Easter Hair Hunt (The Bad Hair Days Mysteries #16)

Hairstylist Marla Vail often seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  At seven months pregnant, Marla should be relaxing at an Easter Egg Hunt at the historic Treymayne Manor.  Instead Marla finds a dead body wearing the costume her friend Blinky had been wearing only a short time before.  She knows she should leave the investigation to her husband, but with Blinky missing, and every answer providing more questions, she can’t help herself. If there’s a chance she can help find her friend, she is in it till the end, even when a second body shows that this could be far more dangerous than she anticipated.

Despite this being book 16 in the series, there is definitely enough information for the reader to jump right in as the story follows the general cozy mystery pattern, with very few references to past events.  Unfortunately, the pattern following also makes for a read that offers little new to the genre.  The characters feel flat, and their reactions seem stilted even in the most dramatic of situations.  Being seven months pregnant seems to be a vague inconvenience, and perhaps would be more impactful if the reader knew the characters from previous books, but the reactions by everybody just don’t provide drama, or a way for the reader to connect with anything.  The mystery is solved, but sadly without the twists needed to keep the pages turning. 

Melanie Newton