BOOK REVIEW: Designs On Murder: Gayle Leeson

Designs On Murder: A Ghostly Fashionista Mystery (Ghostly Fashionista Mystery Series Book 1)

by Gayle Leeson

Gayle Leeson is a pseudonym for Gayle Trent. I also write as Amanda Lee. As Gayle Trent, I write the Daphne Martin Cake Mystery series and the Myrtle Crumb Mystery series. As Amanda Lee, I write the Embroidery Mystery series.

Kindle Edition, 212 pages

Expected publication: March 26th 2019 by Grace Abraham Publishing

Goodreads synopsis:

What if you discovered your lively new friend wasn't really...alive? 

Amanda Tucker is excited about opening her fashion design studio in Shops On Main, a charming old building in historic Abingdon, Virginia. She didn't realize a ghost came with the property! But soon Maxine "Max" Englebright, a young woman who died in 1930, isn't the only dead person at the retail complex. Mark Tinsley, a web designer with a know-it-all attitude who also rented space at Shops On Main, is shot in his office. 

Amanda is afraid that one of her new "friends" and fellow small business owners is his killer, and Max is encouraging her to solve Mark's murder a la Nancy Drew. Easy for Max to want to investigate--the ghostly fashionista can't end up the killer's next victim! 

***

4 Stars

I thought this book was a really fun ride. 

As soon as Amanda made the decision to start Designs on You, a fashion design studio, she ran into a lady named Max. Max was cool, quirky and... a ghost, a flapper from the 1930’s. Amanda had been able to see Max as soon as she walked into the building. It was an odd phenomena since Max hadn’t spoken to anyone since she died. Shops on Main, where Amanda opened her business, used to be a Victorian house. She had fallen down the stairs on her way to a date and died instantly.

Not long after she began her business, a man who owned a graphic design business in the building and was getting ready to close it, was found murdered. This put Amanda on edge and made Max want to find out who the killer was. Max was a real go-getter. In her time, she was on the cutting edge of society. She was the first to bob her hair and was an advocate for women’s rights.

Amanda told her Grandpa Dave about Max and when he came to the shop one day, he could see her too!

Max’s meddling had put Amanda in danger more than once during the course of the book. Everyone is a suspect and it is hard to figure out who might have wanted the graphic artist dead. Like I said above, it was just fun, a real joy to read. Can’t recommend it highly  enough.

Definitely check this one out.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.