Killer Cuts: A Dead-End Job Mystery [Hardcover]

Elaine Viets (Author)

Book Description

Series: Dead-End Job Mystery | Publication Date: May 5, 2009

The national bestselling author who turns "minimum wage into maximum hilarity"( Nancy Martin, author of Murder Melts in Your Mouth) presents a hair-raising murder mystery of do or dye...

Helen Hawthorne's latest dead-end job is in Miguel Angel's Fort Lauderdale hair salon, where a trim can cost as much as a car payment and a blowout can wipe you out. But when one of the salon's most famous clients, gossip blogger and cable-TV show host Kingman "King" Oden is murdered at his own wedding, things get a little hairy and King becomes the prime suspect. To save her boss-and her job- Helen is determined to find the murderer. When she finds herself the target of threatening notes, it's more imperative than ever that she figure out who at the wedding was dressed to kill.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Near the start of Viets's hair-raising eighth Dead-End Job mystery (after 2008's Clubbed to Death), Helen Hawthorne, who's working at Miguel Angel's high-end beauty salon in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., assists Miguel in fluffing and buffing Honey, the pregnant fiancée of Kingman King Oden, a notorious gossip blogger and cable TV star. After the couple exchange I dos at King's Hendin Island waterfront palace, someone shoves a drunken King into his pool, where he drowns. Miguel becomes a top suspect in King's murder after heroin's found in the hairstylist's makeup case. To help clear Miguel, Helen investigates other suspects, including Honey and the victim's two ex-wives. Meanwhile, Helen must cope with anonymous threats in her mail as well as plan her wedding to her PI boyfriend. Viets keeps the action popping until the cliff-hanging ending, as Helen ignores signs that her best-laid plans have a black hole connected to the past she's been running from for years. (May)
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About the Author

Elaine Viets is also the author of the Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper series.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: NAL Hardcover; 1ST edition (May 5, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451226860
• ISBN-13: 978-0451226860
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #160,130 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I write my novels with the help of Harry, a striped cat who sleeps by my computer and lashes the keyboard with his tail. He whips me into a writing frenzy.
Harry collaborates on two series, the Dead-end Job mysteries and the Josie Marcus Mystery Shopper series. He's doing a good job -- I just signed a contract with NAL/Signet for two more books in each series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Biting Wit and Killer Mystery, May 12, 2009

By 

Cindy Chow (Kaneohe, Hawaii) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Killer Cuts: A Dead-End Job Mystery (Hardcover)

For someone who's spent the last few years hiding from the law, Helen Hawthorne has spent a lot of time involved in police investigations. Every since she took a crow bar to her philandering ex-husband's SUV and received a court order forcing her to pay alimony, Helen has been working Dead-End jobs for money under the table and off his radar. Her latest occupation has Helen earning tips at the high-end hair salon of Miguel Angel, where women are willing to fork over money in the triple digits in an effort to retain the hair of their youth and stave off the years. When Miguel Angel is hired to style the latest bride of odious celebrity gossip blogger Kingman "King" Ogden a confrontation between the two men has Miguel Angel as the number one suspect when the new groom is found drowned in the pool following the ceremony. Confounding the investigation is video footage of King arguing with a woman in a blue dress - which just happens to be the same dress worn by virtually every jealous woman and bridesmaid at the ceremony and the disguise worn by Miguel Angel when he escaped from the wedding chaos. In order for Helen to save the one decent job she's had in recent years she must clear Miguel Angel's name and get the celebrities back into the salon.

In the 8th Dead-End Job mystery Viets continues to skewer the elitist, superficial, segment of society who patronize the high-end stores and salons in an unattainable quest for eternal youth and beauty. At times her wit borders on being cruel to the botoxed, skeletal, desperate women, but the humor shines through when Viets highlights Helen's own personal turmoil. Helen is in the midst of planning her own wedding to her perfect FBI agent, but she's determined to have her ceremony be as much of a contrast to the over-the-top expensive King extravaganza as possible. With the aid of her fiancé Phil her landlady Margery Flax, Helen tracks down prostitutes, strip joints, and for fun, a drag bachelorette party. This is another extremely entertaining mystery by Viets that shines a light on the shallow, fragile, and deadly world of the Fort Lauderdale "elite."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Killer Cuts, April 29, 2010

By 

Lori Caswell "dollycas" (FALL RIVER, WI) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Killer Cuts: A Dead-End Job Mystery (Hardcover)

A Dead End Job Mystery
Paperback Release May 4, 2010

In this eighth edition of the Dead End Mysteries Helen Hawthorne is working at Miguel's Angel's Hair Salon, where celebrities and the rich and famous of Fort Lauderdale come for their very pricey makeovers. Helen works as a gofer for the manager, sweeps up hair and keeps the place tidy.

Helen also accompanies Miguel Angel as his assistant to help him prepare some of his most famous clients for their wedding day, gossip blogger and cable TV show host Kingman "King" Oden and his latest fiancee are expecting a baby, tying the knot and hoping to live happily ever after. At least that is the plan until the groom is found floating in the pool during the reception. Things get really "hairy" when Miguel Angel becomes the prime suspect. Never fear, Helen is on the case, to find the real murderer to save Miguel's shoppe, while at the same time trying to plan her own wedding. She must be on to something because she starts to receive threatening notes. How close is she is catching the murderer? And who is really living in the cursed apartment 2C this time?

I have really enjoyed this entire series and this edition doesn't disappoint. There is action right up to the final page, all the quirky characters are back, humorous dialogue, and just the right amount of suspense for this popular cozy series.

The next edition of this series Half-Price Homicide: A Dead-End Job Mystery also comes out in hardcover on May 4th. It has Helen working at a high-end designer consignment shop. I haven't read this one yet but it looks as good as the others. Two more books to add to your Summer Reading Lists.

To find out more about Elaine Viets, her books and even a sneak preview of Half-Price Homicide, check out her website at [...]. She is also the author of Mystery Shopper Series, featuring Josie Marcus.
Killer Cuts: A Dead-End Job Mystery

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Weak plot, September 25, 2009

By 

AKS (Chicago) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Killer Cuts: A Dead-End Job Mystery (Hardcover)

I really love this series and I love the characters, but this storyline was very weak. Not much of a plot really. I was very disappointed. I hope the next one is better.