Alibi in High Heels-Gemma Halliday

Alibi in High Heels
Gemma Halliday
Dorchester Making It, Feb 26 2008, $6.99
ISBN: 9780843958355

When internationally renowned fashion designer Jean Luc Le Croix hires Madison "Maddie" Springer to design the shoes his models will wear during Fashion Week, the Californian screams with euphoria. However, she quickly learns the people rule of gravity in which she who goes up must crash down when psychic Mrs. Rosenblatt accidentally hits her because she could not figure out how to use her new stick shift car. Making matters worse, Maddie’s mom and Mrs. Rosenblatt insist on accompanying her to Paris to help her get around since she now has broken leg.

Things turn darker in Paris when someone uses a Maddie shoe with a stiletto heel to kill the lead model Gisella. Maddie's best friend Dana arrives to replace Gisella as the show must go on. Soon after that Maddie's boyfriend, LA homicide detective Jack Ramirez comes to Paris to keep her out of further trouble, but more corpses follow all tied to Maddie’s shoes, which makes her the prime suspect of the Gendarmes.

The fourth “High Heels’ amateur sleuth tale ( see KILLER IN HIGH HEELS, SPYING IN HIGH HEELS and UNDERCOVER IN HIGH HEELS) is a fun entry as Maddie’s chick lit big mouth sends her into trouble with the cops, the Paris fashion world, and the killer. Every time she speaks she gets deeper in trouble and someone from stateside shows up intending to rescue her; they are like the movement’s motto of “we’re here to help you”. Readers will laugh with Maddie’s dilemma as her ALIBI IN HIGH HEELS unravels leaving the audience to wonder if her next gig is a convict in high heels designing prison shoe wear.

Harriet Klausner