The Kari AnnAlysis

From Goodreads:
Interior designer Deva Dunne’s latest project comes to a screeching halt when blood on the carpet leads her to the body of her client, an exotic dancer with a mysterious past. But the murdered woman is not the only resident of the posh beachfront condominium with secrets, and investigating officer Lieutenant Victor Rossi considers them all suspects.

Though wary of working in the killer’s midst, Deva continues decorating the unit for the new owner. When she stumbles upon clues that might help crack the case, she can’t resist doing a little digging of her own, despite Rossi’s orders to quit meddling. Now, she’s juggling the investigation, her career and sexy neighbor Simon Yaeger, who seems interested in more than her etchings.

Deva can’t help but be flattered by all the male attention—that is, until she realizes the killer has designs on her, too…

There are many things that determine how I judge a book including characters, emotion, writing, overall design, creativity within the novel…those all make up pieces of my book blogging puzzle.

From the beginning of this book, I fell in love with several characters. Deva is mourning the death of her husband and moved to Florida to get as far away from her previous life as possible. She has a knack for design and uses it to help her forget. Don’t we all do that from time to time? Get so into our work or a hobby that it helps us cope with hard feelings? But there are several characters in Deva’s life that help her feel a breath of fresh air. Although she is not there long, Treasure is a ray of trasnvestite hope, along with her former lover. Then there are multiple men in this book who are swoon-worthy, from the soon-to-be divorced upstairs neighbor to the Hawaiin shirt wearing investigator.

The mystery in this book kept me turning the pages. I also have a hunch at some point as to who the killer is in books like these, but most of the time, the real suspect is merely a glimmer that doesn’t last long. That happened here. I thought I knew, then clues turned me in a different direction, but the I was back to where I started. The motive for the murder is what held me up. Definitely not what I thought it was going to be. Dang motives, tripping up my detective game.

This book was filled with emotion. The pain that Deva has for the loss of her husband is heart breaking. Any married woman, or any woman in love can relate with how they would feel in this scenario. What would I do in this situation? Where would I go? Would I be able to work? Although this book was a murder mystery, with drama and suspense, it also was thought provoking. And there were also the nuggets of funny, that showed hope and brought out a part of Deva you hoped she wouldn’t lose in all her sadness.

Good news, I felt like I grew close to Deva and want to see her grow and move forward, and also want to see which of her many suitors she chooses as her next love interest, and I think I’m going to have the chance to do that. On Jean Harrington’s website, it says this is the first in a series. Woo!

I give Designed for Death 4 bookmarks.

ISBN: 9781426892967
Released: January , 2012
Author Website
Kari got this book from NetGalley