Hair Raiser

The Bad Hair Day Mysteries, Book 2

By: Nancy J. Cohen

Narrated by: Mary Ann Jacobs

Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Hairstylist Marla Shore gets drawn into a culinary caper that involves murder, sabotage, and fowl play in this delectable cozy mystery.

When hairstylist Marla Shore volunteers for Taste of the World, a fundraiser for her cousin’s favorite charity, she quickly discovers that mixing scissors and sauté pans can be a recipe for disaster. First Chef Pierre's rum-soaked Bananas Foster erupts in his face. Then more chefs drop from the roster like overcooked soufflés and the nonprofit's attorney becomes the victim of fowl play. It’s clear as a consommé that someone is stirring up trouble. With a cunning killer on the loose, Marla has a lot more to worry about than which canapés her chefs should serve.

She teams up with Detective Dalton Vail to untangle the clues. He believes someone from the nonprofit’s board of directors might be involved, but Marla has her own suspicions. As she digs deeper, she realizes their upcoming gala could be more perilous than a hot stove. She’d better sift through the suspects to stop the saboteur before the entire event goes up in flames.

Nominated for a Reviewer’s Choice Award by RT Book Reviews

“Curl up with Nancy Cohen’s stylishly witty and chillingly suspenseful tale of murder on the Florida coast—Hair Raiser is a cut above.” Joanne Pence, author of the Angie Amalfi Mysteries

“Hair Raiser kept me guessing until the very end. Hats off to Nancy Cohen and her engaging sleuth, Marla the hairdresser!” Laurien Berenson, author of the Melanie Travis mystery series

©2000 Nancy J. Cohen (P)2024 Nancy J. Cohen

Fun mystery with entertaining cast of characters

This is the second book in the Bad Hair Day Mystery series, and it did not disappoint. It is a fun and cozy mystery. I liked the characters - especially the main character, Marla the hairdresser. She is passionate about hair, and I liked how all throughout the book, she is evaluating everyone's hairstyle that she sees. I found her family - especially her mom - very entertaining. I listened to the Audible audio version of this book narrated by Mary Ann Jacobs, and enjoyed her narration. She has a pleasant voice and gives unique voices to each of the characters. If you like cozy mysteries, or get excited about hair, this is a great series to read.

hair raiser

I loved this story! complex characters and very interesting storyline! Wonderful narration! I have to continue with this series on audiobook! Lots of twists and turns and a really fun read!

the body count starts to add up

Marla Shore is recovering from her first run in with a killer.  Since she’s physically unable to work in her beauty salon, she volunteers for the Taste of the World to keep busy.  Dalton Vail, a police officer and hopeful suitor, is thrilled that she will be busy and out of his cases.  Oh, if it were only that easy Dalton!

In Hair Raiser: The Bad Hair Day Mysteries, book 2, the body count starts to add up.  Marla has caught the eye of a new suitor and Taste of the World is shaping up … but not like one would expect!

Nancy Cohen has taken Marla, growing her character into a tenacious sleuth with the intellect and tenacity of Columbo but the fun and outgoing personality of a young Jessica Fletcher.  One cannot help but love Marla.  The chemistry between Marla and Dalton continues to get more interesting but one is not clear where their relationship is headed.  Cohen keeps us guessing past the end of the book!

I thought I knew who the killer was in this book but much to my surprise, each person suspected proved to not to be the killer. Cohen is a masterful weaver of mystery and twists; she skillfully misdirects the reader until the last moment.

Mary Ann Jacobs gives an excellent performance.  She assumes the role of each character projecting them through her many voices.  I could listen to Jacobs for days, her voice is soothing.

If you enjoy light cozy mysteries, this is a great series to get hooked on!

There were no issues with the quality or production of this audiobook.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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Sabotage against the ocean

In Hair Raiser by Nancy J. Cohen, Marla Shore has volunteered to help her cousin Cynthia with Taste of the World, a major fundraiser for the Ocean Guard charity. If they do not succeed this year or fail to keep their beach property in Florida clean, the property will revert to an unknown heir. So when her cousin finds medical waste dumped on the beach, this proves to be a problem. Further, someone has been scaring away the famous chefs from the fundraiser using threatening letters and sabotage. Could the unnamed heir be a member of the Ocean Guard board in order to stop them from keeping the property for good? This becomes a distinct possibility when the lawyer on the board, whose partnership wrote up the will many years ago but who still seems to know who the heir is gets brutally murdered, bludgeoned to death.

Detective Dalton Vail is upset that Marla is getting herself involved again in a murder, especially since he is interested in her romantically. But Marla’s family is pushing a different man on her. Dealing with all this while also still trying to run her hair salon, where Marla snoops by having conversations with her customers makes her life really wild.

The plot of this book comes with a good premise. Being set in the south of Florida, it suits well to use the context of an oceanic environmental charity for the basis of the mystery. I also like the way the book uses the setting of Marla’s hair salon to let her do her detection, since people so often tell everything to their hairdressers as they sit getting their hair done week to week or month to month.

