False Premises (Domestic Bliss Mysteries) [Kindle Edition]

Leslie Caine (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Interior designer Erin Gilbert was dazzled by her beautiful, free-spending client and new friend, Laura Smith. Dazzled, that is, until she visits Laura’s magnificent house and finds that the priceless antiques she painstakingly acquired at Laura’s behest have been completely replaced with fakes! When Laura’s explanations ring as false as the erstwhile Louis XVI foyer mirror, Erin begins investigating her friend’s colorful life and times–and then gets interrupted by a murder.

As fate would have it, Erin has uncovered the same world-class scam artist who all but destroyed her handsome-but-embittered archrival, Steve Sullivan. While Sullivan aches for revenge, Erin wants answers–even while she juggles a sputtering romance, a burgeoning business, and one very boorish client. For Erin, it’s bad enough that bodies are being strewn in all the wrong places. It’s even worse that one suspect perfectly fits each crime: Sullivan himself!


From the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Leslie Caine was once taken hostage at gunpoint and finds that writing about crimes is infinitely more enjoyable than taking part in them. Leslie is a certified interior decorator and lives in Colorado with her husband, two teenage children, and a cocker spaniel.

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 567 KB
• Print Length: 354 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0440241766
• Publisher: Dell (December 18, 2007)
• Sold by: Random House Digital, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000XUBD5S
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #176,122 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Series, December 4, 2005

By 

A Reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: False Premises (Domestic Bliss Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

The second installment of this series is better than the first, with the main characters being fleshed out much more, and a good, solid mystery.

The dialogue between characters is a bit childish and amateur (particularly when one character has a long passage of dialogue), but it's not anything that really takes away from the story. Don't miss this one!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars exciting amateur sleuth, June 28, 2005

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: False Premises (Domestic Bliss Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Interior designer Erin Gilbert helps her clients Laura Smith and David Holland redecorate their mini-mansion with beautiful and costly antiques, and becomes friends with the woman. After an alteration with a man wearing a wig and carrying a gun, Laura flips him using a judo technique. When Erin goes to her home to check on her, she discovers that the valuable antiquities were replaced with cheap reproductions.

Laura tells the interior decoration that the antiquities are in storage where they will be safe and appreciate in value over the years. When Erin informs David, he insists he knows nothing about the switch because he was out of town but he can't see properly because he lost his glasses. Erin learns that Laura is the person who scammed interior decorator Steve Sullivan out of $300,000 dollars. Steve and Erin watch Laura's house. When Dave drives out they follow him to a storage facility where they find Laura's murdered body. Erin starts her own investigation discovering that everyone who knew Laura had a reason to kill her.

It is hard to believe that every person she was involved in ended up helping her and then wanting to see her dead but Laura was one such person, the perfect villainess and victim. There are so many people she hurt who had a motive to kill her that readers will find themselves trying to figure out who the killer really is. The heroine pursues her investigation even though there have been attempts made on her life but she is determined to identify the perpetrator so she can regain her own piece of mind. This exciting amateur sleuth tale is the perfect beach book.

Harriet Klausner

3.0 out of 5 stars Not quite domestic bliss, February 19, 2011

By 

Deborah Verlen "Deborah" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: False Premises (Domestic Bliss Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the first book I've read by Leslie Caine so I can't compare the writing in it to her other works. False Premises had a good mystery, but the writing marred the plot. The heroine, Erin Gilbert, seemed immature for being in her mid-twenties and the chapters were peppered with equally annoying, rather than interesting characters.

Erin Gilbert is an interior designer and her client Laura Smith has purchased many expensive antiques Erin had found for her. After a confrontation the two women have with a man proclaiming to be a policeman, Erin follows Laura home, concerned for her safety. Inside her house for the first time, she finds the priceless antiques she has scoured the antique world for have been replaced with cheap fakes. Erin confronts her about the situation and Laura states the antiques are in a storage facility as she is contemplating selling them. Erin doesn't believe Laura and shares the information with her boyfriend who informs her Laura is the woman that scammed his friend Steve Sullivan and ran off with his business partner Evan. John, Erin's boyfriend feels they need to tell Steve and they decide to monitor Laura's movements. Laura, of course, gets murdered.

The rest of the book works towards solving the murder. I felt the confused at times by the clutter of people that appeared who didn't seem to push the plot/story forward. I did find the insertion of design blurbs to be interesting, sometimes more interesting than the accompanying plot! However, the mystery itself was interesting and I found the book worth finishing to find out "who did it."