oh yes, it is murder. Bailey is being stalked in both New York and in Connecticut. Her car is run off the road in the middle of a blizzard, then someone tries to kill her in Manhattan, but why? Who? What does the killer think Bailey knows now that she's talked with Ashley? Could something, as Ashley believed, have happened at Peyton's wedding that only the bridesmaids might have seen and not realized what they were seeing? White takes readers deep into the fascinating world of the rich and famous as her protagonist races one step ahead of the grim-reaper to solve murders without obvious motives. Well, of course, motives exist, and every character who enters the story appears to have one or more for killing the bridesmaids. Suspense, chills, and more than one spill make "‘Til Death Do Us Part," a hot page-turner. White proves she is more than just a two-book novelist. Bailey Weggins is a protagonist readers will root for right up to the surprising resolution. White is also the editor in chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, and shows her wit and skill with a divinely crafted story filled with details only a writer with her background would know. You won't find a better summer read than "‘Till Death Do Us Part." Copyright May 25, 2004, all rights reserved Save Up to 30% on this book at Amazon.com Jones is a published writer and book reviewer for Tulsa World newspaper. To comment on this review you may email pattij777@aol.com |
|
|
