Review

For fans of: Betty Hechtman

Emma Taylor and her Aunt Arabella are struggling to bring their lingerie shop, Sweet Nothings, into the black, so when the mayor’s daughter-in-law offers to host a trunk show at her home and invite all her rich friends, it seems like a gift from heaven.

Unfortunately, however, the event doesn’t quite go according to plan. One of the guests, retirement community administrator Jessica Scott, falls ill and dies after eating one of the cupcakes provided by their friend Bitsy.  Bitsy, of course, immediately becomes the police’s main suspect, but as Emma quickly discovers, she’s far from the only person who wanted Jessica dead…

Laced with Poison is the second in Meg London’s Sweet Nothings Lingerie Mystery series, and it’s a fairly unsatisfying read.  The concept of the series is a good one; London clearly knows her vintage lingerie, and she’s at her most eloquent when she’s describing the pieces Emma and Arabella sell in their shop. That’s about all the praise I can muster, though. London’s prose is clunky and contains far too many superfluous details, her dialogue doesn’t ring true, and too many of her scenes do little if any work to forward the plot, thereby sapping the tale of narrative drive. Her story doesn’t contain nearly enough drama, and what is there feels manufactured and unearned. The mystery is hastily constructed and relies far too heavily on coincidence. And London fails to convince her readers of the stakes; you never for a moment believe that anyone Emma knows is actually in danger of being arrested for murder (particularly given that the local police department appears to be staffed entirely with Keystone Cops).

London’s character work is subpar, as well. Emma’s vapid and unbelievably naïve, and her relationship with best friend Liz’s bland brother Brian feels more like an elementary-school romance than love between two consenting adults. Arabella’s sweet, but completely two-dimensional. And for murder suspects, friends Liz and Bitsy don’t seem all that eager to assist with Emma’s investigation into Jessica’s death. Emma’s cantankerous friend and co-worker Sylvia is a marvelous character who elevates every scene in which she appears, but she’s the only bright spot in an otherwise dull and lifeless cast.

If London had spent more time developing her characters and beefing up her plot, I think Laced with Poison would be a pretty compelling read; as it stands, though, readers may be hard-pressed not to skim.

Reviewed by Kat