Wealthy nuisance Blitz Manners needs forty costumes for a detective-themed birthday bash. As for Blitz himself, his Sherlock Holmes is to die for—literally—when, in the middle of the festivities, Margo’s friend and party planner Ebony Welles is caught brandishing a carving knife over a very dead Blitz.
For Margo, clearing Ebony’s name is anything but elementary, especially after Ebony flees town. Now Margo is left to play real-life detective in a town full of masked motives, cloaked secrets, and veiled vendettas.
Meh. I bought this book on the strength of Vallere's two other series, but I won't be going any further than book 1. It's not bad but it's not a strong mystery either. The characters were appealing; I couldn't have seen Ebony any clearer if she were standing in front of me - and she's fabulous! But the author never really hooked me into caring about the murder and I never felt the anxiety or pressure I should have to see the murderer caught.
As for the murderer - I'm not actually sure how Margo got from A to B; I didn't see any logic to her deductions, although by the time I got to the end I might have been guilty of a bit o' skimming. Either way, it was a deus ex machina that allowed the solution to work, imo.
Not by any means a bad read, but she's written better and thus, my expectations are higher.