Customer Reviews

Murder By Manicure (Bad Hair Day Mystery)

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

 

 

I have to agree with the other reviewer, it is annoying that the main character calls everybody "pal." She is catty and snotty, not fun. She goes around telling everybody they need to come to her and get a REAL haircut or highlights, and trying to snarf up business for her manicurist. In her head she comments on everybody's hair and makeup. CATTY!
What's more, the title of this novel gives everything away. I knew by page 25 whodunit, which was annoying. The person who wrote that there were no clues about the murderer's identity didn't read carefully enough, it was so obvious.
The Yiddish in the book is cloying and useless. If anybody called me a "shayna madel" I would yell at them to speak English. It's dumb and unnecessarily jarring.
The characters are plastic and act like morons. Everybody acts like they hate everybody else but have nothing better to do than get their hair cut or buy a bagel.
The police lieutenant she is interested in has a daughter, and Marla (the main character) is nasty and patronizing to her, and insists she doesn't want to be the mother of an already-there child. She acts like the child is a piece of dirt on her shirt to be brushed off. The police leiutenant is stand-offish in one chapter, leering in another, and obtuse in another chapter. Multiple personality, much?
Please don't waste your time or money on this book. It is without a doubt the worst book I have ever seen put into print.

I picked this book up at the library. The title and cover art intrigued me. I thought it would be a fun, easy read. However, reading it wasn't so easy. For some reason, the author likes to use what I guess are Yiddish phrases all throughout the book. It is distracting and I'm not sure why she does this. Another annoying use of language is the use of the word "pal." The main character, Marla, thinks sarcastically to herself and calls everyone "pal" (in a negative context). The plot itself was okay. Marla's relationship with Dalton seemed a little strange. Another thing is that this is the first (and last) in the series I have read and it mentioned something about someone named Tammy and drowning in a pool. I'm not quite sure the relationship between Tammy and Marla and it drove me nuts because it was referred to on numerous occasions. I like when authors briefly explain the important stuff that came previously in the series. That way you aren't missing anything if you haven't read any of the other books. Nancy J. Cohen does not do this. I am a big fan of mystery books. This one, however, disappointed me. I wouldn't recommend it. If you are looking for a book with a great female slueth pick up the Hannah Swensen series by Joanne Fluke.

I thought this would be a fun read but I was wrong. The story is slow and I didn't identify with any characters enough to care about the outcome. I feel like Marla was incredibly nosy and didn't like her at all. I don't think I'll be reading anything else from the series.

I have to agree with the other reviewers who did not care much for this book. I had to force myself to finish it. I did not care about any of the characters, did not like the main character (Marla), she is catty, doesn't like children, but pretends to care about the daughter of her "possible" love interest, the detective. Made me want to tear my hair out. The Yiddish, the "Bless my bones," the weak story... not my cup of tea. Try any of the books in Ann George's "The Southern Sisters" series instead.

I gave it two stars cause it was not completely horrible and I did feel the need to finish the book, but I don't feel the urge to go get another book by this author.

I picked this up at the library. I was looking for a light mystery and this looked like a fun read. I had been eyeing this Nancy Cohen series for a while. I can handle the yiddish, although it seemed forced, like it was thrown in after the book was written for effect. Calling everyone pal was irritating and her internal 'catty' comments about everyone's appearance was a turnoff. What really ruined this book and will make me never pick up another by this author was the personal crusade against animal cruelty, swimming pool safety and cooking!? I have nothing against personal crusades, but the details were forced on the readers like a horrible commercial in the middle of comedy mystery movie.

The whole book seemed forced to me and disjointed. One minute she is an intelligent crime solving hairdresser and the next she is clueless about obvious clues anybody would notice. Her relationship with Dalton and his daughter is strange. They just did not give me the feeling of a real couple and this is the third book. By now I'd expect a little more feeling that they belong together or at least a hint that the romance is going nowhere. He tells her to back off the investigation and then asks her to question suspects. What!? Is he trying to get her killed?

This book seems like an amalgamation of other successful mystery series. To me it seems the book was written and then detailed parts like the yiddish, animal cruelty, cooking (noodle kugel) and pool safety were thrown in later.

I didn't like this book
it didn't get to the point and never gave clues to whom the murdurer was until the end which was odd

I can deal with all the stuff about Marla and Dalton and Brianna and all Marla's other problems, but............, I read these types of books for entertainment and did NOT enjoy suddenly reading about animals and the cruel way they are treated by the animal testing done in labs. If I want to read about this topic I will search out serious news stories. This was most upsetting when reading late at night just before going to bed. I understand that this testing exists but I don't think this is the place for it. It really turned me off to this series.

Cockroach cookies? Not exactly my idea of cozy. It took away my appetite for oatmeal raisin cookies, and I haven't eaten any since I read the book. There are two things about the book that make my blood crawl: the cockroach cookies and Tammy. The Yiddish was annoying, although I would not lower the rating because of it.

The book had a beauty shop atmosphere, and lots of time spent at the gym, but this book just didn't have the quality that a good book should have. Cockroach cookies and Tammy aside, there still wasn't any quality in the book.

This book gives me the creeps.

This was my first meeting with Marla Shore, hairstylist and it will not be my last. I really enjoyed this book. Ms. Cohen kept me guessing until the end. The characters were interesting and winsome. I felt like I knew them. I have already ordered two more in this series and cannot wait to crack them open!

Thirty-five-year-old beauty salon owner, Marla Shore, figures that ridding herself of a few flabby pounds of holiday fat will be easy, after all, beauty is her business. However, the daily walks she takes with her poodle, Spooks, hasn't managed to melt away any excess pounds, so Marla decides to sign up for a free trial membership at Perfect Fit Sports Club. Marla never imagined that trying to beat the bulk would land her smack dab in the middle of a murder. Especially the murder of one of her very own customers, Jolene Myers. Jolene decided to relax in the whirpool with a nice soak, and ended up dorwning, and as of now Marla is the only one, except for Homicide Detective Vail, who suspects foul play. Soon Marla has come upon a second corpse, and knows that she wants to nail the killer before she someone else ends up dead. Especially if that someone is her.

This is my first BAD HAIR DAY MYSTERY, and I was quite pleased with the outcome. I found Marla to be a fun character, whom you find yourself rooting for from page one. Also, as an animal rights activist, I found that I enjoyed the dialogue spewed by Cookie about animals being tested on for beauty products. I think that it will help the public become more aware of what some animals go through involuntarily. Overall I found this book to be quite an entertaining amateur sleuth mystery, and I hope to read more about Marla, Homicide Detective Vail, and Spooks from Nancy J. Cohen in the future.

Erika Sorocco