False Premises (Domestic Bliss Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Leslie Caine (Author)
Key Phrases: George Wong, Laura Smith, Jerry Stone (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Interior designer Erin Gilbert was dazzled by her beautiful, free-spending client and new friend, Laura Smith. Dazzled, that is, until she visits Laura’s magnificent house and finds that the priceless antiques she painstakingly acquired at Laura’s behest have been completely replaced with fakes! When Laura’s explanations ring as false as the erstwhile Louis XVI foyer mirror, Erin begins investigating her friend’s colorful life and times–and then gets interrupted by a murder.

As fate would have it, Erin has uncovered the same world-class scam artist who all but destroyed her handsome-but-embittered archrival, Steve Sullivan. While Sullivan aches for revenge, Erin wants answers–even while she juggles a sputtering romance, a burgeoning business, and one very boorish client. For Erin, it’s bad enough that bodies are being strewn in all the wrong places. It’s even worse that one suspect perfectly fits each crime: Sullivan himself!

About the Author
Leslie Caine was once taken hostage at gunpoint and finds that writing about crimes is infinitely more enjoyable than taking part in them. Leslie is a certified interior decorator and lives in Colorado with her husband, two teenage children, and a cocker spaniel.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Dell (June 28, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440241766
• ISBN-13: 978-0440241768
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #580,448 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 2 in The Domestic Bliss Mystery Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Series, December 4, 2005

By	A Reader - See all my reviews

The second installment of this series is better than the first, with the main characters being fleshed out much more, and a good, solid mystery.

The dialogue between characters is a bit childish and amateur (particularly when one character has a long passage of dialogue), but it's not anything that really takes away from the story. Don't miss this one!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars exciting amateur sleuth , June 28, 2005

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

Interior designer Erin Gilbert helps her clients Laura Smith and David Holland redecorate their mini-mansion with beautiful and costly antiques, and becomes friends with the woman. After an alteration with a man wearing a wig and carrying a gun, Laura flips him using a judo technique. When Erin goes to her home to check on her, she discovers that the valuable antiquities were replaced with cheap reproductions.

Laura tells the interior decoration that the antiquities are in storage where they will be safe and appreciate in value over the years. When Erin informs David, he insists he knows nothing about the switch because he was out of town but he can't see properly because he lost his glasses. Erin learns that Laura is the person who scammed interior decorator Steve Sullivan out of $300,000 dollars. Steve and Erin watch Laura's house. When Dave drives out they follow him to a storage facility where they find Laura's murdered body. Erin starts her own investigation discovering that everyone who knew Laura had a reason to kill her.

It is hard to believe that every person she was involved in ended up helping her and then wanting to see her dead but Laura was one such person, the perfect villainess and victim. There are so many people she hurt who had a motive to kill her that readers will find themselves trying to figure out who the killer really is. The heroine pursues her investigation even though there have been attempts made on her life but she is determined to identify the perpetrator so she can regain her own piece of mind. This exciting amateur sleuth tale is the perfect beach book.

Harriet Klausner

3.0 out of 5 stars Confusing and strange., May 17, 2009

By	Lois Lain (San Francisco Bay Area, CA) - See all my reviews

I am a huge Leslie Caine fan, but this book left me baffled. There was simply too much happening, without enough context. Too many suspects, too many arguments, too many leads. And none of the characters was developed enough to make me connect with them or the story.

I also find the insertion of random chapters of interior design advice to be an annoying interruption. They do nothing to further the story or the character development. They belong in an end-of-chapter summation, or an appendix -- not thrown randomly into the book. And the way they're done in a different typeface and design - horrid! I actually thought there'd been a mistake. The font is difficult to read and the design is ugly.

Overall, not one of her best books, or even her best series. I love the lightheartedness that went with some of her earlier series, which is entirely missing in this series. There's nothing light about it -- just depressing.