Review and Giveaway: Laced With Poison

Laced With Poison (Sweet Nothings Lingerie Mystery - Book 2) by Meg London

Publication Date: July 2, 2013
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley Prime Crime
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Pages: 304
ISBN-10: 0425252140
ISBN-13: 978-0425252147

(Received for an honest review from Berkley Prime Crime)

Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, IndieBound

Meg London on the WEB (aka Peg Cochran): Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Cozy Mystery

Books in the series:

Murder Unmentionable (2012), Laced With Poison (2013)

Coverart: Click the image for a larger, clearer view of the covers in this series.

Excerpt from Laced with Poison, courtesy of Amazon's Look Inside Feature

Synopsis:

You’re invited to the Sweet Nothings trunk show. See what the shop has to offer, taste some wonderful food, catch up with friends, and solve a murder…
 
Emma Taylor is happy to be drawing in customers at her aunt Arabella’s lingerie shop, Sweet Nothings, but replacing the store’s broken window is going to cost a small fortune. Hoping to hoist up their sagging profits, Arabella arranges to have a trunk show at the home of a local socialite who will invite all of her friends and take care of the catering. All Emma and Arabella have to do is show up and show off their wares. Seems simple enough…
 
A gorgeous spread is prepared for the event, including delicious cupcakes topped with edible flowers. But after one of the partygoers takes a bite and winds up dead, the guest list becomes a suspect list. Now Emma must separate facts from idle gossip before the killer gives the cops the slip…

Thoughts:

Meg London takes readers back to Paris, Tennessee and the Sweet Nothings lingerie shop. Laced With Poison is the second book in this inventive cozy mystery series. Readers have seen cozy heroines/heroes with an array of professions from small town chefs to dog walkers, but this series features an amateur sleuth that has a penchant for unmentionables. Emma Taylor and her aunt Arabella know a thing or two about vintage underclothing and they aren't afraid to share it. But when cupcakes, edible flowers and lingerie end up in murder, is it too much to bare? LOL...

I couldn't help myself with that little comment. I really enjoyed the whole idea of a cozy mystery series set in a lingerie shop. I thought cozy authors had dreamed up just about every profession they could think of until I saw the Sweet Nothings series. Not only is it a very well written series, but it has a lighthearted feel that is often missing from most murder mysteries. Laced With Poison is about more than just lingerie.

In this particular novel the person murdered isn't a model or a socialite at all. She is the administrator of an assisted living facility. I certainly didn't see that one coming. I liked the fact the author used one of her characters, Sylvia as an inside informant so to speak since she lived at the facility. It was also great to see London use a character that isn't typical. Sylvia is a older woman who has some issues of her own and I thought that was a great touch.

The mystery aspect of the book was written well and provided the reader with a good list of suspects and motives. London was able to interject the lingerie theme throughout the book, without overwhelming the reader with it. It was a part of the book but not the main focus. This one wasn't easy to figure out, because their were so many people who had something to gain from the murder. I like it when it isn't easy to decide whodunit. 

The characters in this series give it a certain flair and flirtatiousness that is unexpected and endearing. The sweet southern charm and small town feel of the series is also mush appreciated by fans of the cozy genre. I like the innovative nature of the book and the voice the author gives her story. I look forward to more great mysteries in this series. If London stays on the same track with this one, I think there will be many great lingerie mysteries to come.

Laced With Poison is available NOW from your favorite bookseller.

I'm giving this one 5 out of 5 apples from my book bag!

About the Author:

Meg London is a pseudonym for Peg Cochran. Peg grew up in aNew Jersey suburb about 25 miles outside of New York City. After college, she moved to the City where she managed anart gallery owned by the son of the artist Henri Matisse. When her first daughter, Francesca, arrived, the new familymoved back to the New Jersey suburbs where her seconddaughter, Annabelle, was born. 

After her husband died, Peg remarried and her new husbandtook a job in Grand Rapids, Michigan where they now live (onexile from NJ as she likes to joke). Somehow Peg managed tosegue from the art world to marketing and is now the managerof marketing communications for a company that providesservices to seniors. She also added to her family with abeautiful stepdaughter who is an interior designer in theD.C. area, and a very handsome stepson who is an arborist inMaine. The family got even bigger with the arrival ofFrancescas first daughter, Camille.

When shes not writing, Peg can usually be foundcooking, which she loves.

Giveaway Details:

The publisher is sponsoring a giveaway for one copy of Laced With Poison by Meg London.

~You must be an email subscriber to participate.
~US addresses only (publisher request).
~The deadline to enter this giveaway is Midnight EST, July 23rd.

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