Lethal Black Dress (The Crime of Fashion Mysteries)

What a fun murder mystery. Lacy ties it all together with fashion. This one is about a TV personality who dies wearing a vintage dress lined with green silk. She gets champagne dumped on her at a dinner and a few hours later she is dead. Lacy thinks there is something odd because she smelled an odd smell when the wet dress came within her range. Lacy tried to tell the woman wearing the dress that she should take it off because if the green was the Paris Green, it had arsenic in it and had been known to cause illness death in the late 1800’s. None had been around in modern time so it may not be the lethal dye. No one believed it was the dress that had killed the TV personality but Lacy couldn’t let it go. It was a smart mystery and the way Lacy conducted the investigation was well done. It is always nice to know the terrain where a book is written and this one is in D.C. and nearly suburbs. If you like mysteries with smart dialect and lots of fashion clues, you’ll like this book. It is #10 so you might want to start with Book 1, most are in Kindle format now.

Lacey Smithsonian, fashion reporter for a second-rate Washington, D.C., newspaper, gets to go to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. A TV reporter who is trying to advance her own career by stealing Lacey’s work involving vintage fashion, ends up dead at the event in a most unusual way in a most unusual dress, right in front of Lacey. Lacey juggles the investigation of this case with her impending engagement to hunky security expert Vic Donovan. All of the supporting characters I’ve grown to love over the course of this series are back for more.Sometimes long-term series (this is Book 10) grow stale for me, but not this one. The author manages to keep the characters current and interesting, while honoring their basic personalities and not having them behave out of character. I always enjoy learning more about vintage fashion – I want Lacey to take me shopping and dress me in those classic 40s clothes. Reading this was like visiting with cherished old friends and I was bereft when it was over. Can’t wait to spend more time with Lacey, Vic and their crazy friends.You could read these out of order, but I think you’ll find them much more satisfying read in order, because each one builds on the previous one.

Lacey Smithsonian is one of my favorite mystery heroines and once again, she does not disappoint! With a unique murder weapon, several self-centered suspects and, naturally, a slew of fashion clues, Lacey takes us on a tour of vintage clothing shops (I’d love to be her sidekick on shopping trips!), art galleries and beautiful countryside. Vic Donovan, her handsome, protective fiancé, is helpful as ever and even his parents get in on the act. Along with fashion insights, this mystery delves into art history and proves that color can be a killer! So, settle in for a wild ride (maybe in a pink fin tailed Cadillac?) along with Mac, Trujillo, Turtledove, Brooke, Damian and Broadway Lamont, as Lacey Smithsonian once again solves her latest Crime of Fashion. And don’t despair if you’re not an E-reader, a paperback edition is in the works!

I really enjoyed this book and could not put it down. I loved the way the Paris green clue was tracked through the book until the conclusion. The plot was well developed with good twists. The final "cat fight" was one of the funniest scenes I could imagine. The familiar background characters were treated a little too casually but the Eye office does sound like a fun place to work with fellow employees being odd but good people at heart.In this book humor and interesting tidbits of information and fashion "bites" enhanced the storyline without confusing or distracting the great plot.Good story, great ending = good book.

I love mystery books and this one is a very good read. I don't care for too bloody and graphic stories and this one is mysterious without a lot of that. I was able to compile the clues (which I like) and surmise a perpetrator (which I love) ... so this was a great book for me and anyone who likes to read mysteries for the same reasons!

My mom, usually a hard-boiled fan, absolutely loves Lacey Smithsonian and the Crime of fashion series. That is one of the biggest compliments I can pay to a cozy author. Ellen Byerrum presents another well-paced plot that keeps the pages turning til the end. When is the next book????Lacey Smithsonian is a journalist who lives in her great-aunt's apartment. She has a trunk chock-full of patterns, fabric, memories, and sometimes clues, inherited from Aunt MiMi. She has crazy and funny friends, a hunky and smart fiance, and a lively workplace. Solving mysteries is just an added bonus!

I'll start by saying that the Crime of Fashion series is one of my favorites. This book is no exception. Once again, Lacey's extra-fashionary perception leads her down a trail of deadly Paris Green. We are joined by Vic Donovan, Detective Broadway Lamont, Brooke Barton, and many other returning characters. Stella Lake, Lacey's zany best friend and hair stylist is missing from this adventure, but hey...a girl needs to enjoy her honeymoon.I love the character driving plots of Mrs. Byerrum's books and am always ready to read more. Give this a read! You won't regret it.

Lethal Black Dress, the 10th of this series, is my favorite because it was Lacey's story, not Stella's or Brooke's or Mac's or Damon's or even Harlan's. Plus, what a truly inventive way of ensuring someone's death -- well, outside of the 14th or 15th centuries, that is. And Byerrum has a knack for making her reader see the action in their mind's eye which is undeniably one of her strongest assets, beyond her imagination. I want more!

Another great story with Lacey plunged up to her tasteful vintage neckline into fashion-related murder. These stories seldom disappoint, and this volume is a worthy addition to a pretty good series.

Loved each book in this series. Great cozy fun.