Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Deadly Decor

Deadly Decor by Karen Rose Smith

5 Stars



Karen Rose Smith takes us back to Pennsylvania to visit with Caprice De Luca.  Caprice was an interior designer who turned to home staging with the downward plunge of the economy.  She has taken a fledgling idea and grown it into a prosperous business. 


Book Description
Quiet Kismet, Pennsylvania, may look like any other small town, but as a home stager, Caprice De Luca can see behind closed doors--and it seems someone has designs on murder. . .Life is a full house for Caprice these days. She's dating, she's rescuing adorable cocker spaniels, and she's decorating the roomy interiors of Kismet's most well-heeled residents with fun fantasy themes. But she's worried about her pregnant sister. Bella's marriage is coming apart like a bad wallpaper job, and to make matters worse, she's decided to meet up with a former flame Bob Preston, a house painter Caprice frequently employs. When he's found dead in a pool of green paint swirling with blood, it's time for Caprice to stage an investigation. With all eyes trained on Bella's husband, Caprice shifts her attention from finding the perfect curtains to finding the perfect culprit. . .





My Review



This is a mystery interlaced with a mild romance. A good, clean story. This author brings us the second installment to the Caprice DeLuca series. Even though it is in a series, it's easily a stand alone story. She brings us lovable characters and uses real to life dialogue that the reader can connect with. We are introduced to Caprice DeLuca who is an interior designer, but with the downward plunge of the economy she has had to reinvent herself. She is a very clever girl and a great animal lover. She now stages homes that are for sale in hopes to bring in interested buyers. She has taken a fledgling idea and grown it into a prosperous business. Caprice comes from a close, Italian family and when one member is having problems it can put a great strain on everyone else. At present her sister, Bella, and husband, Joe, are having marital problems over an unexpected pregnancy. What Caprice doesn't expect is for her sister to show up at her job to talk to her or that she would agree to have coffee with an old boyfriend, Bob Preston. She plans to talk to Bella at the Sunday monthly family dinner, but once she finds a cocker spaniel needing to see the vet her talk with Bella is put on hold.
Caprice decides to intercept Bella at the community center before she meets Bob, but shortly after her arrival a blood curdling scream is heard. She finds Bella, covered in blood, leaning over Bob who is obviously dead. Due to Bella and Bob's history, the fact she is found over the body and covered in his blood, Caprice knows the police automatically have a viable suspect. As she starts connecting the dots Caprice knows Bella needs an attorney and calls her brother, Vince, for assistance. Suddenly Joe is also a person of interest and also needs an attorney so she calls her brother's partner, Grant for assistance. Caprice knows that neither Bella or Joe could have committed this murder, but once the police have a suspect she doesn't feel the will investigate further. She plans to start asking questions even after being told repeatedly not to by family and friends. This is when suddenly Caprice feels her life could be in jeopardy.
As I said before I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone. I feel the author brings us a well developed plot and a storyline the will immediately draw the reader into the story. I loved the characters. The author makes good use of imagery.
I received this book as a gift for an honest review without any outside influence or bias as stated above.

Meet the Author

Image of Karen Rose Smith

Karen Rose Smith is writing mysteries as well as romances now! Her plots, whether in mystery or romance, are all about relationships.
She began writing in her early teens when she listened to music and created stories to accompany the songs. After expressing feelings in poetry, earning a degree in English and French, completing short stories that became too long to find a market, she turned to her fascination with relationships to writing romances and now mysteries. This award-winning best-selling author (USA Today List, Borders Bestseller List, Amazon Romance Bestseller lists, Barnes and Noble Bestseller list) will see her 84th novel released in 2014. She has published with Silhouette, Harlequin, Kensington and Meteor/Kismet. Her awards include two Golden Leaf awards in short contemporary romance, the Golden Quill in traditional romance, two cataromance.com's awards for Best Special Editions and Romance Review's Today's Best series romance award. Jane Bowers of Romance Reviews Today states: "Karen Rose Smith's storyworlds are complete and realistic and lovely places to visit and revisit. She excels at stories that feature couples brought together by infants and children, and she handles her plots and characters with sublime sensitivity."

http://www.karenrosesmith.com






2 comments:

  1. Katrina, I'm behind on helping promote Karen's books because I just started reading the first one, Staged to Death. But I really like it and am thrilled with how clean it is. Will enjoy publicizing it and am looking forward to Deadly Decor!

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    Replies
    1. Carole, I love Karen's books. I know when I pick one up it's going to be a good storyline interlace with humor and mild romance. She is such a sweet person. I see some of her in Caprice with her love of animals. It is really hard to find good, clean books. I am so glad you are enjoying reading her books.
      Blessings

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