A Gemma of a Read…

You know how the old TBR pile goes (To Be Read for the unitiated). You buy too many books, and some of them don’t get read for months – or even years. Or at least that’s how it is with my TBR pile. In fact, the more I’m looking forward to reading a book, sometimes, I’m sorry to say, the longer it sits in my TBR pile. It’s “gelling.” If it sits there six months, the reading experience is intensified. If I read it right away, the experience is never quite the same. Strange, I know, but it’s my M.O. and I’m clearly sticking with it. Which leads me to the subject of this post: Gemma Halliday’s SPYING IN HIGH HEELS. The first of four in a series featuring L.A. shoe designer and accidental sleuth, Maddie Springer, SPYING IN HIGH HEELS was published in 2006 – the year I bought it – however, true to form, I only recently read it. Last week, in fact. And I loved it. What a fantastic debut. Here’s the cover copy:

L.A. shoe designer, Maddie Springer, lives her life by three rules: Fashion. Fashion. Fashion. But when she stumbles upon the work of a brutal killer, her life takes an unexpected turn from Manolos to murder. And things only get worse when her boyfriend disappears – along with $20 million in embezzled funds – and her every move is suddenly under scrutiny by the LAPD’s sexiest cop. With the help of her post-menopausal bridezilla of a mother, a 300 pound psychic and one seriously oversexed best friend, Maddie finds herself stepping out of her stilettos and onto the trail of a murderer. But can she catch a killer before the killer catches up to her…

Okay, I take a bit of exception to the description of the “300 pound psychic.” I swear Gemma described the woman in the book as 200 pounds. Was I seeing things? At any rate, Gemma’s not responsible for the cover copy, but she is responsible for the entertaining story within. When I read SPYING IN HIGH HEELS, I’d totally forgotten that it earned Gemma a double-finalist slot in the RITAs last year – one nod for Best First Book and another for Best Mainstream Novel with Romantic Elements. Both well deserved.

So, yep, the second in the series, KILLER IN HIGH HEELS, is going on my next Amazon wish-list. This is where I confess that I don’t usually read beyond the first in a series if the remainder of the books in that series feature the same character’s point of view. I love reading trilogies, etc., that feature secondary characters from the first book (and are written in those secondary characters’ POVs). Because then the story itself and even the characterization is “new” to me. The problem with allowing my reading material to “gel” in the TBR pile is that by the time I get to the second or third in a series written in the same POV, I often already know from accidentally listening in on Internet conversations what’s happening with the love interest. This happened to me with Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series. I read ONE FOR THE MONEY and totally loved it. Bought the second in the series, expecting to love it as well. But the series was already up to Book 6 by the time I read ONE FOR THE MONEY, and I already knew that the heroine’s push-pull between two male characters was still occurring. Somehow knowing that took all the fun out of the reading for me. I’ve never been able to finish the second Stephanie Plum book, and I’ve never purchased another, I’m sorry to say.

So this is my warning, please no one breathe a word to me about the love interest and potential future love interests in the High Heels Mystery series – because I don’t want to know! I’ve discovered I need the “mystery.”

If you haven’t read SPYING IN HIGH HEELS yet, I urge you to get a copy. And, no, you can’t have mine. Support a well-deserving author and buy Gemma Halliday new. Any or all of her books. And tell her I sent you!