Retro Reading: Died With A Bow by Grace Carroll
Why I put myself through this misery is something I’ll never know, but here goes.
After high faluttin’ sales clerk, Rita Jewel comes back to work after taking the weekend off, she meets future murder victim Vienna Fairchild at the store.
It seems that shop owner Dolce forgot to tell Rita that she was hiring extra help so that Rita could do other tasks throughout the day. Even though Rita is upset that she’ll lose money, Dolce assures her that Vienna is working on commission only and has promised to bring in more customers.
Anyway, Rita discovers Vienna’s body at the shop following the Annual Bay to Breakers Bachelor Auction. But did Rita kill the girl because she “bought “ Dr. Jonathan Rhodes?
With Rita the prime suspect, she has to convince Detective Jack Wall of her innocence because she successfully solved a prior murder and knows everything (insert eye roll here).
Rita also continues to complain about her personal life since she has no friends and decides to take a cooking class with celebrity chef Guido Torcelli. Of course after one class she becomes a world class chef and has a dinner party, which is interrupted by Detective Wall.
This hot mess continues and goes on for what seems like forever.
I’m not sure what the whole point was to this installment since its basically a rehash of the first installment. None of the characters are fully developed since Carroll has to label drop and as a reader should you care? No.
It seems like Carroll was getting supplemental income from every designer mentioned. After awhile it becomes too repetitive and boring.
You’d definitely have a better time watching paint dry.