Customer Reviews

Poisoned by Gilt (Domestic Bliss Mysteries)

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

 

 

First they were rivals in the interior design profession, but Erin Gilbert and Steve Sullivan ended up becoming business partners. If not for a phone call the night before, both of them would have ended up in the same bed. Instead Steve's mentor Richard Thayers, who was supposed to judge an environmentally friendly home contest in Crestview, Colorado sponsored by Earth House, is livid that they designed the house of his archenemy Burke Stratton. He calms down enough to host a class where he demonstrates environmentally safe products by drinking gold paint.

Following the session Richard gets into his car while Steve and Erin go to their respective homes. The next day the partners learn Richard is dead, a victim of poisoning; someone tampered with the paint. Erin cannot stop herself from snooping and soon receives business cards warning her to back off or else. Still, an obstinate Erin keeps investigating with plenty of suspects from the contestants, the class, the architect, and even others. However, the killer is watching her every move waiting for the moment to end this inquiry.

Readers will thoroughly enjoy this entertaining amateur sleuth tale as Gilbert and Sullivan's romantic aria crashes although Erin does not know why. The support cast, especially Erin's landlady, adds humor to the plot. Erin is loyal to her friends and clients so feels strongly she must take action even when she knows that might place her in danger from a culprit who killed once. Amateur sleuth logic aside, POISONED BY GILT is filled with charming characters, a courageous heroine and a pitiful villain, who come together to make an engaging whodunit.

Harriet Klausner

I've enjoyed this series up until now. Erin has been a fun female lead and the whole storyline was enjoyable.

However, this book was 95% Erin simpering and whining about Steve and 5% her preaching to everyone she met about "building green." What happened to the strong female lead Erin used to be?

Half the fun of this series was the rivalry between Erin and Steve. The author made a huge mistake in making them partners and removing that rivalry. Now she's made it even worse by forcing a romance on us that feels contrived and has Erin acting like a 12-year-old ("Don't say her name!" when Steve is talking about another woman Erin thinks he's cheating with). And, this was compounded by the fact she didn't even let this whole thing develop, but rather shoved it down our throats so quickly without much buildup.

I don't like the direction this is going and based on the preview of the next book at the end, this series has lost a reader.

I was hoping for a kind of a fun romantic cozy mystery. This book disappointed on all levels. There was very little interaction between the main characters and really not an ounce of fun in the whole story. There was a lot of dreary eco-preaching that would have been more palatable had it been worked (pardon the pun) organically into the story instead of being shoved into the story just for the sake of being able to get those facts out there. The suspects were carictures instead of characters and I got no real sense of place from the setting. I was also annoyed that this book seems to say that carcinogens are much like allergins. That if you had cancer and somehow managed to remove all possible carcinogens from your house and air that you would somehow begin to get better from cancer. And the character that believe this is a doctor. And the book doesn't do anything to disabuse anyone of that notion. This book was just not much fun.

i thought this book was way too long and boring. it was 313 pages. it started off good with the murder victim being in his enviromental class and drinking paint that he said was non toxic to prove a point with his students. then he died from the paint. the main characters were gilbert and sullivan. come on with those names . what is next rodgers and hammerstein? gilbert and sullivan were investigating who poisoned richard. he was a judge in a contest.gilbert and sullivan were interior decorators who were decoraitng burke's home and were friends with richard. one of the contestants burke had a history wiht richard because richard sold burke equipemtn that was supposed to be an air purifier but had carcinogens that killed his son. this should have tipped off the police that he was the murderer. i would think being cheated into buying something that killed your son would have been a strong motive. But the book goes on and on about burke's argument with his neighbors and trying to out do each other in the conetest. And the female neighbor who does not like saving the enviroment and the carpenter who buys illegal products. Also, I did not undrestand the diffrent font in some of the chapters.

I enjoyed the book, but I marked it down because it seemed as if the men in the book were a bunch of emotional hysterics. It might have been better to have a few that were calm and rational. Still, it was good to not have the women be the hysterics as so often stereotypically happens.

Another problem with the book is the green home contest which provides the background. There are three finalist homes. It does seem as if there are conflicts of interest at every turn.

Nor did I understand the different typesetting when the protagonist is at home with her landlady. What's that all about?

A fun read, with a little romance, I like this series of Sullivan and Gilbert decorating team, looking forward to the next book in the series. the victim was one I was not shocked to see knocked off, knowing the author wrote the victim as a bad guy.