Fatal Feng Shui (Domestic Bliss Series #5) »

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.

Wallpaper, love, and other deadly ideas…

Once they were competitors. Then they became partners. Now interior designers Erin Gilbert and Steve Sullivan wish they’d never gotten involved in a feng shui—inspired makeover—of a home owned by a celebrity chef and his wife, a famous artist with an infamous artistic temperament. Gilbert and Sullivan are all for feng shui, the Chinese art of harmonious design. But this time Gilbert and Sullivan know they are facing more than bad vibes. An attic erupts in flames. The death of a carpenter strikes Erin too close to home, while a dangerous beauty wants to get much too close to Sullivan. Erin finds herself left on her own with her best-made plans, her worst fears, and someone whose design is to kill her.

Publishers Weekly

Despite the homeowner's attempt to harmonize her household through the Chinese art of feng shui, death and a series of near-fatal accidents stalk a job site manned by Erin Gilbert, returning interior designer and incidental sleuth, and her new partner, Steve Sullivan. In the latest installment of Caine's Domestic Bliss mystery series (Death by Inferior Design), artist Shannon Young seeks to remodel her home with the help of Gilbert, Sullivan and a dubious feng shui consultant by the name of Ang Chung. As it turns out, Shannon has a more serious problem than inharmonious design: a predatory neighbor, Pate Hamlin, is after her house and using a series of dirty tricks to get her to sell. When the construction foreman, Erin's half-brother, dies in what might or might not be an accident, an unsatisfactory investigation by local police causes Erin to start following her own leads. It isn't long before a rival designer shows up, trying to steal Steve away from Erin in more ways than professional. Caine, a certified interior decorator, adds helpful decorating tips to her well-constructed mystery, making this a stylish, satisfying cozy. (Nov.)