Rating: 
Summary: I don't have words to describe the ridiculousness
Review: IF you like Stephanie Plum (Janet Evanovich), Arly Hanks (Joan Hess), Lily Bard (Charlaine Harris), Kinsey Milhone (Sue Grafton), A.K.A. Females in Mysteries with a little edge, humor or intellegence THIS IS NOT THE BOOK FOR YOU!
I am always looking for a new series to sink my mind into and thought this might be a fun way to spend a little summer sun-time. After only a few chapters, I wanted to drown myself in the family pool. This book is trite, off-center, and just mind-numbing for any woman with a brain.
Set in the 50's, described in infinate and lack-luster detail, the whole purpose of Paige Turner is to illustrate how repressed women were in the time period. This might be forgivable if the rest of the book didn't:
#1. focus on Paige Turner, a heroine who just goes on and on about losing her husband of 3 months. POOR US! Can't be without those men, ladies. We are just so darn unable to be alone! But I can catch a killer!
#2. have such inaccurate time period details, like trying to tell the reader that the word "rape" would be used for a title in a magazine. PUH-LEEZE! This is the 50's- when women had to get their "sanitary products" wrapped in plain brown paper to carry them home. No one even used the word "period". I am to believe anyone would publish the word "rape"-especially in a women's magazine? Uhhh, no.
#3. have a "cool chick" main character that's a lame duck. Paige is bucking the system, working-amid a land of June Cleavers, but she "is a double blusher who is embarrassed of her own embarrassment"? When meeting a friend of her dearly-departed hubby for the first time, "didn't stand up from the table" afraid to "balance her jittery body on her own numb, unsteady feet".
If only Stephanie Plum could save her!
(...)
Rating: 
Summary: A great mystery
Review: MURDER IS A GIRL'S BEST FRIEND, but only when it is in a book written by Amanda Matetsky.
I am not ordinarily a reader of fiction, and rarely a reader of mysteries. I prefer to read biographies of people who are accomplished and productive, which makes me feel accomplished and productive since I am astute enough to read about them.
However, when I heard that Amanda had written a sequal to MURDERERS PREFER BLONDES, I found myself anxious to see it. Ms. Matetsky writes so well that it seems like I am reading Paige Turner's bio. I can easily picture her, due to the wonderfully descriptive nature of the writing (just as I can do in good bios), I can follow her thoughts, see exactly what she is wearing (and why), picture her office and both her friendly and "unfriendly" colleagues and boss. And as a child of the fifties, she brings it all back, including the authenticity of all the streets, restaurants, "colloquialisms", etc.
Because I am not a professional reviewer, you have no reason to trust me. However, BECAUSE I AM NOT a professional reviewer, and have no stake in the selling of the book, newspaper, magazine, TV station, etc., well, you figure it out.
I enjoyed the book. And...you will too.
Rating:
Summary: SO MUCH FUN TO READ!
Review: I have always loved a good mystery and have read many. "Murder Is a Girl's Best Friend" satisfies all of my mystery cravings, but also give so much more. It's just plain fun to read! Very well written, the characters are fully portrayed and the humor of the main character and some of the other characters is woven throughout the entire manuscript. For entertainment value, you can't beat this book. It's also great for an ex-New Yorker (me) to read about NYC in the 50's. Lots of old memories came flooding back. I highly recommend this book. Great value for the price!
Rating:
Summary: One of the Most Delightful Mystery Series!
Review: I was actually reading another novel when the second book in the "Paige Turner Mystery Series" arrived from Amazon. I soon just gave up trying to get involved in the other book as "Murder Is a Girl's Best Friend" beckoned me.
The saga continues when her late husband's army buddy appears and asks her to help him investigate his kid sister's murder. A lot of thoughts come to the surface for Paige as she was deeply in love with her husband when he was killed in the Korean War. Yes - they were only married for 3 months, but Paige was devastated. Amanda Matetsky very ACCURATELY depicts Paige as a woman of the 50's. Paige doesn't NEED a man; rather she is portrayed as a loving, caring woman. Actually, Paige is quite a lot more independent than most women of the 1950's, most whose identities were very closely formed to the men in their lives.
Matetsky also very accurately has researched the jargon and headlines of the detective magazines of that period, who were a little more "scandalous" in their use of words such as "rape" than most of the newspapers of that period.
This series transports the reader back to New York in the 1950's in a charming manner, that is not ridiculous or silly in the least. Paige Turner is a character that you will LIKE. Abby is great as the uninhibited close friend and neighbor as well.
I really look forward to the next Paige Turner mystery!
