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CATS/CHICK LIT/COZY/
HUMOR MYSTERY
death by pantyhose
Freelance writer Jaine Austen gets a job writing jokes for a female stand-up comic--only to discover that comedy is no laughing matter when her client gets arrested for strangling her arch rival with a pair of control top pantyhose.  Join Jaine in her latest adventure as she juggles murder and romance--not to mention her ever-rambunctious cat Prozac--in this lighthearted but lethal romp.
Read A Review:

Dorcas hires copywriter Jaine Austen to write stand-up comedy jokes for her act. Jaine soon finds that her feminist act isn't good and she throws pantyhose at the audience. But Jaine is desperate for work, so she sticks it out.

She'd gone for an interview with a large ad agency. She ended up missing the interview because of mistaken identity and gets her Corolla stolen to boot.

Vic, another comedian, is funny but very arrogant. Jaine dislikes how he humiliates Dorcas. Everyone is stunned when he introduces his new beautiful blonde agent and announces they're engaged, especially his current agent Manny and his girlfriend Allison.

When Vic is found dead with pantyhose around his neck, Dorcas is the prime suspect. Since Jaine has done some investigating in the past, she sets out to find the killer. There seem to be quite a few people who wanted him dead, providing for plenty of twists and turns.

Add in Andrew, Jaine's love, is in town for a short while, but Samantha, his ex-girlfriend at the bank is determined to keep them apart. Then there's always something going on with her parents.

This series is so much fun. I really like Jaine. Her parents are a hoot. The author did a great job of creating Vic to be someone just about everyone would want dead. Made it difficult to figure out the identity of the killer before it was revealed. Great job!

I highly recommend this great cozy series and this book in particular.

Dawn Dowdle


Levine’s acerbic comedy-writing skills give a cutting edge to her series.

The New York Times Book Review


At the outset of Levine's fun sixth Jaine Austen cozy (after 2006's The PMS Murder), the L.A. freelance writer takes a low-paying gig writing jokes for Dorcas MacKenzie, a standup comic who uses pantyhose in her act. When Dorcas's  comic archrival Vic is found dead—strangled by, you guessed it, a pair of control-top hose—Jaine determines to clear her new client's name. Vic was a sleazeball survived by plenty of enemies–cum–likely suspects, including his jilted girlfriend, Allison; the waitress he was bonking on the side; his writer, Hank; and his discarded agent, Manny. Parental e-mails, tangles with a potential beau and cuddling with her cat, Prozac, distract Jaine from the mystery, but the digressions also humanize the protagonist. Jaine's dogged sleuthing and screwball antics will entertain fans of this fizzy series. (June)

FROM PUBLISHES WEEKLY, APRIL 9