Customer Reviews

Veiled Threats

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Set in Seattle, this Carnegie Kincaid mystery starts out at a wedding that Carnegie has planned. Everything is going well until a drunken bridesmaid steals the keys of another bridesmaid(Carnegie's next client} and crashes her classic Mustang into a wall, killing herself instantly. Carnegie is overcome with guilt and anxiety over the future of her business, especially since it appears that her next client, the daughter of a very wealthy man, has many dangerous enemies who just might make his daughter, Nikki, their target.

I initially was a little skeptical that a mystery about weddings and their planner would hold my interest, but I was pleasantly surprised. The characters are very real, and I didn't figure out the mystery until the very end. Very good mystery.

Harder-edged than one might expect from a cozy mystery about a wedding planner,VEILED THREATS is nonetheless engrossing. Weddings are a stressful time, and Carnegie Kincaid is understandably flustered as a drunken bridesmaid makes a scene at the reception, then roars off in the bride's car, only to be killed in a crash moments later.

Why this would be the fault of the wedding planner is hard to fathom, but this incident kicks off a series of disasters that brings her wedding planning business to the brink of extinction.

Tenderly wistful one moment, sexually agressive the next, Carnegie Kincaid is hard to pin down and just a little bit careless with her heart. Some of her missteps are so obvious, one wants to shake the girl, but she's engaging enough to make us care, and the easy humor makes it well worth the read.

If anyone out there is looking for a fun read, you've got to pick up Veiled Threats. The heroine,Carnegie Kincaid, is just plain fun to hang out with as she sleuths her way into trouble. With zany supporting characters and a lively plot, this is the perfect book to curl up with on a cold winter day (or a steamy summer night). I'm definitely adding this one to my keeper shelf.

I can't wait for the next book.
If you like a strong female sleuth then you'll love Carnegie Kincaid. She brings wit and humor and a keen eye for social detail to the mystery genre. In a wealthy client's driveway, Carnegie observes "a blood-and-silver Alfa Romeo that looked fast standing still. I had some nail polish that color once, but it kept me awake at night."
This woman is strong and stylish with an enthralling way of viewing the world and a supporting cast of vivid characters.

What a dandy! It's enough, though, to make anyone think twice about getting married, I should think.

For Carnegie Kincaid, owner of Made In Heaven Wedding Designs, the myriad details necessary for the perfect wedding are her bread and butter. Until someone steals a car and runs down an inebriated bridesmaid, that is. From that point on, it seems as though nothing wants to go right, and no one is who they appear to be.

Her friend Nicolle Parry just wants to marry Ray Ishigura , the up-and-coming concert pianist. And, for a change, money is no object, Nickie's father being Douglas Parry,
chairman of the board of King County Savings. So why do all these unsettling things keep happening? Well, for one thing, there is a battle between the former CEO of the bank, Keith Guthridge. Did he or didn't he twiddle the funds?

Aaron Gold, a reporter who has a nose for gossip as well as news, seems to always pop up just when he shouldn't. It's fairly obvious he has his eye on Carnegie, but from her six-foot vantage point, his five-foot-eight or so is little more than a pest. Especially when the more than six-foot Holt Walker is on the scene, as well.

In order to keep Parry from testifying at the upcoming trial, threats have been made, but when they don't seem to have the desired effect, Nickie is kidnapped. Carnegie finds herself smack in the middle of everything, mostly against her will, but she finds inner resources she didn't know she had. She hangs on by her fingernails and prevails against the bad guys to rescue Nickie and herself, and Aaron.

This is not exactly your everyday cozy mystery, but I truly enjoyed it, hanging on every last word! I'm eagerly awaiting the next wedding in the series. For a first book, this one was unusually well done. Enjoy! Unless, of course, you're planning a wedding . . .

"Veiled Threats" was an ok afternoon read, but not much more. Carnegie got on my nerves a bit. She seems full of self doubt and negative attitude most of the time, but her character isn't developed in a way that you empathise or sympathise with her. It didn't come across to me at all as a hilarious mystery a la Donna Andrews. The humor is limited to the fact that Carnegie calls her van "Vanna" and always seems to be getting spilled on or dirty somehow, leaving her at a disadvantage. The mystery plot isn't bad (though some motives aren't well explained) but I'd enjoy it more with less of the self doubt and insecurities Carnegie seems to be burdened with.

I bought this thinking it would be a 'fun' cozy read. It is that and much more. Don't think that you will be able to put this one down until you've finished--you won't. The characters are well developed--and the plot has few holes. Even though it's pretty easy to spot the good/bad guys lurking under the surface, this is still a most enjoyable first book.

I read this book after the second in the series, which was a mistake -- you need to read this series in order because suspects in book 1 are still around in book 2. But even knowing that, and even though I had a good idea who the bad folk were (probably because the red herrings didn't work for someone who had read book 2 so they were innocent in book 1, right?), I still found myself on the edge of my proverbial seat, worried about the obvious trap the "detective" (wedding consultant Carnegie) was walking into. "Don't get into the car!" I wanted to tell her. And then I reminded myself that 1) it's jsut a book and 2) you know she's still around for another book.

The plot involves a wedding that Carnegie is planning -- for a sweet young woman from a wealthy family. The bride's father is about to testify in an S & L scandal, and it appears that someone wants to frighten him out of doing that. Strange things start happening, including the death of a bridesmaid that apparently was an accident -- the intent had been a terrible accident for the bride. Things continue to go downhill as the attacks intensify, finally placing our plucky wedding consultant in peril.

Yes, this book has some of the rawness of a first book -- but the pacing made up for it, in my opinion. This may not be great literature, but it's an enjoyable read that will keep you turning the pages.

This is, for the most part, a fun read. The story takes on the task not only of developing its own plot, but of developing what will obviously be recurring characters in a series.

Where the story succeeds is in its quirkiness: an unusual protagonist, describing lovely settings of the Pacific Northwest, some funny "bride-zilla" episodes. Things bog down considerably in some of the longer action sequences and in some of the dialog, which at times is stilted or implausible. There are a lot of subplots and a few seem to get lost rather than resolving.

This isn't a bad start, and it seems likely that the series will improve.

I really wish 0 stars was an option here, because in my opinion this book does not deserve any stars. This is not a cozy mystery. Beloved family pets are not brutally, savagely murdered in cozy mysteries. I have read many mysteries, but I've never yet read one that would benefit from an animal being disgustingly murdered, much less one that is a family pet. I know this is fiction, a story, but that doesn't make reading about such an act any more palatable. This was a marginally good story, but it was completely wrecked by such a gratuitous scene. I will not be buying any more of this author's books, and I will be returning my copy of this one.