A Body to Die For
By Kate White
Read by Kate Walsh
Time Warner AudioBooks, (2003)
An Abridged Audio Recording on 4 Cassettes
ISBN: 1-58621-505-1
Genre: Mystery
Reviewed by Angela Evans - July 27, 2003
Bailey Weggins made her fictional debut in
If Looks Could Kill. This smashing bestseller by Kate White has been ably bested by her latest book, A Body to Die For, which also features Bailey Weggins. This new mystery begins quietly enough as Weggins heads off to Massachusetts to take a much need rest at the Cedar Inn and Spa, a high class resort run by a friend of Weggins' mother.
Kate White is not one to let Weggins take a rest, no matter how well it has been earned. In short order, bodies start to turn up, and Weggins embarks on a frisky enterprise to find the murderer.
Weggins has all the training that a professional (fictional) amateur detective needs to get the job done. She is a seasoned reporter, who has worked the mean streets of New York City. To enhance her detective skills even higher, White has made Weggins a writer whose speciality is real life crime stories. As a reporter she has been trained in various research techniques and she has experience dealing with uncooperative sources, which lends credibility to her role as detective. She is also quick-witted and naturally curious - skills that not only make her a memorable character, but which will enable her to get to the bottom of this deadly mystery.
Like most fictional amateur detectives, Weggins acts as a foil for the local homicide detectives. Not only does she manage to interfere with their investigations, but she also manages to get involved with one of the coppers on more intimate terms.
This is a light mystery, despite the deranged killer and multiple corpses! The writing is light, fluid, and quick paced. In addition, this audio edition of A Body to Die For also includes an interview with the author, that helps make both the writer, and her character Weggins, come to life for the reader. The audio version of this book is read by Kate Walsh, who played Niki Fifer on The Drew Carey Show. Her upbeat, witty reading of this book is a perfect match for the bantering nature of White's writing style.
Related Reviews:
Who Killed Falstaff?, by T. R. Burch.
This is a fast paced and intriguing mystery staring Olive Gill as the indomitable busy body who is out to solve a murder of Joe Murphy, an actor who was killed while playing the role of Falstaff. (Large Print)
Envy, by Sandra Brown.
When Maris Matherly-Reed, a book editor, reads the prologue to the novel Envy, she instinctively knows that she has a hit on her hand. As she set out to find the author of the book, she unintentionally enters a dangerous world, one which she is ill prepared to navigate. More sinister, Maris begins to wonder if the book is a work of fiction, or the confession of a murderer. (Large Print)