High Heels and Holidays [Paperback]

Kasey Michaels (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2006

Mystery author Maggie Kelly is getting ready to celebrate her first Christmas with Alexandre, Viscount Saint Just - her once-fictional, but now all too-real sexy hero and boyfriend. But her romantic Christmas plans go haywire when murder decides to deck the halls...There's nothing I'd rather be doing this time of year then singing Christmas carols while I trim my tree, and snuggling next to my man Alex while we watch "It's a Wonderful Life" for the umpteenth time. But this season, it seems some Grinch with a really bad sense of humour is delivering packages of rotting rats and death threats to me and the other authors who contributed to the mystery collection No Secret Anymore. Sure, even I'll admit the book was terrible. But why can't this sicko just go to the bookstore and get a refund? It's Christmas, buddy - not Halloween! But then Jonathan West - the brainchild of No Secret Anymore - turns up dead, and me and Alex aren't so sure anymore that the murderer is a just a disgruntled reader...Jonathan had finally completed a new novel, which his agent claimed to be his best. This leads us to think maybe a jealous rival is the killer - that is, until two of Jonathan's obsessed fans surface. So now the we're scrambling to solve this mystery before eight writers - including yours truly - don't live to see the New Year...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Mystery writer and amateur sleuth Maggie Kelly gets an unseasonable Christmas package in her fifth outing (after 2005's High Heels and Homicide), a blithe mix of romantic fantasy and whodunit plotting. With the help of the Viscount Saint Just (her fictional Regency Era creation miraculously come to life as a handsome, protective suitor), her ex-boyfriend, NYPD detective Steve Wendell, and her publisher, Bernice Toland-James, Maggie figures out she's not the only mystery writer to receive a dead rat and death threat in the mail. Maggie wonders about a recently deceased colleague, an apparent suicide, and her suspicion becomes alarm when another writer turns up murdered. Maggie's wit and Saint Just's antics will raise the holiday spirits of Michaels's fans. (Nov.)
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Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Kensington (November 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758208820
• ISBN-13: 978-0758208828
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,917,176 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it!, October 31, 2006

By 

Detra Fitch (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: High Heels and Holidays (Paperback)

Maggie Kelly is a mystery writer who goes by the pen name of Cleo Dooley. She lives in a condo on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Across the hall reside the two men who popped out of Maggie's imagination of the Regency era. (Literally happened in the first book of the series.) Alexandre Blake, Viscount Saint Just, created for Maggie's historical romance writing period of the nineteenth century and Sterling Balder, his comrade and sidekick. Unable to tell the world the truth, Maggie tells people that Saint Just is Alex Blakely, a very distant cousin from England. Sterling does not cause women to trip over themselves or stand out in a crowd, so he does not need an elaborate alias. Anyhow, they have just returned from England (last mystery novel "High Heels & Homicide"), where they helped out the niece of a mob boss.

Christmas is close and Maggie wants nothing more than to get the annual family get together out of the way so she may start enjoying the merry season. This season, however, someone is delivering packages of rotting rats and death threats to the authors who collaborated on a mystery anthology, titled "No Secret Anymore", long ago. The book was a flop, but not so bad that it is worth killing over. Yet one minor author, as well as, the biggest name author (Jonathan West) has been found dead in their homes. They were made to look like suicide at first glance, but the killer wanted the police to realize they were murdered so subtle clues were left.

Jonathan had recently completed a new novel, which his agent claimed to be his best. So perhaps it is a rival's jealousy. One thing is for sure, Maggie and Alex better solve the case quickly or Maggie may be dead before the New Year.

***** Readers get to watch the characters of Alex and Sterling evolve some more in this soon-to-be bestseller novel. Alex and Maggie's relationship goes a bit further too. (There are no hot bedroom scenes to distract from the story though.) Author Kasey Michaels has created believable characters, each with their own quirks and personalities. I actually feel as though I know these people. Very classy, very well written, and very recommended to all mystery lovers! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars High Heels and Holidays Review, March 30, 2007

By 

Jeanne A. Hansen (Omaha, NE United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: High Heels and Holidays (Paperback)

This was another nice edition of her St. Just series. This time the two main characters finally got past the flirting stage and it was about time!I like Ms. Michaels characterizations and her plots are fun and suspenseful.All in all, a delightful escape for me.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable read, October 7, 2007

By 

Laura Clark - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: High Heels and Holidays (Maggie Kelly Mysteries) (Paperback)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas but Maggie Kelly can't seem to summon up the holiday cheer. Maybe it's because two of the fictional characters (Saint Just and Sterling) from her Regency set mystery novels mysteriously appeared - in the flesh - in her living room several months ago. Maybe it's because she hasn't done her Christmas shopping yet. Maybe it's because she's given up cigarettes - again. Maybe it's because her mother felt the need to call her to inform her that her father was having an affair. Maybe it's because an acquaintance of hers died, and was possibly murdered. Maybe it was because she, like the dead acquaintance, received a dead rat in the mail.

But wait, she didn't know about the dead rat because Saint Just - Alex - not wanting to worry her, didn't bother to tell her that she might be a murder target. Though it's true that Maggie had written Saint Just to be protective, arrogant, and annoyingly efficient as a 19th century fictional hero, she's found that in the 21st century, dealing with the living, breathing man of her dreams come to life has proven to be both aggravating and . . . exciting.

High Heels and Holidays is a reissue of Kasey Michaels' fifth installment of the Maggie Kelly books. This series has been so much fun to read and this installment was not an exception. The main characters are dynamic and the whole cast lovable, especially the sweet, innocent Sterling. I would recommend it to anyone looking for an entertaining, enjoyable read.