Button Holed
Kylie Logan


ISBN-10:
0425243761
ISBN-13:978-0425243763
Publisher: Penguin Group
Line: Berkley
Release Date: Sep 6, 2011
Pages: 288
Retail Price: $7.99




Genre:
Mystery
Rating:

Working out of her button shop in a Chicago brownstone, Josie Giancola has become one of the country's leading experts on buttons. Her reputation draws a Hollywood starlet to the Button Box to shop for one-of-a-kind buttons to adorn her made-to-order wedding gown.

But after the Button Box is ransacked and the actress murdered, Josie's cozy world is thrown into chaos-and a killer is out to keep Josie's lips buttoned up...permanently.

Review

Josie Giancola is not sure what has her more upset – having two gigantic men in ski masks threatening her in her new button shop or the fact that they’ve dumped out several drawers of her collection of nearly 100,000 buttons! Luckily, Josie is able to slip away into a back room to call the police and manages to get her shop back in order before celebrity client Kate “The Great” Franciscus arrives to select antique buttons for her custom wedding gown. Josie gets some good publicity from having such as famous customer until Kate returns to the store to look at more buttons, but becomes a victim of murder, with an antique button hook as the weapon. Now Josie has the paparazzi hounding her for a story, as well as her ex-husband Kaz begging her for gambling money. Just when Josie thinks things can’t get worse, she find out the detective that has been assigned to Kate’s murder case is none other than Nevin Riley, a former blind date from hell.

Button Holed is a fantastic debut. It has an unusual setting, a shop called “The Button Box” that sells collectible buttons, located in a converted brownstone in Chicago. While the Chicago background doesn’t have a strong presence in most of the book, something related to the city’s sport teams provides a valuable clue to the solution of Kate’s murder.

The information about buttons in interesting and is included throughout the book and in a small section at the back of the book. Josie is brought into the investigation in a believable way – her knowledge of buttons is needed to help research a clue in the murder. So the buttons aren’t just a side ploy, but key to the main plot of the book.

Populating the great setting are several interesting supporting characters:  Josie’s young assistant Brinna Martingale – full of tattoos and attitude -, friend, neighbor, and retired Chicago cop Stan Marzcak, and Ex-husband Mitchell “Kaz” Kazlowski. Josie is still attracted to him but knows he is a gambler and a liar. However, after the initial awkwardness, there is hope that Josie and Nevin can get past their disastrous first date and become friends, or even more.

Josie’s assistant Brinna is very aggravating in the beginning of the book, but I love the direction the author took in regard to that character as the story progresses. Kaz is annoying because of the way he tries to take advantage of Josie’s good nature and lingering attraction to him to try to get money out of her to cover his gambling debts. Although this is the first book in a new series, the narrative refers back to several instances that Josie was taken advantage of in the past. However, from her actions in this book, it’s clear Josie has matured and learned to stand up for herself and her ethics in her business and personal life.

The combination of interesting setting, memorable characters, believability, and possible love-interest in the character of Nevin result in an interesting mystery and a wonderful start to a new series. Mystery lovers who enjoy Laura Child’s scrapbooking series will feel right at home in “The Button Box”.

Reviewed by Christine K.


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