Die for Love by Elizabeth Peters

 

Title: Die for Love

Author:  Elizabeth Peters

Narrated by:  Grace Conlin

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing

Length: Approximately 9 hours and 14 minutes

Source: Checked out with Hoopla through the Kewaunee Public Library.  Thank-you!

Have you ever been to a fan convention?  I have always wanted to go to one, especially the Jane Austen Society of North America’s (JASNA) conference, but it has not been in the cards for me yet.  I just attend engineering and water quality conferences for work.  Die for Love is set at The Historical Romance Writers of the World conference.

Jaqueline Kirby is the assistant head librarian at Coldwater College in Nebraska.  She has traveled to New York City for the Historical Romance Writers of the World conference.  Jacqueline considers the conference a tax-deductible business expense, but also starts to dabble in romance writing herself.  After a woman is murdered at her table with a poisoned glass of wine, Jaqueline is on the case.  Will she be able to uncover the murderer before they strike again?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This was a very fun audiobook.  I really loved Grace Conlin’s narration.

·       This is a summer selection of my JASNA Northwoods Book Club.  Besides being a fun read, the descriptions of the conference will be discussed as compared to JASNA conferences.

·       This was my first read of a book by Elizabeth Peters.  I have wanted to read her mysteries for a long time.  I need to pick up more of her novels.  I would also like to read more about Jaqueline Kirby as an amateur detective.  I need to start this series at the beginning as this was book three.

·       I loved the satire of the romance writers conference.  My favorite was that they had a man with glued on chest hair as a representative of a sexy romance novel book cover hero.  It reminded me of The Lost City starring Sandra Bullock.

·       I always make fun of older romance novels that use rape as a plot device.  This conference had protestors against those types of storylines, and it was discussed throughout the novel.  The author parodies or makes fun of a lot of romance plot devices of the 1980s.

·       The mystery itself was fun.  I didn’t spend too much time trying to figure it out and just let the plot lead me to where it would go.  I enjoyed it.

·       Jaqueline Kirby was a delightful main character.  She was sarcastic, smart, and fun.  It would be hilarious to be at such a convention with her.

Overall, Die for Love is a fun mystery with a great heroine and a fun setting of a romance writers conference.