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Design on a Crime (A Deadly Décor Mystery #1)
by
Ginny Aiken
Haley Farrell is taking a chance on herself. After receiving her interior design certificate, she quits her job at the local furniture store and decides to open her own interior decorating business. But with all the advantages of her new career-meeting new people, and decorating new and old homes-comes a huge pitfall. Her new job allows her access into her clients' homes a...more
Paperback, 270 pages
Published
September 1st 2005
by Fleming H. Revell Company
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Haley is starting a new design business. To say she is a little nervous is an understatement. Marge has been in her corner encouraging her from the start. Haley has been through alot in the last several years. A personal tragedy has clouded her entire outlook, especially affecting her faith in God. Then her mother passed away, and now this leap into a new career.
Haley has a big rooting section led by Marge. So when Marge turns up dead at the auction where Haley is meeting with her first potentia...more
Haley has a big rooting section led by Marge. So when Marge turns up dead at the auction where Haley is meeting with her first potentia...more
I'm guessing this was the author's first novel and I applaud her courageous attempt. It wasn't horrible, it was a pretty decent read, but it wasn't spectacular either. It was what I would expect from a first time author getting her first book published (boy am I going to be "embarrassed" if I find out she's published before this!).
Ginny Aiken has a good idea for a series and I'm curious to know if the books in the series get better as she grows as an author.
Aiken tries too hard to be "relatabl...more
Ginny Aiken has a good idea for a series and I'm curious to know if the books in the series get better as she grows as an author.
Aiken tries too hard to be "relatabl...more
I loved the general plot of this book, but had a few problems -This book is excessively wordy - I found myself skimming over paragraphs because I felt they were to redundant. I applauded the author's wide vocabulary, yet somehow at the same time it annoyed me.It doesn't help that I'm not the sort of person whos super into fashion, caring about different fabrics and exact shades of colors. But I cant hold that against the book, since I knew going in it would have some of that. This should have be...more
Apr 02, 2012
Melissainau
added it
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click here.
I quite enjoyed the start of this book, but I was happy to reach the end when it (finally) came. It starts off as a decent murder mystery but deteriorates into beating the reader around the head with a heavy-handed religious message. I'm not completely opposed to the inclusion of Haley rediscovering her faith, but it was very poorly handled - it felt like I was being beaten around the head with the conversion stick. It's a shame, because this story definitely had potential.
WARNING: this book contains triggers for rape (both date and unknown assailant), assault, meddling friends and relatives, and criminally bad therapist behavior, and is basically a god bomb.
The main character was interesting until she was lobotomized towards the end. Good premise, enough so that I think, if the author had spent less time grinding her axe, it could've been a good book. The writing was uneven, short and choppy interspersed with flowery prose.
The main character was interesting until she was lobotomized towards the end. Good premise, enough so that I think, if the author had spent less time grinding her axe, it could've been a good book. The writing was uneven, short and choppy interspersed with flowery prose.
What I liked about this book is how strongly the author dealt with the heroine's angst about her faith issues. Hailey's lack of faith is very plausible, and how her father and friends helped her address it was right on the mark. I will say the murderer was not who I thought it would be, so the ending was a surprise. Good book, and I look forward to seeing how Hailey evolves in her new business and her foundling faith.
Sep 04, 2007
Deb
added it
plot summary: what happens, when & where, central characters, major conflicts[return]haley is trying to get her career as an interior designer. at an auction, she stumbles across one of her friends--who has just been murdered! now she is a prime suspect in the murder, and in self defense she decides to try to figure out who did it. along the way she continues to deal with her personal battle with insecurity, following a rape she experience years ago. mostly this book is just a fun mystery, w...more
Another Amazon freebie. Generally a decently written book, but I feel like all the free Amazon mysteries I download lately end up having a heavy hand with Christian beliefs. While I personally can look past it to the plot of the book, I can see it being distracting to most. Especially since it's not listed as being religious fiction. Decent plot, believable characters, will probably give the second in the series a shot.
I think my biggest problem with this book was expecting it to be something it was not. I wasn't ready for murder and rape. Looking at the cover and title, I thought it was going to be an art theft tale. So that worked against me the whole way through. Beyond that, I had a hard time connecting with the characters, particularly the ladies' missionary society group meeting scenes. I'm still not sure what those parts were all about really.
a freebie for kindle, and a christian mystery to boot, but i enjoyed it more than i thought i would. it is easy to see how someone can lose their faith after being raped and seeing their attacker basically get off scott-free, and this colors the heroine's whole life. she does regain her balance eventually after a lot of hard work and a dead body or two!
