Nothing but Gossip

Rating:
Summary: Kellogg's prose has gotten even more crisp and pithy
Review: Forget the plot -- read Kellogg's books for her wordsmithing. In this novel, sleuth Lily really comes into her own with her on-target marksmanship rivaled only by her pinpoint accuracy in assessing the world as we know it. Her comments on an indecent exposure case are worth the price of admission. And how refreshing it is to have a protagonist who doesn't cut her own hair with nail scissors but who can still shoot-em-up with the best of 'em.

Rating:
Summary: Full of wit with an exciting mystery and great detective.
Review: Heiress, private sleuth and U.S. Marshall, Lilly Bennett, is finally getting married, an event which her mother had almost given up on. After more than a couple decades of trying to find the right man, Lilly is marrying Richard...who is everything a woman could want. She takes on the case of a murdered oil heiress the week of her fabulous wedding and puts not only her life and that of her brother's on the line, but is expected to attend a number of high society pre-marital parties. Can she do it all and still keep the love of her life? Lilly has fun skewering both ends of the political spectrum as well as societal mores. A professional woman sleuth...with a big difference.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down!
Review: I picked this book up as something to read on the plane, not knowing or even hearing of Ms. Kellogg ever before. But, once I started reading it, I just couldn't put it down. I was very impressed with Ms. Kellogg's style--she gives her main character, Lilly Bennett, such insight and wisdom into all the other brilliant characters that inhabit the story, I was enraptured to the end. I love the setting and general feel of the book- the laid-back, yet sophisticated upper-class western that the book is set in was a breath of fresh air from what seems like every other stuffy, old-school murder mystery dealing with the upper class.

I'm working on reading all the rest of Ms. Kellogg's work now, and I have to say that it just keeps getting better. Kudos to you, Marne!