Undercover in High Heels

By: Gemma Halliday

Narrated by: Caroline Shaffer

Secret affairs, hunky gardeners, and housewives desperate enough to bare it all...welcome to Magnolia Lane, TV's newest hit show.

As the new wardrobe assistant, shoe designer Maddie Springer is in fashion heaven. But then a young starlet is found dead. Now it's up to Maddie to sift through a secretive leading lady, an actor on the verge of a nervous breakdown, a sexy cyber-scandal, and one tabloid reporter who'll stop at nothing to get the story of the century. Not to mention her tangles with the infuriatingly sexy lead detective, Jack Ramirez. In a biz where lies and deception earn Emmys, Maddie will have to play the role of a lifetime to catch Hollywood's hottest killer. But if she doesn't watch her step, Maddie's 15 minutes of fame just may be her last.

©2010 Gemma Halliday (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

I love these books!

Gemma Haliday really knows how to create fun, madcap, stories with mystery and romance all rolled into one. so far, each book has had a unique plot so that I don't feel like I'm reading the same story over with just a few detail differences.

Series starting to decline

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would maybe recommend it if a friend were looking for light reading and didn't mind the soap opera drama that the main character is constantly turning her life into (not to mention that this particular installment actually revolves around the set of a primetime soap opera). I enjoyed the first book, but as i keep reading further in the series, Maddie's little moments, crazy ideas, and melodramatic reactions to things, and continual misunderstanding of her love interest Ramirez, have been driving me more and more nuts, so I'm not sure how much more I can take. I may try book 4 before i lose patience with her.Maddie and her cast of friends are, if nothing else, certainly a delightful little escape from the usual mystery novel, which are often more dark and procedural.

Which character – as performed by Caroline Shaffer – was your favorite?

One of the craziest characters I've come across in any series is Mrs. Rosenblat, a ridiculously-dressed friend of Maddie's mother, who says she communicates with the other world through a spirit guide, and is always warning Maddie about the color of her aura. She is very well performed, and always makes me laugh. Shaffer's voicing makes her really come to life as a character.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Because I tend to do most of my listening on my way to and from work (combination hoofing it and bus), I usually don't get in more than an hour or two of a book a day. But the style of this series is a really easy listen, and often fast-paced. The first book kept me hooked for as long as I could, to the point of continuing to listen while at work, and I finished it in only 2 days. This one took me a couple more days, but it could easily be a one or two day listen over a weekend to entertain during chores and such.

Stephanie Plum ripoff that does not quite work

They say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery and if so Ms. Halliday must want to flatter Ms. Evanovich very much indeed. Her character, Mattie Springer, and her life and adventures are very closely modeled on those of Stephanie plum. There is the shoe-obsessed heroine, the impossibly handsome cop who falls in love with her (Morelli), a weird over-the-top girlfriend (Lula), an older woman character who resuscitates Ms. Plum's grandma and so on. I actually do not mind all this, when I pick up a book of this genre I am not expecting P D James' standards. Also it is understandable that the author has to follow the conventions of `chick lit'.

However the problem with this series (at least the early books, I gave up after the first 3) is that the mix somehow does not work. The characters are always just a bit beyond the realms of credibility. The dialog is just a little too artificial. The main character's obsessions miss the mark of `adorable awkwardness' and come across as annoying. There is something a little `off' about the writing. However the cardinal sin is that the author does not succeed in making Mattie Springer into a sympathetic character. In fact, I often found myself being put off by some aspects of her behavior.

The narrator does a decent job with the material, but unfortunately not enough to make the experience worthwhile.

Entertaining, but not outstanding

Continuing the series, I was entertained, sometimes amused, but not lol moments. I'll probably listen to another in the series. The main character is amusing. The reader is ok.

Fun! You will giggle and snort!

Predictable? Yep. Still a very enjoyable read. I am buying the rest of the series.