“There’s a dead guy in our shower. You have to come right now.” And that is how Maria’s day begins.

Styled For Murder by Nancy J Cohen is a fun cozy mystery with plenty of suspects to put my puzzle solving skills to use. I love the cover and the play on words as I try to solve the mystery. Even though there is a dead guy, I find myself smiling as I read along.

Maria Vail owns the Cut N Dye Salon and has a wonderful husband, an adorable ten month old, Ryder Harrington Vail, a teenage daughter, Lucky, a Golden Retriever and Spooks, a poodle. That makes for a pretty Full House.

Her husband, Dalton, is a homicide detective and she loves to dabble in sleuthing herself, so we know where this is going…even though she gave it up when she had children. Sure…

It doesn’t surprise me when she opens an envelope and reads… stop asking questions or her family could be hurt.

Maria will find out many things and it confirms the saying, you can run but you can’t hide. Your past will follow you wherever you go. And secrets…they rarely stay buried.

Styled For Murder by Nancy J Cohen was a fun romp through the pitfalls of home renovation. Of course, most of us will never find a dead body in our bathroom, delays, shoddy work, and difficult people is the norm. I had a lot of smiles and chuckles as I investigated the death and there were plenty of culprits that could fit the bill.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Styled For Murder by Nancy J Cohen.

See more at http://www.fundinmental.com ( )

I don’t think “Mazel Tov!” is actually the opposite of “Oy vey” – as Marla’s mother Anita is fond of saying – but whatever the opposite is, that’s what I felt after reading Styled for Murder, the seventeenth book in author Nancy J. Cohen’s Bad Hair Day Mystery series. At the end of Easter Hair Hunt, book #16, I wasn’t quite sure if we would see Marla again or not. She was expecting a baby and many plot points were very nicely wrapped up and all characters were accounted for. So I have to admit that I was a little afraid Marla would ride off into the Mommy Sunset.

But Marla is back! Yes, life has changed and she has had to change with it, but we’ve still got the essential Marla that we’ve all grown to know and love. As a fan of the series from the beginning I have enjoyed seeing Marla grow with each book, adapting to and savoring changes in her professional and personal lives. She has always been an efficient, capable businesswoman, and then a loving wife and partner to Dalton and loving stepmother to his daughter Brianna. And while she is now a devoted mother to their son Ryder, motherhood has not changed her fundamentally - she's still pragmatic, detailed, organized, loyal, determined, and stubborn. No flighty, mushy Marla :)

As Styled for Murder opens Marla’s response to her mother Anita’s cry for help after finding a dead tile guy in the bathroom they are renovating is rather low-key, but that’s normal for her; panicking is not her style. And from some of her inner thoughts we deduce that Marla is a bit peeved at Anita and her (somewhat) new husband Reed for moving a town or so away. Not out of reach but not just around the corner when Marla could really use some help and advice with Ryder. We enjoy a little humor at Marla’s expense: motherhood is pretty overwhelming at times, juggling family, friends, and the job. And now she has to fit in some sleuthing. She “retired” from investigating when Ryder was born, but this is her mother we’re talking about and she is not about to rest while Anita and Reed may be in danger.

Styled for Murder has a wonderful, complex, fast-moving plot with many, many connections – kind of a 6-degrees of separation – and hints and secrets and clues and surprises and twists that you won’t see coming but make perfect sense when you do. The large cast of characters have complicated backstories that make their current behavior and motives consistent and understandable. Dalton and Marla are an old married couple now, but she still loves to eyeball that handsome husband of hers. Ryder is adorable. Brianna is a joy as always. Anita, as always, can be irritating and Reed and his secrecy fits right in. But they are a loving family and they will do whatever it takes to keep each other safe and happy. Marla is still pragmatic and ordered and somehow gets people to open up and talk to her even though what she asks is often very personal and intrusive.

Styled for Murder is a thoughtful, well-written book that was impossible to put down. Once again I enjoyed the perfectly detailed descriptions of clothes, hair and accessories – and people – and was delighted to learn something about edible gold (!??!) and copper robberies. There is also a little hint at the end about things to come so I cannot wait for the next book in this always delightful series. Thanks to author Nancy J. Cohen for providing an advance copy for my reading pleasure and honest review. Read it! Read the entire series! All opinions are my own. ( )