Death by Inferior Design (Domestic Bliss Series #1) »

Leslie Caine was once taken hostage at gunpoint and finds that writing about crimes is infinitely more enjoyable than taking part in them. Leslie is a certified interior decorator and lives in Colorado with her husband, two teenage children, and a cocker spaniel.

It was a great opportunity, a beautiful day, and a perfect setting: home designer Erin Gilbert was headed to a lovely Crestview, Colorado, neighborhood to engage in a friendly little design contest with her nearest and less-than-dearest competitor, the unspeakably handsome Steve Sullivan. Erin would do a room in one home. Across the street, Steve would do another. Between Gilbert and Sullivan, may the best eye win.

Neither designer could suspect that rearranging two spaces on a winter weekend would set off an uproar in the neighborhood—of quirky homeowners, passionate secrets, and marriages in need of extreme makeovers. Looking for a friend in this perilously unhinged environment, Erin wants to think that Steve might turn from competitor to ally…But somewhere between her faux wall finish and her custom window treatments, Erin is in for a shock: It seems that a killer has created this designing job just for her!

Publishers Weekly

First-time author Caine's decorating-theme contemporary cozy blends mystery fiction with design information to decidedly mixed results. Designer Erin Gilbert arrives at a bedroom redecoration job to find a bizarre decorating competition underway, a handsome rival (amusingly named Sullivan) pitted against her and a baby picture of herself hidden in the paneling she's slated to replace. Adopted by a mother who forbade her to search for her origins, Erin decides the photo is proof that one of the three unappealing couples sponsoring the competition must be her birth parents. Her search to determine which couple turns sinister, however, when two parental possibilities are poisoned and she herself barely escapes attack. The plotting of both the parentage and murder mysteries is patently absurd; Erin just happens to carry around cyanide given to her as a gift by her ex-boyfriend, for example. In addition, the story's momentum is frequently interrupted by strained decorating analogies ("my birth parents had shuffled me around like an odd-looking table lamp that didn't quite blend with their home decor") and lengthy design disquisitions on everything from curtain rods to kitchen islands. Sadly, this unnecessary thematic clutter overwhelms Caine's appealing heroine and warm, genuinely winning voice. Agent, Nancy Yost. (Oct. 26) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.