Customer Reviews

Killing Kelly

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Kelly Trent is a soap opera actress, who has an accident on the set. She could have been killed. So the producer of the soap puts her character in a coma so she can be protected (IF) someone is trying to kill her. It seems she plays an advice giving ballbuster on the show. (Her character reminded me alot of Susan Lucci's) When a television advice giver is murdered, her husband is arrested. Then somewhere in Ohio another radio advice giver drowns in her tub. Is this a coincidence? On the basis of these two deaths she is encouraged by her manager, agent and producer to take a vacation and do a music video for a group called "Kill Me Quick". The vacation is endorsed by the sponser of the soap,( maybe because she would not jump into bed with him). Anyway she has to dance a tango in the video.

Doug O'Casey is a dance teacher/private investigator who used to be a cop. WOW. He is hired to teach her to dance and also to be a kind of bodyguard. When he is not dancing in competitions he works with his brother who is married to a dancer who owns a dance studio. His brother is a PI.

With all this background which makes me a little nausous. The book gets somewhat better, and the romance and romantic scenes are some of her better work. I was really getting into it and thinking she was going to pull it off. But the resolution was the pits. Totally unsatisfying. It seemed to be something out of a soap opera. I wonder if she wrote herself into a hole and needed a quick fix to get out. This is not the worst book I have read, but I encourage you to get it from the library or wait for the paperback.

If I could have done so, I would not have given this book any stars at all. Kelly is a soap opera star who plays the role of a malicious and bitchy advice columnist on a popular day time TV show. After a series of near fatal accidents happen to her, the backers of the show decide that she should be given a leave of absence, just in case something happens to her which would be to the detriment of the show. Her agent books her to appear in a rock video where she is to play the part of a tango dancer, and hires a dance teacher/bodyguard to stay close to her at all times while teaching her the rudiments of the dance. Several more incidents occur during rehearsals and, instead of being grateful to her guardian who is repeatedly warning her to take commonsense measures to ensure her safety, this stupid airhead takes offence at his warnings and flouces off in a pet. I found this character to be not only incredibly stupid, but irritating in the extreme and in dire need of a good slap around the legs!

"Killing Kelly" uses characters from two previous books "Dead on the Dance Floor" and "Dying to Have Her". If you haven't read either of those, I highly recommend them as both mysteries and romances!

Kelly Trent who plays viciously sniping advice columnist and younger sister of Serena McCormick on the soap opera "Valentine Valley" has had death threats and during the filming of a scene is nearly killed when a mound of dirt gives way pitching her towards a cliff. Her manager, Mel, and Joe Penney, the soap producer, decide to write her out of the show for now and put her character in a coma. Kelly is not happy with this and feels the shows sponsor, Matt Avery, may have had undue influence on Joe and since she had dated and rejected Matt, maybe he is out for revenge.

Mel signs Kelly up to do a rock video with an up and coming group. As part of the video Kelly needs to do a tango and since it will be shot in the Florida Keys, Mel hires Doug O'Casey (former cop and brother of Quinn from "Dead on the Dance Floor") to teach her and be a bodyguard.

As the story progresses there are more near-misses on Kelly's life and sparks of all kinds between Kelly and Doug. There are also several suspects so the final climax is definitely a surprise both who and why. I felt the mystery was the best part and the romance a little jerky and not as consistent as Ms. Graham's usual romances.

This is still a fun read if just to meet Kelly's dog Sam!

Heather Graham let this one drag, it could have been done in a short story. Dead on the Dance Floor was great and I thought this one would be to "wrong", but I would still tell peole to read it because her books are always catching and you don't want to miss something. Kelly sounds spoiled and doesn't listen, Doug could have been more forceful and still come out looking good.

Killing Kelly seems to be #3 of a series starting with #1 Picture Me Dead and #2 Dead on the Dance Floor but it also continues the stories of Long, Lean and Lethal, Conar and Jennifer's story and Dying to Have Her, Liam and Serena's story. I have read many of Graham's books and really enjoyed her Civil War stories as well as some of her contemporaries. Her latest mysteries of Picture Me Dead and Dead on the Dance Floor aren't bad but Killing Kelly had several errors that should not have gotten past her proof readers at all. First of all, at the end of Dead on the Dance Floor, it stated that Quinn went back to work for the FBI but in Killing Kelly, he is still a PI. Then it is obvious in book two that Doug was having an affair with Jane at the end of the book but in KK, suddenly he would never get involved with a coworker, etc. again after what happened to his lover who was murdered in Dead on the Dance Floor and he and Jane were just dance partners all of the time.

