Iced Chiffon (A Consignment Shop Mystery)
“Duffy Brown has created a delightful world filled with charm and humor and sprinkled with those wonderful Southern metaphors . . .”
Reagan Summerside is a down-on-her-luck Savannah Belle. She will do anything to hang on to Cherry House, her beloved Victorian fixer-upper, the only thing left of her marriage to wealthy playboy Hollis Beaumont III. And even that’s not a done deal. He could still take the house back.
Reagan has been reduced to selling her car, her furniture, and the designer wardrobe out of her living room to pay the bills. She faces further humiliation when Hollis shows up with Cupcake. Not only has Cupcake taken Reagan’s husband, her place at the Country Club and her brand new Lexus, she also wants to buy Reagan’s favorite pink chiffon dress.
The following day Reagan commandeers the Lexus to make a delivery to a customer. When she opens the trunk she finds Cupcake’s bludgeoned body dressed in her pink chiffon dress. Ex-husband Hollis is arrested for the murder and threatens to sell Cherry House to pay the legal fees to his scumbag lawyer, Walker Boone.
As much as she dislikes Hollis, Reagan is sure he’s innocent. To save her house Reagan must prevent the legal fees from mounting up—and the only way to do that is to do the lawyer’s job herself and solve Cupcake’s murder. During her investigation she uncovers Cupcake’s curious power over several prominent Savannah residents. She also frequently clashes with Boone who keeps warning her to back down, but Reagan is determined to find the truth and save her house.
Duffy Brown has created a delightful world filled with charm and humor and sprinkled with those wonderful Southern metaphors like “crazy as a waltzing pig.” Author Brown’s Savannah is wholly believable—the kind of place that makes the reader feel right at home.
Ms. Brown draws each quirky character with wit and affection as skillfully as Janet Evanovitch or M. C. Beaton. From Reagan’s Auntie Kiki, a dance instructor and former roadie for Cher, to 240-pound drag queen Cinnamon Sugar, the reader will chuckle all the way through to the last page.