Customer Reviews

Dipped, Stripped, and Dead (A Daring Finds Mystery)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Dipped, Stripped, and Dead is possibly one of the funniest mysteries I've ever read. Candyce 'Dyce' Dare has the kind of sideways view of life that makes everyday inconvenience hilarious. Her struggles with her insufferable ex and his oh-so-perfect second wife, her young son and her best friend make a funny but very realistic backdrop to a murder mystery centered around a much-painted table that just might pay the next month's rent and the body that was in the dumpster where she found the table.

With a cast of unforgettable characters, Dyce does her best to sort the mess out, finding possible romance along the way, and dealing with it all, including her parents, in her inimitable fashion. The only problem I had with this book was that I kept having to look away so I wouldn't spray each time one of Dyce's dry comments made me laugh.

What a wonderful start to a new series. Candyce "Dyce" Dare has her hands full. She's a single mother trying to make ends meet while providing a good home to her son "E". She has an ex-husband who is convinced their son needs therapy because he doesn't talk. Then there is the oh-so-perfect Mrs. Ex who sends notes home in E's backpack, along with all natural bran muffins and other "goodies". Dyce also gives a whole new meaning to your mother's warnings about why you shouldn't go dumpster diving when, while trying to extricate what looks like a promising prospect for her refinishing business, she finds a dead body.

Dipped, Stripped and Dead is a wonderfully fun book. Dyce is the every-woman. Dedicated to her son, frustrated at times by her parents who live more for their books than most anything else, thrown off-balance by the cop assigned to the murder case and determined to find out what happened. She isn't a "kick-ass, take names" sort of gal. She is, however, dogged and, at times, lucky. Like I said, an every-woman.

If you want a book that's well-written, fun and engaging, this is the book for you. I, for one, can hardly wait for the next book in the series to arrive.

Elise Hyatt's DIPPED, STRIPPED, AND DEAD pairs furniture refinishing with the story of Dyce dare, who is divorced, nearly thirty, with a toddler to raise, a challenging ex, and a furniture refinishing business that turns up a corpse. A fine pick for lending libraries strong in murder mysteries.

I thoroughly enjoyed this light-hearted mystery and hope there are many more from this author. In the first installment of a new series, we are introduced to quirky heroine Dyce Dare and her toddler son E who is definitely a poster child for The Terrible Two's. Along the way, we meet Dyce's best friend Ben who is the perfect "straight" man for the wacky Dyce. Although we only get a glimpse of her parents, they sound as off-beat and funny as Dyce herself. As for Officer Cas Wolfe, aka Officer Hotstuff, I hope he and Dyce will be spending more time together in future stories. Though this wasn't a romance novel by any stretch, they had a cute chemistry that just about sparked off the pages. Finally, I agree with a previous poster; I like reading fiction that also teaches me something, in this case, furniture refinishing.

The author is a master at creating off-beat, yet believable characters who are as funny as they are intelligent. Think the late Anne George and her Southern Sisters series. Maybe there's finally a cozy author who can fill the void that Ms. George left.

Perfect brain candy. I read this book on a gray, dismal December day and loved it!

HILARIOUS as well. i loved this heroine and her son E- who reminds me of stories i heard about myself as a toddler. i am pre-ordering her next novel NOW simply because i want to keep up with this series.

I really enjoyed this first book of A Daring Finds Mystery series. Dyce, the heroine of the story, is spunky and fun. I particularly enjoyed her thoughts on the people who are part of her life. Her son is a riot! E's antics are a hoot. I eagerly await the next installment of this series.

I like mysteries with a background that teaches me about something, in this case, refinishing furniture.

This is an interesting collection of characters, with friendship between incompatables, appalling ex's, impractical parents and a kid that manages to be both cute and realistically infuriating.

The mystery revolves around a much painted over table, and Dyce's stubborn refusal to give it up, as she's depending on it for next month's groceries.

A fast entertaining read, with flashes of comedy and romance.

Candyce "Dyce" Dare had a real short marriage which she ended when her husband slapped her. They have joint custody of their son Enoch, nicknamed E. However, her income is low, but she fears asking her husband for support because she believes he will go to court to demand full custody of the little E.

Her new business Daring Finds, a furniture refinishing firm, has not brought in enough money as expected of a new entity. Her inventory is cheap she finds pieces on sidewalks, yard sales and dumpsters. One day whole doing the dumpster dive, Dyce finds a table she believes could prove valuable; however, the corpse filled with lye sharing the dumpster with the table could prove distracting. Soon afterward, her apartment is vandalized with epithets painted on her door. Dyce thinks the perp has a key to her place. On a walk, she finds another body that was soaked in lye in her garage. Both her best friend Ben and the lead detective want Dyce to stop sleuthing. He warns her to stop interfering with his official inquiry, but Dyce fears jail time as she is his number one suspect so Dyce keeps on investigating not quite understanding her tenacity could leaved her diced with lye.

Elise Hyatt is a welcome addition to the lighthearted amateur sleuth sub-genre due to an enjoyable absorbing whodunit. Her heroine is 200-proof spunk as she has an amusing out of time but charming way at looking at life; if she lived in the 1950s she would have been On the Road with Kerouac and Cassidy and spouting poetry with Ginsburg and the beat generation over Moon River. Still with all this capriciousness, she is a fully doting mom raising her son. The support cast is solid especially Big Ben who feels responsible for Holly-go-Lightly and the little E.

Harriet Klausner

There are so many things about this book which I enjoyed, but only up to a certain point. Then it got frustrating and irritating for me.

I read a mystery story to read about the mystery. This book has 275 pages. I would estimate that fully 200 of those are focused on reminiscences of Candyce Dare's past or the relationships she has with people in her life: her parents, her ex-husband, her son, her friend of 17 years Ben and his lover Les, the hunky policeman she met because of the murder. That leaves only approximately 75 pages to have anything to do with the actual mystery. That proportion is too far off for my enjoyment of a "mystery" story. It took this character until page 240 to realize that she was immature (my word), selfish (my word) and idiotic (both hers and mine). She purposely hindered the investigation of the case simply because someone - anyone - told her not to interfere. She was so slow to cotton on to the meaning of clues that I despaired for her intellect.

The story began very well, information regarding furniture refinishing was inserted smoothly, and I found myself laughing out loud at many details about situations Dyce had gotten herself into as a child and then as a young woman. They were seriously funny and the writing was very, very good. But they didn't seem to jibe with the absolutely horrendous thing which happened to the corpse. It was too cute and funny for the seriousness of the actions of the murderer. Soon I began to notice that I was getting that edgy feeling from the book where I wanted it to move along, get serious, show me some plot. By the time it finally did I just wanted it to be over.

I'm giving this book 3*'s because I honestly think this author has a wonderful talent for writing. Many of her situations reminded me so much of my daughters and myself that it was as if she had read our life story. Sadly though, that wasn't enough. Or, actually, it was too much. Too much personal interactions, not nearly enough mystery.