Died to Match (Carnegie Kincaid, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Deborah Donnelly (Author) "MASKS ARE DANGEROUS. THE MEREST SCRAP OF SILK OR SLIP of cardboard can eclipse one's civilized identity and set loose the dark side of the..." (more)
Key Phrases: Lester Foy, Roger Talbot, Mercedes Montoya (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Wedding planner Carnegie Kincaid and the entourage of oddball characters introduced in Veiled Threats, Donnelly's debut, infuse this brisk, buoyant cozy with quirky humor and nonstop adventure. Struggling to keep Made in Heaven, her houseboat-based business, afloat, Carnegie accepts the large sums offered by Microsoft millionaire Elizabeth Lamott to plan her wedding as well as her Halloween engagement party at the Seattle Aquarium. The festivities turn decidedly fishy, however, when one bridesmaid is found floating unconscious in the harbor and another turns up dead in an aquarium exhibit, lying next to an inebriated guest in a leprechaun costume. Ever curious Carnegie takes it upon herself to investigate the murder, though her efforts tend to hamper rather than help the local police. Meanwhile, she agrees to fill the dead bridesmaid's shoes and tries to juggle two romantic interests-an amorous computer genius so young he makes her feel like a "cradle-robbing Mrs. Robinson" and a boyfriend who makes her crazy wondering if she should break up or jump in bed with him. Like a slide down the rabbit hole, this compulsively readable mystery gains speed with every turn of the page, culminating in a chaotic conclusion that leaves enough threads dangling to keep readers coming back for more.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description
It was a wedding no one would forget…

Luke Skywalker was juggling martini glasses. Albert Einstein was dirty-dancing with Monica Lewinsky. And Zorro was arguing with Death himself. For wedding planner Carnegie Kincaid, it was just another night on the job: a coed bachelor party thrown by one of Seattle’s hippest couples--the bride-to-be a hard-charging Microsoft millionaire, the groom a Seattle Sentinel news editor.

But what started as the perfect evening for the young, handsome, and politically correct ended in disaster. One beautiful bridesmaid was dead, and another had thrown herself into Elliott Bay. Now Carnegie has more than a cutting-edge wedding to save. All around her, secret liaisons are unraveling, dangerous decisions are coming to light, and at least one criminal is lurking. With families to please, dresses to hem, and headlines to grab, Carnegie is discovering the dark side of love and marriage amid high and low Seattle society--and that while some passions may be forever, some are a motive for murder....

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Dell (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440237041
• ISBN-13: 978-0440237044
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #544,096 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 2 in The Wedding Planner Mystery Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Weddings are just so --, May 27, 2003

By	kellytwo "kellytwo" (cleveland hts, ohio) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

I loved the first book in this series, Veiled Threats, so even though I was predisposed to like this book, as well, it exceeded my expectations in every regard. The author has created a terrific protagonist in Carnegie Kincaid, a six foot tall redhead, who lives on a houseboat on Lake Union just north of downtown Seattle. From there she also operates her struggling business, Made In Heaven Wedding Designs. Surrounded by a cadre of unique and very talented friends of the sort needed by a wedding planner, Carnegie not only knows Seattle like the palm of her hand, she provides the reader with a constantly entertaining travelogue. Seattle, of course, is the home of lots of water, the Space Needle, and the fairly new Experience Music Project on the grounds of the Seattle Center. The EMP would be a wonderful place for anything at all, considering it was designed by the world-famous architect, Frank Gehry, noted for his uniquely marvelous swooping and swirling buildings. Seattle is also the home of Microsoft. And millionaires.

It is one of these latter persons, Elizabeth Lamott, a 29 year-old female, now retired from Microsoft, who is the current bride. With tons of money at her disposal, she can ask for anything; getting it is sometimes the problem. Her groom is Paul Wheeler, news editor for the Seattle Sentinel.

The opening scene of their coed bachelor party at the Seattle Aquarium is delicious--the guests are all in masquerade, which of course, interferes greatly with trying to solve the murder of a bridesmaid that takes place during the party.

Several of Carnegie's friends from the first book appear in this one as well. 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. Lily James, the black librarian and single Mom who supports Carnegie no matter what; Boris, the very Russian floral designer and Eddie, Carnegie's business partner.

Add to this mix the very punk and lesbian Juice Nugent, cake baker extraordinaire, plus police Detective Lieutenant Michael Graham, and you have the ingredients for a possibly zany merry-go-round. Donnelly's writing and story-telling ability, however, are splendid, and she keeps a tight rein on all these disparate elements, never letting any one aspect overshadow any other.

Personally, I thought the book well worth reading for this one sentence: "My current finances restricted me to a charming little vehicle, lovingly crafted in Eastern Europe, that combined the roomy elegance of a soup can with the horsepower of a sewing machine." My daughter had one of those cars, and I think a better description was never penned. Never!

It would be hard to find a more enjoyable book, I think. Now, to develop a bit of patience while waiting for the next one.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars humorous amateur sleuth, October 1, 2002

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Carnegie Kincaid is a wedding planner who lives on a house boat in Seattle. Her business needs an infusion of cash so she agrees to coordinate the engagement party of Paul Wheeler and Elizabeth Lamott at the Seattle Aquarium. Since the party is on Halloween night, everyone is in costume having a good time and making merry. Just as Carnegie is about to call the party a success, she stumbles across the murdered body of one of the bridesmaids.

Another bridesmaid claims that somebody threw her into Elliot Bay even though because of her track record nobody takes her seriously except Carnegie. As the Lamott/Wheeler wedding approaches another bridesmaid is murdered leading Carnegie to think that somebody is stalking them. She conducts her independent investigation in the hope that the wedding day will be killer free.

Carnegie is an off-beat heroine that readers will adore and her wannabe lover goes through all sorts of emotional gyrations just to keep up with her. DIED TO MATCH is a humorous amateur sleuth novel with so many serpentine twists and turns that the audience will feel like they are on a roller coaster. Deborah Donnelly is a fresh new voice in the mystery genre.

Harriet Klausner

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wedding Series Just Gets Better, March 13, 2004

By	K. A. Stevenson "WIAPilot" (Tucson) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the second book in the Carnegie Kincaid wedding planner mystery series and Deborah Donnelly just keeps getting better. I have to confess that although Carnegie Kincaid (6' and a redhead) looks nothing like J Lo - I can still see Jennifer Lopez as the Wedding Planner in this characterization.

Deborah Donnelly does a GREAT job with introducing very off-beat weddings and parties in this series AS WELL AS the various problems that her wedding planner encounters. I think that it would be very easy to resort to trite, old wedding disasters - but Donnelly manages to avoid this.

Other reviewers have mentioned that the novels were too long or characters weren't developed enough. Good grief. The plots are DEVELOPED and the characters' personalities are being revealed a little at a time as this is a series. With each book, another layer of the characters' personaes are exposed.

Keep it up Donnelly - this series is great!