Price: $4.99
(as of Dec 06, 2024 15:37:00 UTC – Details)
“A truly intriguing mystery.” (Armchair Reader)
“A likeable sassy, and savvy heroine, and the Washington D.C. setting is a plus.” (The Romance Readers Connection)
Sweatergate, a deadly assault with a giant candy cane, and a chance encounter with a homeless child in a stolen shepherd’s robe send Lacey Smithsonian on an unlikely Christmas quest in Grave Apparel, the fifth book in Ellen Byerrum’s Crime of Fashion Mysteries.
Christmas time in Washington, D.C. is a magical, glittering time of year in Our Nation’s Capital, filled with lights, seasonal concerts, and parties. But this Christmas, fashion reporter Smithsonian is caught up in “Sweatergate,” a tragicomic clash over garish holiday sweaters; the paper’s food editor, Felicity Pickles, is unexpectedly not baking her usual seasonal treats for the whole office; everyone seems to be mad at everyone else; and Lacey is getting all the blame. She’s being accused far and wide of ruining Christmas! So when the staff pain-in-the-neck is brutally assaulted in the alley behind the office with a giant candy cane and later found wrapped in a hideous Christmas sweater, it falls to Lacey to solve the crime. The Little Shepherd offers Lacey a window into the tragic flip side to the holiday season: no room at the inn for the cold, the hungry, and the homeless. Enlisting the help of everyone from her beau Vic Donovan to her curmudgeonly editor Douglas MacArthur Jones, Smithsonian searches the snowy alleys of D.C. on a rescue mission to keep a killer from ruining Christmas.
ASIN : B01N7FGRSO
Publisher : Lethal Black Dress Press; 2nd edition (December 6, 2016)
Publication date : December 6, 2016
Language : English
File size : 1097 KB
Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 306 pages
Page numbers source ISBN : 0997953535
Customers say
Customers find the books delightful, enthralling, and excellent. They also say the mystery content keeps them guessing with possible conspiracies. Readers describe the book as a cozy, Christmas masterpiece.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Amazon Customer –
Christmas Crime of Fashion
“Grave Apparel” is the fourth book in this mystery series about Lacey Smithsonian, a newspaper fashion reporter who works for “The Eye Street Observer” and who seems to follow her fashion sense nose into some weird and wonderful murder mysteries. Lacy is fortunate, she is an attractive career woman, she has good friends, and she has a glamorous vintage wardrobe, stored in a wonderful old trunk and inherited from her aunt. All this and more: Lacy also has a handsome ex lawman, turned security expert, for a lover, and he is also RICH!However, Lacy yearns to be a “real” reporter not just a fashion editor, and because of this, she has previously placed herself in situations where she has had to confront cold-blooded killers to solve mysteries. However, after several close calls, she is reluctant to do so ever again.But…this is the Christmas season and once again Lacey stumbles on a crime. Lacy gets placed in the middle of the battle between mother earth, anti-materialism editor Cassandra Wentworth, and the food editor Felicity Pickles. Cassandra is attacked in an alley during the Eye Street Observer’s holiday party and Felicity’s Christmas sweater is left at the scene. Lacey comes to Cassandra’s help after a phone call from a young child dressed in a shepherd robe who witnessed the attack and who runs away before talking to the police. Despite her reluctance to get involved since she dislikes both women, Lacey is pressured into investigating by nearly everyone at the Eye, and because a child is involved as a witness, and the police seem determed to place the guilt on this young boy, Lacy decides to investigate the crime. Once again, her detective boyfriend Vic, her free-spirited friend and hairstylist Stella, and her lawyer/friend conspiracy theorist Brooke, help Lacey to solve the crime.The Author, Ellen Byerrum’s experience as a Washington DC journalist, shines through and helps to make this a fun and facinating series.
Anne Keeter –
Best Lacey story … So far!
I’m a sucker for Christmas stories where everything seems to go wrong for the protagonist. Lacey is obviously responsible for the happiness of all her coworkers plus that of her so-called friends (with friends like these, who needs enemies). Fortunately, in this book, Lacey meets a street-wise little girl who’s more mature than her (Lacey’s) selfish friends and treats Lacey with a lot more respect.Lacey discovers more understanding of children that she thought she had … And still manages to get her fashion column in on time, catching the killer and scoring a great new car along the way.
Kindle Customer Karin M –
Delightful!
These books are delightful. Ms Byerrum’s combination of fashion, murder and possible conspiracies keep the reader guessing as well as entertained throughout. I hope she keeps this series going for a long time.
Family music –
Best Smithsonian mystery yet!
I don’t mind saying that I shed a few tears in the reading of this cozy, Christmas masterpiece of a mystery…best yet in the series.
kelsey maloney –
Continuously amazed
This will always be my favorite series! It never stops making me happy and always keeps me entertained with an endless drama that keeps me at the edge of my seat! Bravo..
John –
Nice Book, Great Price
Nice Book, Great PriceI bought the whole series for my married daughter (because she asked for them for her birthday).They were a great price and she really likes them to read again and again.In expensive paper-back.
Kindle Customer –
Excellent and enthralling read
This is an excellent mystery. I have just found my new favorite heroine. This is a real pAge therewith a good dose of humor.p
Zoëgirl –
Another hit by Ellen Byerrum
Another wonderful book dealing with the escapades of Lacey Smithsonian. What a delightful read. The titles are so cute.BUT…at tne end of the book it indicated her next one wouldn’t be out until 2009. Please tell us it was a TYPO!
Fuchs Joan –
Wie schon die vorherigen Bände, liefert die Autorin auch hier wieder eine gelungene Geschichte, glaubhafte Charaktere, guter Krimi, menschlich-herzliche Stimmung, alles dargeboten in dem ihr eigenen Stil mit viel Schmackes. Man rätselt mit, es werden alle Hinweise gegeben, aber dennoch wird nicht zu viel verraten. Vielleicht kommt das Bekannte (Mimi’s Truhe, Stella) etwas zu kurz, aber das stört nicht. Alte Freunde werden wieder eingeführt, wohl im Hinblick auf einen weiteren Band. Ich war traurig, als es vorbei war, und noch viel trauriger, dass der nächste Band erst für 2009 angekündigt ist. Solche Bücher sollte es mehr geben.