Review of "Wedded Blintz," by Leighann Dobbs

Review of

Wedded Blintz, by Leighann Dobbs

Four out of five stars

 This is a book written by a woman for women. It has the romance of a wedding with an emphasis on the wedding dress, a fight with the worst enemy from high school, a band of young and old female solvers of murders and the female perspective throughout.

 Lexy Baker is about to get married to a hunk of a police detective and the story opens with her modeling her wedding dress in the dressmaker’s shop a short time before the event is to take place. The dress contains many rhinestones and she is admiring the appearance while being concerned about the fit over her bosom. It seems to be a little more revealing than it had been earlier.

 Suddenly, her worst enemy (Veronica) from high school appears and is furious that her wedding dress is essentially identical. After trading insults that include the sizes of their chests, the confrontation gets physical and both dresses are damaged. Later, the dressmaker and Veronica are found murdered, leading to accusations that Lexy committed the crime.

 Her posse of elderly women that call themselves the “The Ladies Detective Club” immediately spring into action, engaging in nosy actions of investigation. Given that he knows Lexy, the hunk fiancé avoids the case and it is given to a female, gum-chewing detective (Davies) that seems convinced that Lexy is the killer.

 All of the action is from the perspective of Lexy and she follows a playbook of the female romantic lead as well as one frustrated in her attempts to make wedding plans. At times, it goes a bit beyond what is necessary in an attempt to be humorous, it is after all a multiple homicide. Davies is overplayed in her constant jabbing at Lexy as the culprit, never seeming to be willing to consider alternative explanations. Her role is more of that of a female nemesis than a police officer trying to solve the crimes.

 There are some of the obligatory bedroom scenes between Lexy and her man, very modest in description. This is a book that people, almost all females, that enjoy the amateur female detective story where the main character does girlie things around a crime that she stumbles into will like. Others will find too much action away from “the ball” that makes the story more than a murder mystery.