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Bailey
Weggins - True Crime Freelance Magazine Writer
- New
York City
"If Looks Could Kill"
Now Cat has been known to get hysterical "when the dry cleaners pressed the seams wrong in her pants," so Bailey isn't too concerned when Cat says that her nanny, Heidi, won't answer a knock on her door. Cat being the kind of woman who gets everything she wants, means that Bailey agrees to interrupt her Sunday morning to help. Still not expecting any kind of crisis, Bailey catches a cab uptown to 91st Street to go look inside the nanny's apartment. When she opens the door to Heidi's apartment, she's hit with the sour smell of vomit and the stink of feces. After covering her face with her sweater, Bailey heads in to look for Heidi and finds her lying on the floor next to the couch. The beautiful girl has waxy pale skin, open eyes and a vomit-encrusted mouth. She is dead proving Cat's instinct as uncannily right. So now Bailey is really involved. She is successful as a true crime reporter because she seems to have a sixth sense at seeing things as they really are, thus getting at the bottom of a mystery even when the local police do not. So Cat asks her to snoop around, find what she can on Heidi's life, before the whole thing blows publicly. Bailey figures Cat just wants someone on her side, but agrees to help out. Besides, when else would she have a chance to be at the center of the action that involves a corpse? Yet, was Heidi the intended corpse? It doesn't take too long to realize that Heidi was not involved in drugs or excessive alcohol. Instead, as the police prove, she was binging on a box of what appeared to be Godiva chocolates but what were actually homemade chocolates in a Godiva box --- laced with poison. It seems to be the same box of chocolates that appeared as a gift during a party the previous Thursday night. Unfortunately it seems that Heidi was caught pilfering food from Cat one too many times. So Bailey begins a very systematic search to find Heidi's killer starting with the list from Thursday night's party to see who might want to kill Cat Jones --- of which there is no shortage of people to suspect. As chief of one of the largest women's magazines, living in a gorgeous town house in Manhattan with a "hot-looking" husband and basically able and willing to go after anything she wants, Cat is an easy woman to hate. Never mind that, Bailey can't absolutely rule out Cat as a murderess. There are way too many unanswered questions such as why did Cat think Heidi was in trouble? And why wasn't Cat with her husband and two-year-old son that weekend? And what about Cat's husband, Jeff? Heidi was a beautiful young woman; maybe life wasn't so perfect for Cat and Jeff... Then, the case takes a new twist and adds one more possibility. It comes to light that another magazine editor died from poisonous mushrooms a half year earlier. So could this be part of a movie-like plot against the Women's Magazine Editors of Manhattan? |
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I like the way Bailey Weggins explores the many possibilities at once (as well as continuing her work on a poltergeist article). This is not the type of mystery where the protagonist follows a set of clues in a fairly straight line and then at the end we are either logically led to the murderer or we take a sharp left and are surprised by the murderer. No, in this one everyone is a suspect right up until they are conclusively eliminated, leaving, well, uh, just two possibilities. And more often than not, we find Bailey echoing our own thoughts about what something means or what she should check next. Now that I think about it, this is a clever trick to keep us feeling good about our own sleuthing skills without ever feeling that Bailey is getting ahead or overlooking something important. If I were to write this kind of mystery, I would want to dissect this technique since it really adds to the pleasure of reading a mystery. This mystery is also fun because it is in New York City. One of the things that I'm most fascinated with about living in the city is that you don't drive --- which I would love. I've spent just enough time in the city to know the jostle of the subway or the motion of a cab, but I have not been there enough to feel comfortable at any of this. So with Bailey, I was vicariously getting around the city with confidence. It's the extra detail that the author gives to make you feel like you are taking a cab with cup of coffee or the ease in which you can know where you are going. "I told the cabdriver to head up Central Park West, then cut through the park, and that I'd provide him with the exact destination in a sec. As we sped around Columbus Circle I called Cat on my cell phone..." The other thing that I like is that the novel does carry some beauty tips here and there. Not too many, but the few there are seemed to be things I always wanted to know; but I won't mention them here because I don't want to reveal that much about myself! Moreover, I feel that I'm now with the thirty-something lingo because I know what a "booty call" is. It turns out it was something my friends and I would resort to at that age, but we didn't have a name for it (just guilt). And finally, you wouldn't expect a novel that centers on the editor of one of the "seven sisters" women's magazines not be a little catty, especially when it comes to fashion attire. Fortunately, it is not overdone since Bailey is merely being observant rather than hurtful. But it is a world in which one notices attire and accessories --- and weight gain. If you don't know whom the author Kate White is, let me tell you - she is the Editor in Chief at Cosmopolitan magazine. That's right! So who better to write a "Sex in the City meets Nancy Drew" mystery that takes place in the New York City publishing world? We know from the non-fiction books that she's published that she knows how to go after anything she wants and get it. Hmmm.... just like Cat (Catherine) Jones... anything seem familiar about this name? That Kate White would choose to write a novel in which the main character works for a Chief Editor and not be the Chief Editor gives the book a little extra sass. After all, Bailey Weggins is never quite sure if Cat is treating her as a friend or someone who is convenient to the task. Before I read this novel, I was skeptical when this book made the new Live with Regis and Kelly book club as its debut selection. I figured they were just promoting one of their friends. But Reading with Ripa intends to select "fun, light-hearted reads, rather than heavy, message-laden books." So I guess I would have to agree with Kelly Ripa that If Looks Could Kill is a perfect and worthy debut to her new book club. I bet it ends up on lots of Summer Reading List as well. Just one more reason to hate Kate White - she wants to write mysteries, so she does it, and she does it perfectly well. That takes talent, not just guts. (Reviewed 04-28-02) Amazon
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Bibliography (with links to Amazon.com):Bailey Weggins series:
Non-Fiction:
(back to top) Book Marks:
(back to top) About the Author:
Kate fell in love with Nancy Drew mysteries at the age of 12, devoured every one of them and as an adult went on to read all the major stars of the genre. She became a true murder mystery junkie. She also began to fantasize about creating her own amateur sleuth. By this time, though, she'd broken into the magazine business and she just didn't seem to have the time or energy to write fiction. But throughout these years Kate never lost her yearning to write a mystery. Several years ago she realized that if she didn't get around to doing it, it would never happen so she decided to finally carve out the time for it. Kate lives in New York City with her husband and two kids, 12 and 14. She says her kids have been incredibly understanding of her love of the macabre and may be two of the only children who have happily gone on the Jack the Ripper Tour in London. |
©1998-2003 MostlyFiction.com |
from
35 reviews
Kate
White is the editor in chief of Cosmopolitan magazine for the past
four years. Kate got her start in magazines at Glamour, after winning the
magazine's Top Ten College Woman contest and appearing on the cover. She went
on to hold key jobs at a variety of national magazines and eventually became editor
in chief of Child, Working Woman and Redbook. During this
time she wrote the two best selling non-fiction books. After she had run Redbook
for four years, she was asked by her boss at the Hearst Corporation to take over
Cosmopolitan, the flagship magazine in the company and one of the most
successful magazines in the world. Following in the footsteps of the legendary
Helen Gurley Brown, Kate has stayed true to the mission of the magazine but has
modernized it and added many new features. Since she has been at Cosmo
it has become the number one selling magazine on the newsstand in the U.S. 
