Customer Reviews

A Dress to Die For (Mandy Dyer Mystery)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In Denver, Kate Bosworth charges into Dyer's Cleaners to tell her friend Mandy Dyer about the incredible purchase she just made. Kate has bought a Fortuny original, worth over $5,000, for $10 at the local flea market. Though Kate runs a classical clothing store, Past Perfect fashions, this is one dress that was not for sale. She asks Mandy to clean the dress.

Three days later, Mandy worries when the avid Kate had not returned to claim her prize possession. She goes to Kate's home, only to find her friend dead and a piece of the cleaning ticket remaining in sight. Mandy learns that a man already tried to pick up the dress, but her help told the man that the dress was not ready. Though feeling a bit woozy from her Kate's untimely death, Mandy begins to investigate why a dress, even a vintage one like a Fortuny, could lead to murder.

What makes the Mandy Dyer amateur sleuth tales so much fun is they are droll and irreverent as they take the reader on a cozy-like mystery tour of the Mile High City. The third novel in this delightful series, A DRESS TO DIE FOR, is like the previous two books (HUNG TO DIE and TAKEN TO THE CLEANERS), a fun reading experience, starring a delightful sleuth, who is as clean as the Rocky Mountain air. Fans of female amateur sleuths and regional cozies, as well as dry cleaning store owners and workers will love this series.

Harriet Klausner

This is another solid effort by Dolores Johnson. It is not, by the way, a "sink your teeth into", heavy suspense kind of book. Like all the others in this series, it is a fast-paced and light mystery involving an amateur sleuth/dry cleaner owner who keeps running into murder victims one way or the other. Who knew the dry cleaning business could be so adventurous? The thing that I like about this series is that Mandy and her friends are quirky, but likeable. In fact, I like this cast of characters better than most other mystery series out there. What I do not like is there is a tendency for predictability. This particular book and Mandy's detective work just got way too predictable and the ending . . . well, I won't go into the ending, but anyway, still a worthy read if you enjoy "cozy" mysteries. Not much explicit language in this series, which I appreciate, but there are a few occurrences of it in this book.

If you have not read any books from Dolores Johnson, I highly recommend starting from the beginning of this series - "Taken to the Cleaners" is a great book.

This is another typical Mandy Dyer mystery. Something starts out at the cleaners and Mandy gets roped into a murder to solve. I do love how cleverly Ms Johnson works the cleaners into the mystery (this effort is a little better than some of her past books).

I did find this one a little more confusing because Mandy seemed to be going everywhere all the time and there were a lot of shady characters to read through, but I did enjoy it a great deal! Check it out!

This is the first book I've read by this author, and while I enjoyed it, like another reviewer, I thought the ending fizzled. I would have liked to have seen how some of the relationships that were formed in the book were settled. I will, however, read more of her books. I enjoy murder mysteries that aren't heavy and scary and full of foul language, and this one fit the bill.

I loved the story line, I just wish the ending had more oomph !
like the rest of the book did.

I thought the ending just fizzeled out and I was alittle disappointed. I loved the characters and the plot of the book, I just wish the ending would have had more "bang" to it.

This is the first book that I read by her. I enjoyed the story but I didn't like the way it ended and I agree with another reviewer that some of the characters were a little confusing so that's why I rated it 3.5 to 4 stars but I did like the mystery of the dress and the part about the old movie star.

Granted, she may not be Holmes, Marlowe, Maigret, or even Miss Marple! And where would you think this heroine works? Believe it or not, in a dry cleaning store! When a friend discovers a very rare 1920's dress, and wants to have it cleaned up, murder is unfortunately afoot! With all the humor, wit, and who-dunnit atmosphere you would expect in the swelling genre of lady sleuths, this series is among the top!

I enjoyed this book so much I will buy the rest of hers.