This book does a good job of portraying the American Jewish culture of Marla’s family. They have a kosher Thanksgiving feast and are eager to push a rich Jewish man on Marla, whether or not he is nice. But everyone has skeletons in his or her closet. But despite this fact, the characters in this book do not have the depth that I like to see in books. I don’t picture the people other than Marla and the two men fighting for her affections, Vail and David. I also did not like the way Marla takes such obvious risks in going out on her own in dangerous situations. The book actually telegraphs bad situations and characters to the reader in advance, which gets annoying after a while.

I continue to like the choice of Mary Ann Jacobs as the narrator of the book. She has a unique-sounding voice that gives good expression to the book.

Hair Raiser is an enjoyable sequel to Permed to Death, but it doesn’t quite measure up to the level set by the first book in the series. I did find myself rooting for Marla’s happiness, and I hope to see better things in her future in upcoming books. I give this book four stars.

A hair raiser of a mystery!

When savvy hairstylist Marla Shore volunteers for a fundraiser, she has to comb through a knot of suspects to determine who’s sabotaging the gala event. Participating chefs are dropping off the roster like hot rollers, and it’s only through a series of hair-raising exploits that the brazen beautician can tease the truth from them. Too late to stop a murder, Marla must salvage the grand affair before she’s moussed into oblivion.

Can Marla's shear her way through the lies to catch a killer? Before the killer buries her for good?

Hair Raiser was originally published by Kensington Publishing Corp. This Author’s Edition has been revised and updated with added bonus materials.

Another fun Bad Hair Day mystery from the pen of Nancy J. Cohen.

Well plotted and written, with plenty of twists and turns to keep you turning the pages (or listening) right through until the hair splitting conclusion.

These audio books are great fun to listen to. And well narrated by Mary Ann Jacobs.

Available in Hardback, Paperback, Kindle and Audio download.

I voluntarily listened and reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

Published by Orange Grove Press and given by the author.

Fun and Entertaining

Any additional comments?

Another very entertaining and enjoyable cozy mystery. I enjoyed this book more than the first book in the series. Romance, suspense, mystery and mishaps all wrapped up in a fun, light, interesting and engaging story. Nancy Cohen's books are just all around good fun and perfect for the days you just want something light but entertaining to listen to.

The story is constantly moving forward and something is always happening. Never a dull moment.

Marla and Dalton are back as well as a great cast of likable characters as usual. Looking forward to listening/reading the rest of the series.

Mary Ann Jacobs did a great job with the narration. Nice voice, easy to listen to for long periods of time. Clearly spoken with a nice even pace. Good character voices. Perfect delivery. She brought the story and the characters to life. Very enjoyable.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator or publisher.

So fun to listen too!!

Hair raiser review

I really loved this book! I throughly enjoy Nancy Cohen writing and also how this continues from. "Permed to death "

Mary Ann Jacobs was a perfect fit narrating this book. I find her voice perfect to detail and bring life to the character. I didn't find it droned on, as a matter of fact I really couldn't wait to get listening again. I liked how it touched on the romance but didn't get caught up in it and steer away fro the main story.

I was gifted this book for my honest review

I look forward to listening to more of here work.

A good second book

This was a good follow up to the first book. The second book in a series I think is the most important. It has to keep the momentum from the first and needs to start endearing itself to readers either through the characters, the writing or even the setting. This book does that pretty well. We get to know the main character a bit better and the fact that she notices the hair style of everyone is an endearing quality, I think.
The mystery was pretty obvious. I'd be surprised to be surprised by the mystery in a cozy. I like them more for their characters (an old friend quality is a must) and frankly to de-stress from my busy life. This series is likeable and I look forward to more. The performance was very good!
"This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBoom.com

Keeps you Guessing to the End

I enjoyed listening to this mystery of who is trying to sabotage the Taste of the World fundraiser and the situations that Marla finds herself in as she tries to figure out what is going on. Marla works her way through the suspects wanting to eliminate some, but tries to be fair. All the while she also is trying to figure out who is trying to keep Ocean Guard from taking possession of the preserve and if the two events are connected.
I liked how she went about combining interviewing suspects, gathering clues, and finding chefs to take part in Taste of the World. She also finds time to combine dating with sleuthing and still work her day job.
I enjoyed the narrator of this book as well. She did a good job in the voices for the different characters.
This was an interesting mystery and I plan to explore more in the series. “I voluntarily received a review copy of this audiobook from the author.”

Book 2 even better

This is book two in the series. Nancy Cohen does a nice job with this fun cozy mystery. Marla Shore is a great character. I really enjoyed how she was always evaluating peoples hair styles seems real to me. I thought Mary Ann Jacobs did a wonderful job of narrating this book. I look forward to more in this series. I was gifted this book but this is my honest review.