G.A. McKevett, Murder a la Mode

Murder a la Mode

G.A. McKevett

Kensington, Jan 2005, $22.00, 266 pp.

ISBN: 0758204604

When the sleuthing business or a stakeout is at a lull, private investigator Savannah Reid passes the time reading steamy romance novels. Though she insists she reads the books, her friends believe that she only buys novels to gaze lovingly at the cover picture when Lance Roman is the model. Her friends Ryan Stone and John Gibson know about her fantasy so arrange as a birthday present for Savannah to be a contestant on a reality show in which the prize is Lance.

Savannah wants to win the prize badly and makes every effort to use her southern charm on Lance. However, her endeavor takes a back seat when someone kills a show's producer Tess with fudge ice cream as the murder weapon; the body is left in a freezer that could only have been loaded by a Texan. Savannah begins investigating the homicide even as she continues to play the Georgia peach with Lance.

This is a terrific Savannah Reid who-done-it as the heroine combines her sleuthing skills with her southern charm to impress her fantasy lover. The entertaining storyline grips the reader as Savannah cannot resist the lure of a murder investigation or the lure of the cover model. Fans of the series will enjoy her latest binge while newcomers will get a taste of one of the better continuing female private investigators on the market today.

Harriet Klausner