Review

For fans of:  Casey Daniels

When a construction crew stumbles across a cloth-wrapped box hidden in Madeira “Maddie” Cutler’s vintage clothing store, nobody involved has any idea the discovery will lead to the re-opening of one of the Mystick Falls Police Department’s oldest unsolved cases.

Maddie Cutler is psychometric:  when she touches a piece of vintage clothing, she gets visions regarding the history of the item and its former owner.  Sometimes, her visions are of happy moments; when she touches the wrapping from the box found in her shop, however, she’s transported to a crime that took place during the country club’s Golden Jubilee in 1973. From what Maddie can glean, on that night, a secret scavenger hunt took place, and in connection with that hunt, some very valuable objects were stolen and a girl wound up dead.

According to her contact inside the local PD, the missing property was never returned and the circumstances surrounding the girl’s death are still a mystery. Can Maddie use the information revealed in her visions to help close this long-cold case – or will she wind up on ice, herself?

Tulle Death Do Us Part is the sixth of Annette Blair’s Vintage Magic Mysteries, and my feelings about it are decidedly mixed. On the one hand, I love the conceit of the series; it’s clever and unique and because the clothing sold in Maddie’s shop spans several decades, she never knows where or when her visions are going to take her.  I also appreciate Blair’s obvious expertise regarding – and affection for – vintage fashion; she does a nice job of incorporating information on styles and designers into her story, and her enthusiasm for haute couture is contagious. And finally, Blair is a master at writing unconventional couples.  In particular, I adore the relationship between Maddie’s 106-year-old friend Dolly and the ghost who haunts Maddie’s shop (the two had a fling in real life, while both were still alive). Young love is great, but there’s something to be said for epic romance.

Unfortunately, though, Blair’s writing style makes it really difficult to get into the flow of Tulle Death Do Us Part. Her prose is overwrought. Her dialogue is unnatural and contains way too much exposition. (Maddie’s habit of substituting fashion terms for curse words – “scrap silk and little bone buttons,” ”holy eyelet,” “cold grommets and toothy metal zippers,” etc. – is as ridiculous as it is annoying.) The mystery is so convoluted as to strain credulity. The plot is scattered, and she neither earns her complications nor her resolutions. And the book’s supporting cast members are so cartoonish, they actually serve to detract from the tale rather to add depth and complexity.

This book starts strong, and the ending is actually quite satisfying – I just wish the journey from Point A to Point B was a bit less bumpy a ride.

Reviewed by Kat