Greg Herren’s New “Page Turner”

My favorite author Greg Herren has a new set of mystery novellas that are quick reads and a hell of a lot of fun. I just finished reading the first one last night, and if from reading my reviews of his books, you’ve become a Herren fan as well, then how can you resist this e-book for just 99 cent? It’s worth every penny and then some.

Paige Tourneur (Please! Is that really her name?) is the former Times-Picayune reporter and best friend of Herren’s gay detective Chanse McLeod series. To hear her buddy Chanse tell it, Paige is rotund, cute as a button, a truly bad driver, and the best friend a gay P.I. could possibly have.

Now Paige gets a chance to tell it herself in her own witty and worldly-wise way. Seems like she has quite a past and in Fashion Victim, it’s starting to haunt her. Though it helps to be familiar with Paige from the Chance McLeod series, this novella works well as a stand alone mystery. It just adds a little bit of a thrill for the readers, if you already know Paige.

Since his first novel, I’ve wanted Paige to be a more developed character. She’s still the same hard-drinking, hard-bitten, smart-mouthed red-headed reporter with the heart of gold and the unlikely name. I’ve also always wanted to know more about the his crime fighting NOPD duo Venus and Blaine, but we will have to wait and see if they get books of their own as well. They remain to be the characters that connect his Chanse McLeod and Scotty Bradley mysteries. Of course, the city of New Orleans connects them as well. And it would be a dream if Chance and Scotty would have a crossover mystery.

In her first solo outing, Paige has long since left the Times-Picayune, played out a stint on television, and has now landed a job at Crescent City Magazine, which sends her out to do a personality piece on bitchy fashion designer Marigny Mercereau. Only Marigny ends up dead fifteen minutes before her fifteen minutes of fame.

Twisting through Marigny’s creepy past, Paige is accompanied, as always, by best friend Chanse, her cop buddies Venus Casanova and Blaine Tujague, and (finally!) by the perfect man: her new boy friend, Blaine’s brother Ryan. So what happens when a woman meets the perfect man and her past comes calling?

Fashion Victim is the first in a series of interconnected novellas in the “Paige Tourneur Missing Husband Series.” The second volume, Dead Housewives of New Orleans, is already out and is on my next to read list.

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