Book Review: Shop Till You Drop

"A Dead-End Job Mystery"

Author:  Elaine Viets

When I was in San Diego, I went to a book talk with my mother.  The person who leads the talks discusses a dozen books.  She mentioned a book that's the latest in this series.

I found Shop Till You Drop at one of the book exchanges - it's the first in the series and basically sets the stage.

Helen Hawthorne, the lead character, used to have a great job and a great marriage, until she found her husband in bed with the neighbor...   She destroyed the car, divorced the man and is on the lam since her ex-husband wants to sue her for alimony.

She has to take jobs off the books so she cannot be traced.  In this first book, she's working at an exclusive women's clothing store - all clothing sized zero, two or four - all high end.  When she starts to find illegal operations, she starts to think about getting another job.

When someone dies, she stays to get enough evidence to solve it.

This is a subgenre called "lighthearted murder mystery".  It was too light for me - much too much detail about style.  Not my type of book, so I won't read the others in the series.