Decorating Schemes (Book 2 in the Deadly Decor Series) by Ginny Aiken
Description:
Haley Farrell's life is back on track. Cleared of any involvement in the murder of her best friend, Haley has found loyal decorating clients and has taken over a successful auction house. Life is good--even if she does have to deal with good-looking but infuriating general contractor Dutch Merrill once again.
Review:
Since September is supposed to be the month I review my unread book by authors that start with an "A," I am finally getting to read the second book in Ginny Aiken's Deadly Decor series. The main character is Haley, a preacher's daughter who lives at home with her father, runs a interior design business, owns an antique business, and dabbles in crime solving on the side. Once again she ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time and stubbles on a dead body at a home she was hired to design. Even though the trauma of the discovery is difficult for her to handle, Haley can't let it go and works behind the scenes to try to solve the crime.
Aiken has created some very memorable and likeable characters: a crime-solving wanna-be neighbor, a gruff but soft-inside carpenter, a wise karate instructor, and a penetrating and loving therapist/friend. Haley deals with some difficult issues as her past rape has created trust and relationship issues for her. But her past difficulties don't seem to stop her from her investigations.
I enjoyed the story and found it to be a light-hearted read. The characters don't have a lot of depth other than Haley, but a first-person narrative can make it difficult to really get into the heads of the other characters. The story is somewhat unrealistic, that a murder could be so easy to solve by someone who really has no authority in the case, but in spite of it, I found myself enjoying the story for its commedy and enjoyable characters. Those who enjoy a good chicklit mystery will enjoy this series as well.
