Friends in High Places (Kick Keswick Mysteries #4) [Hardcover]

Marne Davis Kellogg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 20, 2007

Kick Keswick, once a jewel thief living an exciting double life, has now retired in simple luxury to the south of France. But when an old enemy resurfaces, threatening to expose the countless fake jewels Kick had carefully substituted during her years of secret theft, she is ready to act.
Back in London, Kick finds herself with more employment than she bargained for at a company whose status is much more precarious than she'd thought. Her enemy, in disguise, circles ever closer. And a young nun comes to Kick with a mysterious jewel-encrusted figurine, and a story of greed and murder. 
To balance on this high wire, Kick must sneak into an upper-crust wedding in the Italian Alps, break into an ancient castle owned by a very modern murderer, and do it all with her customary panache, style, and grace.  Can she keep one step ahead of the most seductively ruthless foe she's ever encountered?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kick Keswick, the heroine of this frothy novel from Kellogg (Perfect), is bored by retirement, so it's a good thing her world just got more exciting: a scandal at the London auction house where she worked for 30 years threatens to expose her well-hidden habit of stealing jewels and replacing them with meticulous fakes. She soon finds herself trying to singlehandedly rescue the company and untangle several moneymaking schemes-all of them, frankly, quite déclassé-whereby certain lowlifes, including her ex-fiancé and perennial enemy, Owen Brace, are attempting to rise above their station. The hypocrisy is breathtaking: Kick is happy to admit that she overcame her dirt-poor Oklahoma background through a methodical campaign of theft from the filthy rich, so why should it bother her that others do the same? Readers who agree that upper-crust manners and mannerisms are more important than honesty, integrity or abiding by the law will be most satisfied.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Break out the bubbly (Dom Perignon, of course)! Kellogg's high-flying, high-class jewelry thief turned jewelry sleuth, Kick Keswick, is back, lured out of retirement when her former employer, the esteemed auction house Ballantine & Company, finds itself embroiled in a scandal involving fake gems (the originals stolen by Kick herself during her previous life as the notorious Shamrock Burglar). No sooner does she concoct an intricate plan to resteal the stolen gems when Kick is contacted by an intriguing young nun who needs her help recovering a trove of jewel-encrused figurines stolen from her order's convent during a heinous murder. The fact that the murderer is also the owner of the jewels she must retrieve in order to salvage the auctioneer's reputation fazes the intrepid Kick not one whit. Decadent as a finely shaved white truffle, frothy as a lemon souffle, Kellogg's delectably glamorous Kick Keswick mystery series offers a zesty, sensuous foray into the lifestyles of the obscenely wealthy and egregiously infamous. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (March 20, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312337299
• ISBN-13: 978-0312337292
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,090,647 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars mystery, decadent chocolate, champagne and fabulous jewelry!, April 1, 2007

By 

L. Long - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Friends in High Places (Kick Keswick Mysteries #4) (Hardcover)

Kick Keswick has retired from her vocation at Ballentine's (and from her avocation as the Shamrock Burglar) although she finds she is a bit bored with living the quiet life that she planned for herself. Overhearing at a party that her former employer is in trouble (and hoping that trouble does not lead back to her) Kick decides to return to Ballentines to find out the truth. When her husband Thomas gets called back to Scotland Yard to help with a case, Kick travels back to London, and soon finds things as complicated as she had suspected, with her old nemesis behind the potential collapse of the auction house. Through a twist of fate, Kick finds herself running the organization and is approached by a young nun with an intriguing jeweled statue to sell, and an even more incredible story of the history of the statue and the others that are missing. Kick hatches a meticulous plan to not only restore the jeweled statues to their rightful owner, but to replace an intricate piece of jewelry that she herself had stolen years before (because, after all, self-preservation has been Kick's goal since she was a child).

This is the fourth book in this series, but Ms. Kellogg does such a wonderful job in drawing out and explaining the intracacies of each character that it is not necessary to have read the others to understand the background (although all of the rest are also fabulous fun). This one is my favorite, because we finally understand the details in Kick's past that led to her life of larceny. She also develops friends for the first time in her life; one who may turn out to be her daughter. Kick is so likeable that you tend to overlook the fact that she lies, steals, and changes identities so well that she can fool just about everyone (except the lovable Thomas, of course). But she has such a wonderful heart, and justifies her behavior by only stealing from the people who deserve it! Kick takes the art of revenge to a whole new level!

Friends in High Places is an entertaining read, and it is obvious that Ms. Kellogg enjoys writing about Kick. Let's hope there will be many more books in the future about Kick's mis-adventures!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fake jewels and murder, March 19, 2007

By 

Dawn Dowdle "Mystery Lovers Corner reviewer" (Lynchburg, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Friends in High Places (Kick Keswick Mysteries #4) (Hardcover)

Kick Keswick, retired jewel thief, is enjoying her life with her husband, former Inspector Thomas Curtis. Thomas still gets called in by Scotland Yard, leaving Kick alone. When Kick finds out the Ballantine and Company Auctioneers, where she used to work, is having serious problems, she decides to jump in and help. Especially when she figures out that her old enemy is behind some of it and that lots of the fake jewels she'd carefully substituted over years of secret theft are possibly going to be exposed.

When she arrives at Ballantine, she ends up with a more time consuming position than she preferred. And she finds out that things at Ballantine are much worse than she imagined. As her enemy gets closer, Kick finds she has to work hard to keep a step ahead. A young nun comes to Kick with a great jeweled figurine and a story of murder. Kick soon realizes she must sneak into a high-society wedding in the Italian Alps, break into a castle owned by a murderer, and do it with style and finesse so she doesn't get caught. Can she locate the missing items and replace the needed jewels all without raising any suspicions or putting herself in danger?

I love this series. Kick is such a great character. She's high society with an undercurrent of intrigue and secrecy. Even though she's now retired, she always gets called out to help by using her skills as a jewel thief. I enjoy these books because I get to see a slice of life that I wouldn't experience any other way. The locations and food are always exotic.

I can't wait for the next installment. I highly recommend this book and series.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I just find Kick gets more monotonous with every book, October 18, 2010

By 

C. M. Moret (Southeastern United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Friends in High Places (Paperback)

Must we be constantly reminded that Kick is more beautiful than every woman around her, has perfect cooking skills, possesses exquisite taste, makes flawless decisions, knows how to execute every obscure European ballroom dance, has impeccable business sense, drinks cocktails for hours but never gets inebriated, owns an encyclopedic knowledge of all jewelry and gems, delivers just the right motivational speech to her underlings (who she has just met for the first time), wears a top-of-the-line designer wardrobe, blends effortlessly into every social gathering, opens every safe the first time, on and on and on ad nauseum? Kellogg does not know how to be subtle or paint in any shade except black or white. Her Kick is overcompensating for something. Maybe it's her lack of moral integrity? Or her irresistible compulsion to emasculate Thomas in every book (at least once)? I have a suggestion: Give Kick a REAL retirement and make the next book about Duchess Mary Margaret.