Dreidels and Dead Ends

Bad Hair Day #19

By Nancy J. Cohen     

ISBN: 9781952886409 

Website: nancyjcohen.com

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra                   

Summary:

A daring holiday heist at the local history museum sends hairstylist Marla Vail on her most tangled case yet.

When salon owner Marla Vail agrees to speak at the local history museum’s gala opening for a new exhibit, she expects applause—not a catastrophe. But shortly after she takes the stage, a thief steals the featured diamond-studded hairbrush, leaving behind an empty display case and a badly injured security guard.

Marla’s friend, museum curator Becky Forest, begs for her help in recovering the prized heirloom before the mayor uses this scandal as an excuse to cut their funding. To make matters worse, the antique hairbrush comes with a curse, and suddenly bad luck is spreading through town faster than a botched dye job. As Hanukkah festivities begin, Marla would rather be lighting candles than chasing clues, but with Becky’s job at stake, she takes on the case.

Her trail leads to a knot of suspects including the hairbrush’s owner, his greedy cousin, shifty museum staff, and a reclusive collector of mystical antiquities. Instead of enjoying menorah lights and latkes, Marla discovers murder, lies, and larceny. She’ll need sharp wits and a holiday miracle to save the museum and to keep the truth from being brushed aside. (Goodreads)

Review:

Dreidels and Dead Ends (while book #19 in the series) is the fifth book in series that I have read and I can honestly say that I am finding the books are getting better and better as the series goes on. I find that the main protagonist, Marla, finally has depth. Maybe this is because she has settled nicely into her married life with Dalton and that of a mother of a toddler and a soon to be new baby.

In this edition of the Bad Hair Day series we find Marla as the guest speaker at a gala for a new exhibit at the local history museum. The exhibit is a diamond-studded antique hairbrush – right up Marla’s alley (as she is a hairdresser after all). Sounds like a wonderful opportunity to begin the holiday season while waiting for the arrival of Marla and Dalton’s baby. Now what is new is that Dalton is newly retired from the police force… surprise! During the gala, the hairbrush is stolen. The curator at the museum, Becky Forest, asks Marla for help locating the stolen hairbrush, especially as this theft may well be the final straw for the museum to stay viable as the town mayor would like nothing better than to shut the museum down. And what makes this extra special – the hairbrush is believed to be cursed!

We are led through Marla’s process of tracking down leads and finding new ones along the way to wade through. So many suspects with so little leads. In this story, I quite enjoyed how Marla works together with Dalton now that he does not have the restraints of being a police officer. To me this pairing worked very well with this new dynamic. While they usually worked together, there were times they went off on their own… and the inner dialogue that Marla had added to the sleuthing 🙂

As per usual with cozy mysteries, the ‘whodunit’ was cleverly hidden until the very end (well – at least for me) and that is just the way I like my cozy mysteries. Was the brush recovered? A question that is answered when you read the book 🙂

One of the aspects that I quite enjoy and found interesting is how the author incorporates Jewish customs and traditions and Christmas traditions into her stories. Love getting a bit of an education while reading for pleasure.

If you like cozy mysteries, then I suggest adding Dreidels and Dead Ends to your TBR (to be read) pile. The writing of Ms. Cohen will not disappoint.