First line: An old geezer of a reporter I used to work with once said that I had a rotten habit of biting off my nose to spite my face.
From the inside cover: Bailey Weggins, the Manhattan-based thirty-something true crime journalist, is in a good place. She’s enjoying her regular gig at Buzz, a leading celebrity magazine, getting freelance work, and hoping her first book will garner attention. In the love department, she’s finally back in the game with her recently-turned-exclusively boyfriend, Beau Regan.
When Beau heads out of town one early December weekend, Bailey accepts an invitation from her office friend Jessie to a music mogul’s house in the country, hoping for a fun, relaxing getaway. But a weird tension settles over the houseguests – a glamorous crowd that included the famously thin supermodel Devon Barr. An impending snowstorm only adds to the unease. So when Devon’s lifeless body is found in her bed, Bailey immediately suspects foul play: she can’t stop thinking of the day before, when a frightened Devon shivered in the woods and pleaded, “I have to get out of here…It’s not safe for me.”
When Bailey starts to nose around, she finds herself a moving target – running closer to the truth and straight into danger. With her trademark irreverent wit, Bailey is a heroine who keeps us laughing while on the edge of our seats. New and longtime fans alike will devour this eagerly awaited mystery.
My thoughts: I was so excited to see that this book was being released…I started reading this series back in 2002 when the first book in the series, If Looks Could Kill, was released. Since then, there were four more books released each year after that and then it was five years until this one came out. I jumped on it – putting it on reserve at the library as soon as it was in the system.
In So Pretty It Hurts we find Bailey smack in the middle of a murder. She uses her crime reporting instincts to help figure out what happened when she realizes things don’t exactly add up. There are several twists and turns to the story as Bailey follows her various leads, starting during the weekend while they are snowed in and then continuing when she gets back to the city. Using the many resources available to her due to her job, she is able to finally figure out the truth. We also get an update on how things are going with her now-boyfriend, Beau, and find out things are not as good as she would like. Will she be able to get past her own hang-ups when it comes to relationships?
I really like Kate White’s writing. She writes a good mystery that includes plenty of humor, information on Bailey’s personal life, and fun tidbits of celebrity
life thrown in. I hope this is not the last time we see Bailey or that we have to wait another five years for the next book to come out. Have you read this series? What about any of Kate White’s stand-alone books?
(I borrowed this book from the library.)
Books in this series:
- If Looks Could Kill
- A Body to Die For
- ‘Til Death Do Us Part
- Over Her Dead Body
- Lethally Blond
- So Pretty It Hurts
