ALIBI IN HIGH HEELS

Author: Gemma Halliday ISBN: 9780843958355 3/2008 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: DORCHESTER/MAKING IT

Baguettes, bodies, and haute couture galore! Shoe designer turned amateur sleuth, Maddie Springer, is at it again—this time in fabulously fashionable Paris. When Europe’s designer de jour, Jean Luc LeCroix, invites Maddie to show her creations at Paris Fashion Week, Maddie’s sure she’s died and gone to heaven. That is until Jean Luc’s top model is found dead on the runway, stabbed with a familiar stiletto heel. Sure someone is trying to frame her, Maddie enlists the help of her friends, including the sexy Detective Jack Ramirez, to uncover a daring jewel heist, a devious blackmailer, and even a few skeletons lurking in the closets of those closest to her. But as the evidence mounts, Maddie becomes the prime suspect and Ramirez is stuck between a badge and a cute blonde with a tendency for trouble. Will he stand by her as she attempts to track down an international killer, or will this be the case that finally comes between them? One thing’s for sure, if Maddie doesn’t uncover the real killer soon, she may be saying her final adieu.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

So. ALIBI IN HIGH HEELS intrigues me. Honestly, I can hardly wait for the follow up release because I need to know what happens. No doubt, I will look forward to USA Network developing it into a series on television, too. It is, after all, quirky fun with a dash of spirited characters. But, as much as I enjoy the majority of the book, I have to say that the heroine is a bit too self-absorbed and inconsiderate in this one for me to love it.

I cannot begin to fathom if it is a case of nerves from getting too serious to fast or a character flaw, but the way Maddie treats her man, Jack, in a few scenes of the book is a big turn off. Her antics distract me from the rest of the story and keep me from feeling too sorry for her, even though she is being framed for murder. I know it takes two, and as a busy cop, Jack is often forced to have his relationship with Maddie take a backseat to his job. But when a man drops everything to bail you out of a Paris jail for murder, and you have a serious knack for getting yourself into trouble, I do not think ditching him during an intimate moment so you can make more of a muck out of your life is very nice. And things just go downhill from there.

To be fair, Jack does, at times, treat Maddie like she does not have a brain in her head. But sometimes I think he is right. And Maddie tries to take the interruptions from his job in stride which is, no doubt, difficult at best. So, if I am honest with myself about it, Halliday does such a great job of keeping the tension in their relationship that I keep on reading it, despite my disgust with Maddie herself. I suppose in the grand scheme of things, the spoiled Maddie does not discourage me from needing to read how her life with Jack (or not) and this series ends.

Shannon Johnson