Rating:
Summary: superb 1950s New York amateur sleuth
Review: Mystery author and staff writer for Daring Detective magazine Paige Turner is at work when Terence Catcher calls and asks her to meet him. She hesitates until he tells her that her late husband Bob, who died in Korea, was his best friend and he wants to tell her about his last days. When Paige arrives at the restaurant, Terry tells her how Bob gave him confidence when he was scared and lifted his spirits when he was depressed. He then goes on to explain that his sister was murdered in her apartment and the police think it was a robbery gone wrong and closed the case.Terry is positive his sister's death had to do with the diamond jewelry hidden in a container of oatmeal. Paige tries to wiggle out of helping him because she knows her police officer boyfriend would be furious with her. In the end, she agrees to find the killer because Terry was Bob's friend. Asking questions and following clues results in Paige almost dying when someone throws her on the train tracks; her apartment is broken into; and a viable suspect is killed. If that is not traumatic enough, the killer shoots Paige as the perpetrator demands the amateur sleuth tell where the diamonds are located. December 1954 in Manhattan is a trip down memory lane and Amanda Matetsky captures the ambience of the era to perfection. The heroine's friend Abby makes a perfect crime-solving partner and some of their adventures are funny. Readers will thoroughly enjoy MURDER IS A GIRL'S BEST FRIEND because of Paige, Abby, and 1950s New York. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Mystery Book
Review: Paige Turner is a spit fire young woman living in the 50's and working as a writer for a detective magazine. She gets a lot of grief about her name, especially where she works. She works with all men who expect her to wait on them and do most of the work while they laugh and slack off. The thoughts she thinks about them inside her head are funny! She gets caught up in a murder mystery and goes out to try to solve it herself and you can't put the book down! There's swearing which was disappointing. Otherwise, great book!
Rating:
Summary: I wish I was there with her
Review: Paige Turner is such a great character. It's 1954 in New York. Her late husband's army buddy, Terry Catcher, shows up and asks her to help him find out who murdered his sister, Judy. Plus he has diamonds he found when he was cleaning up her apartment. He doesn't know where they came from. When he showed them to the police, they wanted to keep them and he left when they weren't looking, with the diamonds, of course. Her new boyfriend, Detective Dan Street, has forbidden her from trying to help solve any more crimes. But, she can't turn down Terry. He had been close to Bob. So, she started doing some investigation. She had to be very careful when talking to Dan. She didn't want him to know. Her best friend and neighbor, Abby, helped her. So did Terry. But they had to keep Terry disguised so he wouldn't get arrested. They end up putting themselves in lots of danger, as they work to find out who killed Judy and why. Plus Christmas is fast approaching. Can Paige stay alive and in one piece for Christmas? I truly enjoy this series. Paige is such a likable character. Her relationship with Abby is wonderful. They are close friends, but they have their own lives, too. They're always there to help each other out when needed. Paige's new relationship with Dan is good. This book doesn't really expand on that. I'm hoping that future books will. Sometimes I find it difficult to read when she is in her office. I hate the way her co-workers and boss treat her, but then I just remember that it is the 1950s. I think this book is written well. Especially getting that feeling of the 50s across. I tend to read books set in the now so this is a refreshing change. I highly recommend this book and the previous book, Murderers Prefer Blondes.
Rating:
Summary: Who killed Judy Catcher and where did the diamonds come from
Review: Paige Turner is such a great character. It's 1954 in New York. Her late husband's army buddy, Terry Catcher, shows up and asks her to help him find out who murdered his sister, Judy. Plus he has diamonds he found when he was cleaning up her apartment. He doesn't know where they came from. When he showed them to the police, they wanted to keep them and he left when they weren't looking, with the diamonds, of course. Her new boyfriend, Detective Dan Street, has forbidden her from trying to help solve any more crimes. But, she can't turn down Terry. He had been close to Bob. So, she started doing some investigation. She had to be very careful when talking to Dan. She didn't want him to know. Her best friend and neighbor, Abby, helped her. So did Terry. But they had to keep Terry disguised so he wouldn't get arrested. They end up putting themselves in lots of danger, as they work to find out who killed Judy and why. Plus Christmas is fast approaching. Can Paige stay alive and in one piece for Christmas? I truly enjoy this series. Paige is such a likable character. Her relationship with Abby is wonderful. They are close friends, but they have their own lives, too. They're always there to help each other out when needed. Paige's new relationship with Dan is good. This book doesn't really expand on that. I'm hoping that future books will. Sometimes I find it difficult to read when she is in her office. I hate the way her co-workers and boss treat her, but then I just remember that it is the 1950s. I think this book is written well. Especially getting that feeling of the 50s across. I tend to read books set in the now so this is a refreshing change. I highly recommend this book and the previous book, Murderers Prefer Blondes.
Rating:
Summary: Glad to Have You Back, Paige Turner
Review: Paige Turner, that delightful 1950s mystery writer and sleuth is back in MURDER IS A GIRL'S BEST FRIEND and she's even more amazing and winning than she was in the first of this series, MURDERERS PREFER BLONDES.
Matetsky brings the fifties to vivid life and plants Paige in the midst of the decade's atmosphere.
Princeton Reader
Rating:
Summary: This is a great rainy day or beach day book --
Review: Read in one sitting is best, because this is a page-turner.
No pun intended, because the "detective" in this book is named Paige Turner, a name that never fails to prompt a reaction, usually laughter.
This mystery is set in December, 1954 in Manhattan. Paige is an aspiring mystery writer working in an under-appreciated and underpaid job in a sexist (this is the 50s, after all) detective magazine office. Her boyfriend is a homicide detective who would like her to not investigate any murders, but when a friend of her late husband's approaches her about investigating his sister's murder, she can't resist. The big clue he has brought her is a fortune in diamonds he found hidden in an outmeal container -- clearly the motive for her shooting death, which the police put down to an interrupted random burglary.
The plot moves right along and the reader is soon feeling like she's right there with them, in an over-the-fish-shop apartment in the Village in 1954 with Paige, following up on every clue. Although the mystery plotting was well done, the real pleasure in this book for me was the characters and setting. I look forward to reading more books by this author.
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