Retro Reading: Bodice of Evidence by Nancy J. Parra
I must be a glutton for punishment since it took less than twenty four hours from my review of the first installment to this review.
Believe me nothing changed.
As the second installment begins, Pepper Pomeroy, her sister, Felicity and mother, Abigail are traipsing through Chicago wedding dress shopping. Felicity doesn’t like anything that she’s seen (or tried on) and wants to skip the last salon.
After a cup of coffee they arrive at Bridal Dreams only to find the proprietor, Eva, dead in the alley. A knife sticking out of her chest.
Next on the agenda Pepper gets a call from her client Mary and tells her that she saw her picture in the paper at the scene of the crime. Pepper is now upset that her start up business, Perfect Proposals will quickly go out of business because of her involvement with the murder.
She receives a call from Toby Mallard who wants to hire her to plan a proposal, but after meeting with him, she doesn’t feel comfortable with doing the job. Before th initial meeting is over, he gives her a check for $10,000 and disappears.
While trying to figure out the mystery behind Toby, Pepper sets about working on Mary’s proposa, along with that of Alexander Bath.
Meanwhile, Felicity receives a call from Vidalia, Eva’s daughter, and literally begs her to come back to the dress shop since business is suffering. She tells Felicity that she can find her the perfect dress within three samples. Just call her the “wedding dress whisperer.”
Initially Pepper doesn’t want to go, but thinks it’ll be the perfect opportunity to dig deeper into Eva’s murder.
Along the way, she is able to accomplish quite a bit. She solves the murder, puts her business on the map and teaches Toby about love and relationships.
What I forgot to mention is that this series has been like staring at an accident. It’s so bad that you have to stay and watch.
I pretty much lost interest on page 11.
The reason why I lost interest was due to the fact that the book wasn’t properly edited.
In the first installment, its October and in this installment, Pepper mentions that Felicity has been engaged for twelve weeks. However, the season for this installment is also autumn. October must really be a long month in Illinois.
Parra also adds in too many “page characters “ that occupy a page or two. They really don’t have anything to do with the story, yet we know what they’re wearing and also their history.
Throughout a majority of the story, the murder isn’t an issue. We’re repeatedly told of the past events every time Pepper meets a new character.
Laura K. Corless, the interior page designer, is really the unsung hero here.
Without the slightly than average print and a few blank pages for a chapter break, I don’t think that I would have been able to get through this as fast as I did.
Comments
Eric Tuchelske (author) from Detroit on April 27, 2020:
So far both installments have been a hot mess and that’s why I complimented the interior designer for using larger print and that blank left page when necessary!
Jill Spencer from United States on April 26, 2020:
Sounds like the novel had quite a few issues, but . . . what a title! lol