The beginning was really good with the excitement about the auction and would Haley get the job and then the murder. And then it wasn't so good. Haley was a very unlikeable character - whiney, friendless, and downright mean and rude. It took way too long to get to the root of her "past" and why it has affected her present so much. By the time it was finally revealed, I kind of didn't care. What was the purpose of the Dutch character other than to show up everywhere and yell at her? Bella was ann...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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I downloaded this book because it was offered as a free Kindle book. This is a murder mystery but I found the story very weak. It was difficult to stick with it as I kept waiting for everything to come together and it never really did. Too many big holes in the story for me and I found the character development very scattered.
I got this as a free kindle book. Expected a mystery. Didn't realize there was a Christian mystery genre.
The main character was grating and a bit annoying. The animosity of the Dutch character was a bit overboard. And I'm not sure how accurately the psychiatrist was portrayed.
I'll admit who did it was a twist bit overall - meh.
The main character was grating and a bit annoying. The animosity of the Dutch character was a bit overboard. And I'm not sure how accurately the psychiatrist was portrayed.
I'll admit who did it was a twist bit overall - meh.
The book has a good storyline but the only characters I ended up liking were Tyler Tedd and her dad. Other than that the characters all lost their appeal. I will say the ending was a surprise. I found that tthis is a book I would not read again nor would I continue the series. It just wasn't for me.
I liked it, though I see others have not. The style of writing seems to suggest that she is new to writing. When reading the series again, I skipped book 2, because it was rather... Gruesome? But I must say that I liked it enough to read another if a new one came out. And yes guys, it's Christian fiction.
Great cozy Christian mystery. The main character, Haley, is bright, zany, talented, and filled with problems from a prior traumatic experience. Will she solve the murder and eliminate herself as a suspect while finding her way back to God?
A cute, quick read. Could have used a good editor to tighten the plot and take care of many of the sloppier parts. I could see good potential in this book in the hands of a decent editor, or even another author, but as is, the book was only ok.
This is the first in a series which seems to mix Christian fiction and a murder mystery while doing neither really well. I'll give the second one a chance but it wasn't the best mystery I ever read and the religious aspect was all angst.
This book was a good mystery novel. It did keep me guessing most of the way through. I liked Haley, the main character. The best part of the book was reading as she finally accepted help from God and quit running from Him.
A different kind of crime-story which kept my thinking and interested through the whole book. If I may create a new category, I would say it is a "light crime chick" book. As a fan of crime stories I recommend it to everyone who is open for new ways of presenting a well established genre.
A bit choppy. Had some good twists and turns, but overall....eh. Mostly clean; referenced that she was traumatized in her youth. Wouldn't read it again, and will probably forget the storyline rather quickly.
This was a really fun read! I feel like I'm friends with the main character and a part of her world now. And as of today, the Kindle version is still free on Amazon! Grab yours while the deal lasts!
Very light mystery. Decent writing, interesting characters, but the plot got a little thin at points. The mystery mostly served as a vehicle for the personal growth of the main character.
There were many good parts in this book, but also lots of things that got on my nerves. I imagine the author writes the way she talks. Hopefully later books will be better.
Pretty good for a mystery book...but I'm not sure if I'm a fan of the ending. It does have elements or rape and adultery. And lots of drama. But otherwise, it was fine.
ugh. Not that great. Fine for an easy read but I'm happy it was a free Kindle download. Some issues irked me - like a doctor giving up confidential info, etc...
Sep 20, 2012
Fiona (Titch) Hunt
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
titch-s-50-books-kindle-tree-boo
Reason I gave it a 2 was because I liked the Murder Mystery element of the book. It has the Christian side which I am not that into. But I kinda guessed about 3/4 way through the book who the murderer was.
The story itself was ok, but it was all the pontificating that really turned me off. I read for fun, not to be preached at. Also, Dutch, one of the characters was VERY annoying. I will not read another book in this series.
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Ginny Aiken, a former newspaper reporter, lives in Pennsylvania wiht her husband and their three younger sons--the oldest is married, has flown the coop, and made her a doting grandmother. Born in Havana, Cuba, and raised in Valencia and Caracas Venezuela, Ginny discovered books at an early age. She wrote her first novel at age fifteen while she trained with the Ballets de Caracas, later to be kno...more
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