Then Serena and Liam have a year old son and Jennifer and Conan have a 3 yr. old daughter and twin babies but by the middle of the book, suddenly Liam is up walking the floor with his twin baby and later mention is again made of his twins. Plus Kelly refers to Liam and Serena having 3 children and several pets too. What a mixed up mess! Seems that not only the proof reader missed the boat but Ms. Graham also got her story all balled up too. This is the kind of error that just about ruins a book for me as I hate it when the author doesn't seem to know her own storyline or characters. I hope Ms. Graham either writes fewer books so that she can really concentrate on her story or have someone who pays attention do her proof reading so these kinds of errors can be corrected before the book is published.

Last of all, the reason for the murders and the men involved seemed pretty far fetched. The most I can say positive on this book is that it winds up several story lines if you are interested in what happened to several characters in other books.

Overall this was a pretty satisfying book from the Heather Graham collection. The suspense was tight and non-stop; the mystery was cleverly woven and multi-layered, leading to a complex whodunit that left me guessing until they unveiled the villian. Even the romance was fairly well done most of the time - except that, once again (my pet peeve with romances) the romantic interests were always getting annoyed with one another over the most idiotic things. "What? You're concerned for my life and want to keep me safe?? You unspeakable CAD!! I hate you now!!" *sigh* Then they would get along. Then . . "What? You neglected to tell me your life story the instant we met?? You unspeakable CAD!! I hate you now!!!" ARGH!! Why do romance novelists feel the need to do that? So, therefore, I must reduce my rating to 4 stars. Otherwise, I enjoyed the rest of the story a great deal.

While not one of her best, this was still entertaining book. I liked both the hero & heroine. The romance lacked sizzle though. The hero's actions made sense, his main concern was to protect Kelly and everyone was suspect.

Although this was entertaining book, I would suggest borrowing from the library. It's not worth the hardcover cost.

I cannot believe that someone at Mira books did not catch all the discrepancies about the continuing characters from Dead On The Dance Floor to this book. Ms. Graham either did not remember where her major characters left off or chose, much like changing the pieces of a chess game, to simply move them to more convenient place. Among these is Quinn who goes from being a PI back to the FBI and then back again to a PI, Doug who has an affair with the victim in "Dead..." and then moves on to a relationship with Jane and then he says in the next book "I swore never to get involved with a dancer again". As if that remark is not bad enough, he and Jane are best friends in "Killing..." with absolutely no hint of their former relationship. This lack of continuity totally distracts from the plot and renders the book unreadable.

Killing Kelly keeps you in suspense at the end of every chapter. Multiple people have motives to kill Kelly Trent. Like a good card player, Heather Graham keeps you guessing on who is the killer until the very end. Kelly Trent is being unceremoniously dumped from her soap opera. Her agent has gotten the plum job of being on a music video as a dancer. Problem is that she does not know how to dance. Her publicist employs Doug O'Casey, a dance teacher who happens to be a former cop to help Kelly learn. He is there as a bodyguard because of a string of murders across the country of female advice columnists. Kelly's character on the soap opera was a ruthless advice columnist. Doug tries to resist the romantic tension between them and focus on his job. However, Doug and Kelly both give in to their romantic feelings. Kelly is a very naive television star who lives with her dog Sam by herself. She thinks nothing of her personal security. Just to be her extreme opposite, Doug comes in and starts to accuse everyone who approaches Kelly of ill intent. Doug and Kelly's romance is nothing unexpected. Somehow the two main characters do not garner any special attention. Individually they have their flaws and together however happy they themselves question how long it will last. Killing Kelly contains a boring and predictable romance within the confines of what could have been a potentially outstanding mystery.

This is Heather Graham's worst book in years. While the heroine is okay, if naive, the "hero" is a jerk. But most of the time, the hero is STUPID. His actions in "protecting" Kelly are ridiculous, and he becomes very unpleasant and obnoxious. What a waste.