"Jay Allan and Cindy Cooper were soap opera stars in the late '90s, a wholesome young husband-and-wife duo who combined musical talent with humor and charisma. When the truth about their sexual orientations came to light, their marriage and TV careers ended, but decades later they have remained friends. Together, they open Palm Springs' chicest movie memorabilia store, Hooray for Hollywood--but no customers and dwindling finances spell trouble. A Hail Mary arrives in the form of Yana Tosh, a ninety-year-old diva of the ...
Read More
"Jay Allan and Cindy Cooper were soap opera stars in the late '90s, a wholesome young husband-and-wife duo who combined musical talent with humor and charisma. When the truth about their sexual orientations came to light, their marriage and TV careers ended, but decades later they have remained friends. Together, they open Palm Springs' chicest movie memorabilia store, Hooray for Hollywood--but no customers and dwindling finances spell trouble. A Hail Mary arrives in the form of Yana Tosh, a ninety-year-old diva of the silver screen who has amassed a valuable collection of costumes and props and is looking to sell. But first, Jay and Cindy have to beat their competition, a vice president from a mega-auction house with ten times their resources. And when he winds up dead, they become prime suspects in the murder. With their freedom and livelihoods on the line, Jay and Cindy desperately need to clear their names. There are plenty of other potential suspects, but they'll have to solve it soon before they're forced to trade in their vintage costume collection for two orange jumpsuits"--
Read Less
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. Open Books is a nonprofit social venture that provides literacy experiences for thousands of readers each year through inspiring programs and creative capitalization of books.
A Killing in Costumes is a light cozy mystery with two gay protagonists. The point-of-view switches between Jay and Cindy. I wish the point-of-view had alternated chapters instead of switching randomly (I would have preferred third person). It was made more challenging with Cindy telling us how Jay felt about Jay�s attraction to the detective (shouldn�t Jay be telling us how he feels) or Jay telling us that Cindy is getting angry. The characters lacked development. We are given some basic background information. I wanted more details that would bring the characters to life. I did feel that the information we are given on Jay and Cindy does not jive with their age. We get to learn the ins and out of the movie memorabilia business. There are numerous descriptions of movie props, posters, and costumes. All the descriptions slow down the pacing considerably. The whodunit was straightforward. We have a dead man, several suspects, and a red herring or two. It takes one clue to solve the mystery. The pacing does pick up near the end as Cindy and Jay are discovering the final details they need to solve the crime and have a dramatic reveal. I got tired of being told that Cindy drove a Jurassic Park Explorer and the horror movie table was mentioned nine times. As you can tell, A Killing in Costumes was not my type of book. A Killing in Costumes is a blithe cozy mystery with movie memorabilia, slow sales, a prima donna nonagenarian, a murdered competitor, killer costumes, a lethal envelope, a dispassionate son, a shady assistant, and an iffy financier.
Lori
Aug 6, 2022
This Series is Off to a Strong Start
Dollycas's Thoughts
Their careers have faded from soap opera fame due to an uproar when their sexual orientations are revealed. Now divorced but still best friends Jay Allan and Cindy Cooper are filling their days as owners of the best movie memorabilia store in Palm Springs, Hooray for Hollywood. But the store has been in a huge slump and may be headed toward financial ruin.
Enter Yana Tosh, an actress from the silver screen and now about 90 years old and ready to part with her own collection of movie memorabilia. She has contacted two companies about the sale, Jay and Cindy, and a huge auction house with ties around the world. Before any contracts can be signed the VP from the auction house is found dead and somehow Cindy and Jay are the prime suspects.
So now while trying to save Hooray for Hollywood they need to catch a killer and save themselves.
I love watching old movies so this book excited me from the start.
It did take me a while though to get engaged by the characters but I blame that partially on the book's formatting. The point of view goes back and forth between Cindy and Jay and sometimes I was a little confused. That being said, I was very happy to see older protagonists in this story and that while divorced they are best friends and spend most of their waking hours together. I was also pleased by the positive way the LBGTQ+ community was portrayed. Also with pets named Bob Hope and Mae West you can't go wrong.
The memorabilia store was such a great backdrop for this story. All the movie and music references were great. I enjoyed the description of the few items that were mentioned but I would love to lose myself in the aisles probably for about a week mining out treasure after treasure.
The author plotted out this mystery so well. It was pretty complicated with all the suspects, twists, and turns. I didn't figure out this Whodunit until everything was spelled out for me. That means the book captivated my thinking so much I didn't take a single note.
A Killing in Costumes has given this series a strong start and has laid a great foundation for future stories. I am excited to see what Zac Bissonnette has in store for his characters. This was a fun and enjoyable read.
