Jane Reads: Buyer, Beware by Diane Vallere | #Samanthapalooza! Tour w/ Review & Giveaway

The Blurb

Samantha Kidd: Bag Lady?
Out-of-work fashion expert Samantha Kidd is strapped. But when the buyer of handbags for a hot new retailer turns up dead and Samantha is recruited for the job, the opportunity comes with a caveat: she's expected to find some answers. With shoe designer Nick Taylor off in Italy her romantic life is on hold--until she turns to a sexy stranger for help (with humorous results!). But as the walls close around her like a snug satin lining, Samantha must get a handle on the mystery or risk being caught in the killer's clutches.

Buyer, Beware by Diane Vallere
Series: A Samantha Kidd Mystery, #2

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Publisher: Polyester Press

Publication Date: March 6, 2013
Paperback: 258 pages
ISBN-10: 1939197015
ISBN-13: 978-1939197016
eBook File Size: 623 KB
ASIN: B00BPD587G

The Review

I just read an amazing book, y'all — Buyer, Beware, the second book in the Samantha Kidd Style & Error Mystery series by Diane Vallere. Let me tell you a little about it.

Buyer, Beware takes place six months after the action in Designer Dirty Laundry. Since she's been out of work during these six months, Samantha has become a "starving fashionista" with her "savings account rapidly dwindling." So when she saw this ad in the local newspaper, she knew the contest was "right up my alley."

Interested in a Heist?

Ribbon's hottest new store opens on July 14. Join us for the Pilferer's Ball to get a sneak preview of our unparalleled assortments at criminally low prices. The daring are challenged to arrive with one of the following items in tow, "borrowed" from their current place of residency. Should you successfully lift said loot without notice, you can win a $10,000 shopping spree at HEIST. Rules and regulations listed below.

Samantha gets a high school friend to be her "partner in crime," and he, in turn, recruits two more would-be "criminals" for the sanctioned heist. Their heist works out as well as Samantha's new job at Tradava did, in Designer Dirty Laundry. [If you haven't read Designer Dirty Laundry yet, be sure to read it right away, before you read Buyer, Beware.] At the Pilferer's Ball, Samantha's results and "unique skill set" attract the attention of the owner of Heist, who offers her a job as an undercover investigator into the murder of his handbag buyer.

Samantha has experience as a buyer (her old job, before Designer Dirty Laundry) and as an investigator (during Designer Dirty Laundry), so this job at Heist should be a piece of cake, right? Of course not. How dull would that make Buyer, Beware? Samantha's job, and the intriguing mystery to be solved, produce many interesting and humorous situations. One character sums up Samantha's investigative skills very nicely:

You have some kind of talent for this stuff, but you also have a knack for finding trouble.

When she finds serious trouble, Samantha discovers that her

inner tough girl had run screaming for the hills, and what was left was the scared voice inside of my head. Only that voice wasn't inside my head anymore. "Why am I doing this? What is wrong with me?"

But don't worry, everything comes together for Samantha in a very satisfying manner at the end of Buyer, Beware. I really enjoyed reading it, and I think you will, also.

I recommend Buyer, Beware to all cozy mystery fans, especially those who like madcap caper cozies. If you're a fan of Gretchen Archer's Davis Way Crime Caper series or Diane Vallere's other series (Madison Night Mad for Mod Mysteries, Polyester Monroe Material Witness Mysteries, and Margo Tamblyn Costume Shop Mysteries), I think you will particularly enjoy reading about Samantha Kidd in Buyer, Beware.

I absolutely love Buyer, Beware, which has earned our highest rating of Five Kitties!

Five out of five kitties

Note: I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of Buyer, Beware.

All opinions shared are 100% my own.

Follow the #Samanthapalooza! tour!

Stay tuned tomorrow, for my review of Book #3, The Brim Reaper.

The Author

About Diane Vallere

I’m a former fashion buyer turned mystery writer, trading fashion accessories for accessories to murder. I was bit by the mystery bug as a kid reading Trixie Belden, Connie Blair, and The Three Investigators. Now I’m writing four series: the Samantha Kidd Mysteries, the Madison Night Mysteries, the Material Witness Mysteries, and the Costume Shop Mysteries.

The Margo Tamblyn Costume Shop Mysteries debuted with A DISGUISE TO DIE FOR, which introduces Margo Tamblyn, costume shop owner, who helps solve a murder after one of her clients is found dead at his own costume party (dressed as Sherlock!). MASKING FOR TROUBLE, the second in the series, was released in October 2016, just in time for Halloween. DRESSED TO CONFESS, book three, is expected to be released on August 01, 2017.

The Polyester Monroe Material Witness Mysteries feature Polyester Monroe, who inherits the fabric shop where she was born. Books include SUEDE TO REST, CRUSHED VELVET, and SILK STALKINGS. Each one contains a craft project.

The Madison Night Mad for Mod Mysteries feature a modern day interior decorator who specializes in mid-century design (studying Doris Day movies to get the look right). Books are PILLOW STALK, THAT TOUCH OF INK, and WITH VICS YOU GET EGGROLL. The fourth, THE DECORATOR WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, was just released in April 2017. A prequel novella, Midnight Ice, can be found in OTHER PEOPLE’S BAGGAGE.

The Samantha Kidd Style & Error Mysteries feature former fashion buyer turned amateur sleuth Samantha Kidd. Books in that series include DESIGNER DIRTY LAUNDRY; BUYER, BEWARE; THE BRIM REAPER; SOME LIKE IT HAUTE; GRAND THEFT RETRO; and PEARLS GONE WILD. The seventh, CEMENT STILETTOS, will be released in June 2017. (A short story, JUST KIDDING [free download at Amazon, Kobo, and iTunes], tells the story of how Samantha first met shoe designer Nick Taylor.)