If Looks Could Kill (Bailey Weggins Series #1)

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review
Kate White uses her experience as editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan to add a fascinating insider's perspective to her stylish series set in the New York magazine world. In her debut, If Looks Could Kill, she introduces Bailey Weggins, the sexy, savvy, street-smart reporter who specializes in true-crime stories for the upscale woman's magazine Gloss. She loves her work, adores the Greenwich Village apartment she got as part of her divorce settlement, and is frequently fed up with Manhattan's 30-something, single-again dating scene. Though she's not exactly thrilled to run out on the oh-so-sexy, commitment-shy hunk who's warming her bed early one Sunday morning, she can't ignore a call for help from her volatile boss, Cat Jones: Cat's worried because her usually reliable live-in nanny didn't show up for their appointment and isn't answering her door. It doesn't sound like much of an emergency, but Bailey finds more to worry about than she expected: The drop-dead-gorgeous nanny has in fact dropped dead, and it turns out the cause of death was poison in some purloined sweets intended for Cat. Was Cat the only target, or is someone trying to kill editors of classy women's magazines? This is one story Bailey can't afford to lose any time researching, as the deadline may be a literal one! Sue Stone

People

An inspired setting for a murder mystery...[White] has plot-spinning skills and self-mocking sense of humor...a breezy first novel...

NY Times Book Review

...lots of knowing laughs...a breezy whodunit...

Publishers Weekly

At first, it would seem to make sense for Parker Posey, the acclaimed actor who has played memorably ditzy dames in movies such as The Anniversary Party and Waiting for Guffman, to read Cosmopolitan magazine editor White's sexy new mystery novel. But White's heroine, Bailey Weggins, a 33-year-old true crime writer for Gloss magazine, is anything but a flake. She's a shrewd freelancer with a gift for catching the dark side of gender crime. And although Bailey is slightly frazzled from the Gotham dating wars, she's definitely not one of the walking wounded looking to Gloss (and its acerbic editor, Cat Jones) for life-changing advice. Posey's softness and Valley Girl intonations tend to defuse whatever strength White's story about a murdered nanny and a plot to knock off the editors of top women's magazines has to offer. Although the book has strong appeal, this production doesn't have enough oomph to captivate listeners. Based on the Warner Books hardcover (Forecasts, Apr. 8). (Aug.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

When her young nanny dies of poisoned chocolates meant for her, magazine editor Cat Jones enlists the help of freelance crime writer Bailey Weggins. Bailey's not really an investigator, but she knows the procedure: scope out the crime scene, interrogate possible suspects (including Cat's attractive photographer husband), reconstruct the victim's last hours, consult with pals, etc. Bailey's attention soon turns toward Cat's conniving colleagues at the magazine and farther afield. A down-to-earth heroine, a sturdy story line, and breezy prose make this debut novel by the editor in chief of Cosmopolitan magazine a pleasure. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Hoping the investment banker she took to bed Saturday night will still be around the next day, true-crime writer Bailey Weggins leaves her plans for Sunday open—a lucky thing, because Cat Jones, her editor-in-chief at Gloss, phones her first thing in the morning, alarmed when her live-in nanny doesn't answer the door. She's dead, of course, though Cat, a Tina Brown look-alike whose sassy stewardship of Gloss has strong men quaking, can't bring herself to look into that room alone. It turns out that Heidi, a character so insignificant she hasn't been given a last name, was poisoned by some Godiva chocolates she filched from an editorial party at Cat's a few nights ago. Does that mean that the intended victim was really Cat, or that the killer didn't even care who died? To soothe her boss's frazzled nerves, Bailey agrees to look into the murder and is soon up to her armpits in sitcom types: the bulldog managing editor, the gay neighbor/confidant, the frosty ex-chief who can't believe what Cat has done to Gloss. In prose by turns brightly catty and wide-eyed (she helpfully describes East Hampton as a "very chic and expensive beach community"), Bailey spins theory after theory on one of the genre's hoariest cliches—the errant poisoned chocolates dating back to 1925—while negotiating among some of the Big Apple's biggest egos. Whatever you think of this first glossy foray into fiction for Cosmopolitan editor White (Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead But Gutsy Girls Do,), you're unlikely to agree that it's "freakin' Kafkaesque."