Faux Finished

An Interior Design Mystery #1

by Peg Marberg

First in the new Interior Design mystery series-design tips included!

Seville, Indiana, has five traffic lights and one interior design firm-Designer Jeans, cofounded by Jean Hastings and her daughter, Jean Jr. Lately they're finding that the keen eyes needed for plotting color schemes and tracking down flea market treasures also come in handy for interpreting more sinister designs.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Cozy, Fiction

214 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

(from "Stop! You are killing me! website)

Jean Hastings and her daughter, Jean Jr., of the interior design firm Designer Jeans, in Seville, Indiana, in the Interior Design mysteries.

(from Fiction db website)

Seville, Indiana, has five traffic lights and one interior design firm -- Designer Jeans, cofounded by Jean Hastings and her daughter, Jean Jr. Lately they're finding that the keen eyes needed for plotting color schemes and tracking down flea market treasures also come in handy for interpreting more sinister designs,,,,

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interior designer Jean and her partner, daughter JR, have brought Art Deco back to the local country club's dining room. It really looks great, Jean is sure, and nothing can interfere with the grand opening. Oops, maybe a dead body might mar the celebration, especially since it's the obnoxious manager of the club. Strange--that's the second death in the close-knit local community in only a week. Jean is suspicious; her son-in-law, local policeman Matt, is determined that she stay out of police business; and Jean's sister-in-law and best friend is daffy enough to make snooping difficult for Jean.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad start to the series. I liked Jean and the other characters. The mystery was good although there were a lot of people and family connections that it was hard to keep track of it all at times.

[Robynne Lozier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jean Hastings and her daughter Jean Jr, own an interior design business called Designer Jeans. Their latest job is to renovate the Dining Room of the Local Country Club House building.

Every room that Jean has designed is described in rather minute detail!! Also every room she visits or sees is also described in minute detail as well. And also the clothes, shoes,m makeup and hairdo of pretty much every person that Jean meets and/or interacts with. Especiallly the people who have lots of cash.

I like interior decorating, and there were quite a lot of art deco details in the beginning of this story. Keep in mind that most interior design jobs are usually expensive endeavours.

After Jeans last job is completed, she now has time to be running around solving 3 murders - Two murders just in the last week and one murder which happened almost a century ago.

Towards the end of this book, the writing has stopped showing us, and begins telling us, usually through dialogue, what is happening.

I enjoyed the first half of this book, but the second half was hard to get through.

I don't think I will be reading any more from this series.

[Verity W · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really, really struggled with this one. I was reading it for my book set in Indiana for my 50 states reading challenge, and if it hadn't been for that I probably would have given up on it. It's really hard to like any of the characters - and seems to be written in some sort of weird netherworld where there are no mobile phones and our main character is an unrepentant smoker who can't understand why she can't smoke evreywhere she wants to. Add to that that the mystery is so hard to follow that I had to keep rereading bits to check if I'd missed something and this is going to be one series (and maybe author) I ditch.

[Veronica-Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first in a series of three mysteries. A middle-aged wife and mother with a penchant for solving crimes is where it all begins. Jean Hastings has her own interior design business which she operates with the assistance of her daughter JR. When a murder occurs Jean cannot help getting involved and much to the irritation of her son-in-law Matt, who is also a police lieutenant and repeatedly warns Jean to keep her nose out of police business, she cannot it seems help herself. I love how this author allows her hero to ride over any objections and continue to snoop her way to her own conclusions. A fun read and highly recommended.

[Dorothy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dis not enjoy the book. Skipped around. Thought I would be able to relate to main character but she was barely tolerable.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good mystery with interesting characters.

[Jeannen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this title up on the recommendation of a web site where owners of bookstores post reviews of mysteries. It got a good review, and consequently I will never trust any recommendation of that particular reviewer. This falls into the “cozy” genre of mysteries; the protagonist is an interior designer in a small southern town, and there is a lot of describing of interiors and the decorating process in the book. In fact, 57 pages into the book, all I’d read was descriptions of interiors and caricatures of people living in the small southern town. The author should be directed to read what Jenny Crusie and Bob Mayer have to say about info-dump. This one ended up going promptly into the used bookstore bag.

[VJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yawn.

That's the "short" version. Yawn.

This book was a boring entry into a usually fun genre. I admit, there were pockets of humor, but nothing worth reading the book to laugh at, honestly.

The story jumped around so much, I found myself re-reading passages and pages, wondering if I'd fallen asleep and skipped whole paragraphs. The "villain" was hardly mentioned in the story, so I had no clue it was that person doing the bad stuff. That is as technical as I can get without marking this as a spoiler review.

Needless to say, I was not impressed and won't be back for more Designer Jeans.

[Heather L · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had trouble getting into this one and keeping characters straight, even with the list of characters at front of the book. The book also needed greater attention to editing. There were a lot of double words such as "it it" or "the the," as well as a few issues with nouns and correct verb tense. The thing that really made me cringe, though, was reference to Agatha Christie's great sleuth "Hercule Perot." CRINGE CRINGE CRINGE!

[Chi Dubinski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jean Hastings and her daughter Jean Junior own an interior design firm called Designer Jeans in suburban Seville, Indiana. They've just completed a major design of the country club's dining room. But a local bookseller is found dead, and Jean doesn't believe it was an accidental fall off a ladder. She investigates with her sister-in-law Mary, much to the consternation of her son-in-law Matt, a member of the local police.
For those who enjoy American cozies, like Mary Daheim's books.

[Lisa Brick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jean Hastings fell flat for me. The only real humor to the book were her husband Charlie and her friend Mary. It was so hard keep up with the characters back stories. I was a bit disappointed in the motive.

Truly I picked this up to read on my trip via car from Florida to Texas. I doubt I'll continue the series. It just wasn't a book for me.

[Kristal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jean Hastings & her daughter own an interior design business, Designer Jeans. When a local bookstore owner falls to his death from a library ladder & then the club manager collapses while giving a toast, Jean decides to do someone is up to no good & sets out to discover the killer herself.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book would have been better with more editing. The story jumped all over and there were many inconsistencies. I was disappointed because it was also clean and could have been an exciting mystery.

[Dora Okeyo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finally finished this book and it's something splendid to read over the weekend as you relax.

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

A few chapters into, I knew I wasn't going any further.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rather preachy about not investigating mysteries.