Designer Dirty Laundry: A Samantha Kidd Mystery (A Killer Fashion Mystery)

Humor abounds in this delightful book, the first in this series. Samantha Kidd was a shoe buyer but is now turning her eye towards becoming a trend specialist. Moving to her old hometown and starting a new job is all part of her career plan. Finding the body of the man who hired her and was to be her boss wasn't! She becomes the prime suspect in his murder because she has no proof that he really hired her and the store has no paperwork either. With the help of shoe designer, Nick Taylor she starts to get her life back together and find out what is behind the murder. Love these characters and the fashion background they are in. They are fun, wacky and very real. The fashion background will keep you laughing as you see what Samantha goes thru for her love of it and the murder plots are uniquely twisted. A joy to read!

Samantha Kidd leaves her sixty-hour-a-week job as a buyer for a major New York store to work as a trend specialist for a store in her old home town. Her first day on the job, things start going wrong. Within minutes, she sees her new boss lying dead in an elevator. In a light mystery like this, the author has to walk a fine line between trivializing death and loss, and writing humor around it rather than about it. Samantha’s reaction to her boss’s death is human, appropriate for the level of connection she had to him. It’s an effective beginning which made me care about both the main character and the mystery. As a narrator, she’s likeable and energetic, with a self-deprecating sense of humor. Her personal story is engaging—in one career move she is both starting over and coming home. She’s better cut out for being a trend expert than a detective, but her motive for trying to take on that role is solid. It would be a spoiler if I told you more, but she couldn’t possibly have a higher personal stake. In an amateur sleuth story, I find it more believable when the amateur is highly motivated like this, and when she isn’t always good at detecting—doesn’t completely outsmart the professionals. In her determined effort figure out who committed the crime and why, Samantha makes progress but also misses major clues and makes a few near-fatal mistakes. Though a couple of details in the final resolution of the mystery stretched my suspension of disbelief, the plot kept me turning pages, curious what would happen next. I was rooting for Samantha to notice those clues she overlooked. Even though I’d picked up on them, I still didn’t know whodunit, only that these things were clues to something. Overall, this book is tightly crafted. The characters are colorful but not caricatured, and the romance subplot shows promise for the series. I enjoyed the setting in the fashion industry. It’s fun when a protagonist has profession about which I was previously ignorant, and I learn something about it in the course of the story. A cozy mystery with good characters is like a well-made dessert with quality ingredients. Indulge yourself in this one: it’s a delightful treat.

I recently discovered this series and this was a fun read. I liked Samantha Kidd and I laughed but I felt she really was her own worst enemy at times and her avoiding the police and the mortgage company was juvenile but I'm hoping as I read this series to see growth.

I have read many books by the author Diane Vallere from her other series, but had not had the chance until now to read a book from the Samantha Kidd series. Wow am I glad I did@ This is a fun series with really crazy, quirky characters. Poor Samantha left a high-end fashion job in the city to move back to her home town and start over with less stress. She was hired by Patrick at Tardiva as his Trend Specialist. But the interview and all conversations her future boss had with her were in the parking lot of the store. So when she arrived the first day, no one knew she worked there or was hired by Patrick. But to make matters worse, as she is waiting for the elevator with a shoe designer, Nick, who she remembered from buying his product when she worked in NY, the elevator opens and there is her new boss lying on the elevator floor dead. They call the authorities, and when they arrive the body has disappeared with an EMT that showed up before the police.Now they think Samantha is a little off! And there is NO evidence she is even employed at the store, not with Human Resources or anyone in the store at all. But she meets Eddie who takes her by the arm and steers her to a coffe shop. I loved the character of Eddy as strange a surfer dude type that he is, there is a great backstory between Samantha and Eddy. There are so many twists and turns and red-herrings while a designer competition worth $100,000 is going on. Samantha has a very high moral code and feels she must carry one and help with the competition since that is what her dead boss would have had her do. We meet many characters some who aren't who they seem but who murdered Patrick and when she goes around asking questions, could she be next! I loved this book and now I am reading more in this series! I liked it so much that not only did I receive an ARC from the author, but I also purchased the book! The opinions stated here are stricly my own.

Great start to a new series. Can competitiveness be taken to far? Can Sam find the killer and clear her name before it's too late? There are enough twists and turns to give you whiplash. Great heroine who stands up not only for herself but for anyone who is the underdog. For all lovers of cozy mysteries especially if you have an interest in fashion.

Keeps you guessing all the way, easy reading keeps you turning the pages waiting for the next twist in the tale

There were no clues along the way to keep the reader guessing as to “who dunit”. The main character was supposed to have been a hot shot fashionista in New York and yet now she thinks that ignoring the phone calls from the Mortgage company will solve her problems. A lame story at best.

Holiday read.