This is the first time I've read a Jaine Austen mystery by
Laura Levine and I loved it! I laughed so hard at times, my
tummy hurt! Jaine's friend Lance gives her a gift for
helping him and the gift is a trip to The Haven an
exclusive spa on the California coast where the rich and
famous go. Jaine packs up her luggage and her best friend,
Prozac her cat! When she arrives at The
Haven, her bubble bursts and she's now aware that it's a
spa to lose weight at, not to relax and load up on cakes
and such.
She makes friends with some of the guests and tries her
best to stick this trip out, for her friend has paid a
large sum of money for her stay. There are no cookies, no
cakes, no candies, what's a woman to do now that she's on a
300 calorie a day diet? Ouch? She finds herself and the
other guests (inmates as she calls them) drinking celery
drinks and downing veggies, oh not good for Jaine. She
must also put up with Mallory Francis, a movie star who
thinks she's top notch, but Jaine's not impressed with her.
Mallory is annoying! When
Mallory is found dead due to strangulation,
everyone becomes a suspect.
Jaine seeks to find justice for Mallory's murder even
though she's starving to death and Prozac her cat is crying
the blues for even she's on a diet!
The killer among them must be found out or everyone is
at risk to become the next victim.
Laura Levine is amazingly funny, she's a comedy writer for
many TV shows and I look forward to reading more of her
great funny novels! PAMPERED TO DEATH is a must read!
Jaine Austen is looking forward to an indulgent spa getaway—
until she learns it’s more about deprivation than
relaxation. Between miniscule meals and a deadly brush with
fame, surviving this vacation will be no piece of cake...
When Jaine’s friend Lance surprises her with a trip to The
Haven, an über-luxe health spa on the California coast, she
and her feline pal Prozac are eager to hit the road and
bask in a week of pampering and pedicures. But upon their
arrival, she discovers that this oasis in the hills is
merely a fat farm in disguise, complete with celery-juice
cocktails, humiliating weigh-ins, and a zero-tolerance
position on carbs. And as she gets to know her fellow
inmates, she realizes 300-calorie dinners aren’t the
craziest thing she’ll be dealing with.
Among her bulge-battling companions is Mallory Francis, a B-
list movie star with a knack for making frenemies with
everyone she meets. When she’s found strangled during a
seaweed wrap gone awry, Jaine is hard-pressed to think of
anyone who couldn’t have done it. Perhaps it was Kendra,
Mallory’s bitter sister-slash-personal assistant. Or maybe
Clint, a macho former co-star whose dirtiest secret is in
danger of being undressed in the drama queen’s upcoming
memoir. Or was it The Havens’ pretty young masseuse, driven
to commit a crime of passion when Mallory seduced her
aerobics instructor husband Sven?
With the suspects mounting faster than her hunger pangs,
Jaine doesn’t know who to believe. And when her search for
truth, justice and contraband calories leads her straight
to the cold-blooded killer, it seems murder may be on the
menu once again...