From Publishers Weekly
Before seductive, social-climbing Emma, Lady (as she calls herself) Ross is found strangled to death during a soiree in her apartment on Manhattan's Upper East Side, she charms, cheats and manipulates her equally conniving business associates and society chums, including the supposed archduke with whom she shares her flat. Christmas ( Simply to Die For ) centers her story around the investigative efforts of the cynical, sometimes witty Margaret Priam, a genuine English aristocrat whose friendship with Ross and presence at her party seemingly place Priam in an advantageous position for sleuthing. Priam pokes her genteel nose into places where it doesn't belong, recruits unlikely helpers and argues with her shadowy police detective lover about her involvement in the case. Meanwhile, Ross's business pals make disreputable real-estate deals and threaten those who interfere. Unfortunately, this slow-paced whodunit has neither the suspense nor the stylistic punch to hold readers' attention. Christmas also skimps on character development and ends her tale without satisfactorily explaining the killer's motive.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Description
A social climber scales her last ladder in this Lady Margaret Priam Mystery, where just before one of her own soirees, Lady Ross is unceremoniously strangled. A guest of the party herself, Lady Margaret Priam quietly figures things out on her own. The list of top-drawer suspects grows as their lies turn devious and her own close call with death provides the answer in the nick of time....
See all Editorial Reviews