Spying in High Heels

By: Gemma Halliday

Narrated by: Caroline Shaffer

Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's Summary

LA shoe designer Maddie Springer lives her life by three rules: Fashion. Fashion. Fashion. But when she stumbles upon the work of a brutal killer, her life takes an unexpected turn from Manolos to murder. And things only get worse when her boyfriend disappears - along with $20 million in embezzled funds - and her every move is suddenly under scrutiny by the LAPD's sexiest cop. With the help of her postmenopausal bridezilla of a mother, a 300-pound psychic, and one seriously oversexed best friend, Maddie finds herself stepping out of her stilettos and onto the trail of a murderer. But can she catch a killer before the killer catches up to her?

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

Very fun listen

Any additional comments?

Very humorous story about an average girl who finds herself thrown into a who dunnit mystery, while she is trying to prove her boyfriend is innocent. It is similar to a Stephanie Plum mystery, where all the bad things happen to Maddie and she is the only one on the right trail. The wittiness of the characters is fun to read and the story moves along at a great pace..... I am going to purchase the next book today.

Laughing in High Heels

I purchased this book based off one of Audible's monthly recommendations. I have never heard of Gemma Halliday or the Spying series so I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into; however, it was a good read. Nothing too heavy. When you think of the typical mystery/thriller book, it is a heavy read but this was hilarious! Maddie is such a character! I mean, she was investigating a murder, trying to clear the name of her boyfriend (who she finds out has a shady history of his own), all while struggling with the possibility that she is pregnant! Come on...who can manage all of that while being pregnant??! You know it HAS to be funny! I don't know if I will read any more books in this series but it was a nice change to some of the more serious fiction that I normally read.

What a surprise! Enjoyed very much!

Where does Spying in High Heels rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Is it the best book ever? No, but its not meant to be. It is a cheerful, fun listen and I am very glad they put it and 3 more on Audible. Bring more like it!

Cute

Would you listen to Spying in High Heels again? Why?

Once was enough, cute, but not a lot of depth.

If you’ve listened to books by Gemma Halliday before, how does this one compare?

No, first one. Probably try another one in the future.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

neutral, didn't dislike, not overly enthused.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

woman bumbles her way through a mystery

Any additional comments?

If you're looking for a cute, light, story with an amateur detective, try it.

Fun, quirky, bazaar main protagonist

Maddie, an almost 30 year old shoe designer, has more strange things happen to her than any other main character I've ever read. The author has developed her into a real ditzy stereotypical blond who doesn't really know what she wants. Though at times she lets the character show some depth, mostly Maddie stumbles thru life making mistake after mistake. Theres no way this is real life romance or frame..it's slapstick comedy and totally light listening-nothing else.

I bought these for my thirty something daughter who enjoys this kind of writing a lot more than I do-though I listened to the first 2 books in the series I'm not sure I'm good for any more.

I gave this a 3 star for Story and for Overall and 4 for performance because I think Caroline Shaffer does very well with accents and bringing out the strange personalities of Maddie and the secondary characters. They are a totally strange group-from Mom to Maddies friends to Moms friends. The main romantic character, Ramirez, is written fairly cardboardy-with all the overblown characters personalities I don't understand how Ramirez can be such a Joe Friday kind of cop.

Ah well...daughter enjoyed them and she bought them (we share an audible account).

Could be that if you like classic books, or literary writing you won't be able to take much of Maddie. If you like snappy dialog and bazaar plot lines Maddies antics are right up your line. In any case, a real chick lit. book. Guys would likely go crazy with this plot line.

To each her own.

Very light cozy mystery

This is a very light hearted cozy mystery. Maddie Springer has ceated a ditzy and silly heroine in Maddie Springer. Maddie stumbles through the mystery making silly assumptions and decisions. There was too much emphasis on her personal life. At the end Maddie does manage to figure things out.

I'm so glad I found this series!!

Maddie is, like, so totally awesome! How can you help but love a girl who won't take "no" for an answer, loves to shop at Macy's and Neiman's and is mad about shoes? I have to commute to work and listen to books while I'm driving. This series has made my time in the car so much more fun!

unexpected

Would you listen to Spying in High Heels again? Why?

I plan on listening to the whole series. I really like the protagonist. She is not a whiner or helpless.She manages to try to work out her jams herself but is smart enough to know that she is in over her head. A little like Stephanie Plum I found myself laughing out loud.

A fun listen.

The story and narrator are absolutely wonderful. Had such a fun time listening to this.

Great fun!

No erotica and minimal explicit violence despite two murders. Lots of OC references and boob talk. Loads of situational humor. The publisher's blurb doesn't tell you that Maddy designs children's shoes, or that her mother's idea of a bachelorette party is a male strip club. All I can say without doing the spoiler thing is that I laughed myself silly, and the suspense and plot twists were great!
Caroline Shaffer is great as the audio interpreter!

Really unsympathetic lead character

It’s unusual for me to actively dislike a lead character within the first few chapters but this book achieved it. Horrible vacuous selfish self-centred baggage. And those are just her good qualities.