Great Escapes Book Tours Book Review: Deadly Fashion

Deadly Fashion (The Deadly Series) 3rd in Series - Can be read on its own 

Genre – Cozy Historical Mystery
JDP Press
Approximately 266 pages 

Will be up on Amazon for preorder soon and GoodReads

Why would a man, knowing his life was in danger, turn his back on his killer?

In pre-war London, Olivia Denis wins a plum assignment from her newspaper when she meets the glamorous French fashion designer, Mimi Mareau. Mimi has it all, wealth, talent, acclaim, and a British duke for a lover. But on her first visit to Mimi's new Mayfair house of haute couture, Olivia finds something else - the body of an unknown man.

Mimi and her three French assistants say they don't know the man, but is that true? As Olivia spends time around the salon, she learns at least one of the women knew the dead man and four women are lying.

A British agent in possession of a terrible secret, an attempt on the life of a British leader, a fashion house in the middle of it all, and war marches closer. Can Olivia stop a murderer before he or she can strike again or shatter the fragile peace?

Review: If you are a fan of Jacqueline Winspear, Suan Elia MacNeal or Rhys Bowen, you are going to love Kate Parker's Deadly series.

This is the third novel in this series, but even if you haven't read the first two books, you'll have no problem diving into this one. The setting is pre-WWII England, and tensions are high.

Olivia Denis is a reporter who finds herself helping the government on the side. She's a smart character that is also likable. On one assignment to learn more about designer Mimi Mareau she discovers a body in the basement, that gets her tangled up in a new mystery, especially when that body is one of a British agent, known as Elias.  Elias had a lot of secrets of his own.

This story has everything from the high fashion designer and her staff to her lover, who is a Duke, who has German sympathies.

As Olivia works to uncover his killer, she learns more about the work he was doing to aid Jewish people trying to get out of occupied territories, she also gets involved in trying to find out who was behind a plot to assassinate Churchill

Kate Parker delivers a story that is rich in history. So much of the story makes you want to google certain events to find out if they happened. There's at least one event that does have some root in history.  She weaves fact and fiction in a wonderful way.

The mystery is well crafted. Parker drops clues but never enough to give you an idea of the killers identity before the final reveal. It may also leave you wondering if one of the characters may appear in the book again.

It was nice that Olivia got a bit of a happy surprise from her love interest.

I look forward to visiting Olivia again as England enters the war.

Rating: 5 flowers

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kate Parker has wanted to travel to 1930s England since she read her mother’s Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers mysteries when she was a schoolgirl. After many years of studying science, she decided a time travel machine was out of the question so she found herself limited to reading about the period and visiting historic sites. Her love of this fascinating and challenging period led her to the research from which the Deadly series grew. Eventually, she found it necessary to spend several days in the British Library reading old newspapers, which meant another trip to England. Near Christmas. A sacrifice she’d gladly make every year.

  Author Links: Website: www.KateParkerbooks.com
  Facebook: www.Facebook.com/Author.Kate.Parker/
  Twitter: www.twitter.com/KateParkerbooks
  Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7123001.Kate_Parker