22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dying for "Love", May 28, 2001
Elizabeth Peters is one of those rare authors who can mingle intelligent whodunnits with sheer lunatic hilarity.
And rarely did she show this as expertly as in "Die For Love," a brilliantly twisting whodunnit that expertly lampoons romance novels and the writers who churn them out. Peters surrounds her acerbic heroine with mounds of puffy pink luvvyluv, but also tosses in a startling murder into the mix.
Jacqueline Kirby, seeking to expand her horizens and get out of a romantic rut, travels to New York for a romance writers' convention. After educating herself on sexy schlock, she encounters a bunch of colorful celebrities there -- a scathing columnist, a rabid feminist, an obsessive fan, an old classmate, the gorgeous and talented Queen of Romance Valerie Valentine, a sexy male writer, and a sinister yet hearty literary agent.
Then the columnist dies unexpectedly, and it seems that Valentine is the target. Jacqueline begins peeling away the layers of cotton-candy romance to find out what ugly secrets are important enough to kill for. Was it jealousy, hatred, or money? (Surprisingly, passion doesn't enter into it). Armed with the ugliest hat and the fattest purse in the world, she sets out to smoke out the killer.
"Die For Love" is a massive tonal shift for the too-short Jacqueline Kirby series. After two pretty serious, European-flavoured mysteries, suddenly we're in New York and immersed in hilarious romantic spoofery -- and you can tell Elizabeth Peters is having a delightful time mocking the romance genre.
So she intertwined satire and a clever whodunnit very nicely, swinging deftly between the funny (Jacqueline having a "war of quotes" with Hattie) and a strong collection of motives, suspects and some clever literary allusions mixed in with the over-the-top schlock. But she also reminds us of some of the more serious results of the romance genre, such as the "rape=love" message.
Jacqueline is her usual irrepressible self -- big fat purse, flamboyant clothes, and the lofty position of a librarian with a naughty streak. She steps further from "conventional detective" into her unique, perkily eccentric niche. One interesting fact is that in this book, she sets out to write a historical romance.
And she's backed by a deliciously colourful cast of characters -- demure Sue, the sexy but beleagured hunk Victor, the hilarious hardcore feminist Betsy, the bewigged and timid Valerie Vanderbilt, and the grotesquely scheming Hattie.
"Die For Love" isn't quite worth dying for, but it's not hard to love. Hilarious, barbed and relentlessly clever, this is a must-read for mystery fans... and maybe romance fans with a sense of humor.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A spoof of bodice-ripping writers, May 20, 1999
By A Customer
This is by far, one of the funniest books written by Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Michaels. She must have written bodice rippers at one time in her literary life to have created characters so true to form. Jacqueline Kirby has got to be one of my favorite sleuths of all time - combining great looks with a talent for spotting trouble.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Hilarious Romp!, January 11, 2002
There aren't too many books that I find laugh out loud funny but this is one of them. Written with humor and even the occasional burst of compassion, Elizabeth Peters takes on the cut-throat world of romance novelists.
Those who enjoyed this book may also enjoy "Bimbos of the Death Sun" by Sharyn McCrumb, an equally funny mystery about a murder that takes place at a Sci-Fi convention.
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