Pepper Pomeroy may have found her true calling. The unemployed event planner agrees to help her younger sister Felicity’s boyfriend create the perfect setting to propose. Pepper does such a great job, her future brother-in-law Warren things she could make a career of providing other men with a special backdrop to pop the question. Pepper decides to follow Warren’s advice and starts her new business and offers a package deal if she is also given the business to plan the couple’s engagement party. Pepper would be perfectly happy except a body found during Warren and Felicity’s proposal event soon lands Warren in the hot seat as the prime suspect in a murder. Now Pepper must take on the job of amateur detective to make sure Felicity’s new fiancé, who almost seems too good to be true, isn’t a murderer."Engaged in Murder" is a fun read with a catchy premise. I never knew some proposals were planned out and staged like mini-Hollywood event, but it makes a great basis for a cozy mystery. I love the details about the events Pepper is planning that are included in the book. These details make the character and the setting seem more real and help the book stand out. The descriptions of the events add so much charm to the book, and I really got caught up in the excitement of the romantic proposals and lavish parties Pepper plans. However, I found the constant descriptions of what Pepper was wearing and how her outfit brings out the color of her eyes or flatters her fair skin, to be distracting. Since this isn’t a fashion-themed mystery, we don’t need to each minute detail about Pepper’s outfits described, except perhaps for an important event Pepper has planned. Even in a crucial moment of the story when Pepper is in danger, wardrobe descriptions intrude. “My jeans and pale blue T-shirt were not so tight as to restrict me when I ran.” The color of her shirt is irrelevant and detracts from the drama of the scene.Pepper is a likeable main character who is determined to keep her sister from getting hurt by either proving Warren’s innocence or finding out the worst before the wedding. Pepper’s investigation keeps my interest through most of the book, but gets a bit repetitive as she continues to question the same couple of people without always learning anything new. I do admire the fact that Pepper won’t give up until she has answers. However, the real mystery in the story is why someone as intelligent and outgoing as Pepper would put up with her pool-playing, beer-guzzling, loser of a boyfriend Bobby for eight years. They don’t seem to have any common interests and when he isn’t making rude comments, he’s ignoring her. I was happy to see that after a shaky start, things do start to improve in Pepper’s personal life.I think this is a promising series because Pepper is likeable and her new Perfect Proposals business can lead to some entertaining stories. This book will appeal to fans of Shirley Freydont or Deborah Donnelly. Author Nancy J. Parra also writes under the name Nancy Coco, so fans of those fudge-themed mysteries will want to give this new series a try. This review was originally written for The Season EZine. The book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review. Disappointing. Poorly edited, with lots of careless errors (like having the main character say she's 30 and has been dating her boyfriend since high school -- 8 years).I found the characters superficial and many of the situations implausible. I am also curious about the fact that the author's name for copyright inside the cover is Julie Hyzy, who is the author of the White House Chef mysteries. Their websites and pictures are different, so what gives?I read a lot of cozies and I wasn't expecting a Booker Prize nominee, but I just couldn't make myself finish. This read like it was written by an author looking for a sellable formula for light mysteries with a little romance. Nothing wrong with that, but these characterizations were so slight as to be unmemorable.
What do You think about Engaged In Murder (2014)?
really? proposal planning? high end galas? ridiculous.
—liz
A little sappy and not as enjoyable as her GF series.
—sabire
