Gilt Trip: A Samantha Kidd Mystery

Always wonderful to be back with the great Samantha Kidd!

Gilt Trip gets off to a great start. Samantha and husband Nick are caught maybe doing a little fooling around in the closet at an awards ceremony where Nick is an award nominee. This is a little out of character for them, but they haven’t had much quality time together so are making the best of any opportunity. I totally get it: I have loved Nick Taylor since the first moment he and Samantha met. I sure wouldn’t be against hiding out in a closet with that sweet sexy guy with the root-beer-barrel-brown eyes. They’re an old married couple now, a busy power couple. She’s an occasional reporter for the Ribbon, PA paper and co-owner of a local boutique and his sneaker line with his celebrity partner is about to take off. Hence the award night. And the closet.

What should be all-about-Nick night starts out a little edgy. Everyone, including Nick, seems to be annoyed with bossy, know-it-all, always-wants-to-be-the-center-of-attention Samantha. We have the advantage of being inside Samantha’s head know her intentions are good. But being inside her head we can also see how her logic sometimes falters, and she gets carried away, sticks her nose in and tries to orchestrate things. Even though this time she really is trying to stay out of it, it’s already too late and she has no choice but to try and solve the murder and keep everyone safe.

That closet I mentioned? Not just handy for making whoopee but also for hiding a dead body it seems. Like it or not Samantha’s in charge until the police can get through the blizzard to take over. Who to trust and who to fear? Maybe-shady hotel employees, people temporarily disappearing, and her friends and family less and less happy with her as the night endlessly drags on. Not the celebration they expected.

Author Vallere expertly takes you down the this-is-the-murderer path, convincing you (over and over I might add) with very plausible scenarios until you are proudly declaring, “I knew it!” and then she pulls the rug right out from under you and makes you start all over again. You go back to your first guess – is that the right one after all? There are always plenty of clues and you know everything Samantha does so you could solve it, right? Maybe. Probably. Who knows? But it sure is fun getting there because there isn’t always just one bad guy (or gal). You have to keep reading to see.

Gilt Trip is the fourteenth entry in this fabulous series. Vallere’s mysteries (in all her must-read series) are always well-written, fast-moving, logically plotted and multi-layered, populated with characters you won’t forget and often can’t figure out. You would probably be right if you suspected everybody of being involved in something just a little bit off. New intriguing characters are introduced and you are reunited with those you’ve come to know. The stories are just fun to read: they are witty, laugh out loud funny, and it’s great to be in Samantha’s head. Who except author Vallere could somehow work trash compactor, accordion and flux capacitor all into one amazing sentence? Don’t forget the clothes – you always know exactly how everyone is dressed and accessorized, even if it’s Samantha wearing a tablecloth. She is still forceful, nosy, persistent and impulsive, but over the course of the series has matured, sorted her priorities and learned when to let go, all while retaining that inner Samantha we love. And Nick? If I had to describe in one perfect interaction why I love them and their relationship so much, this would be it: Nick tells her to keep his tux jacket on because it gives her a Marlene Dietrich vibe. She asks if he means Cabaret Dietrich or Prosecution Witness Dietrich? And he replies, ”“Does it matter?” You have to smile.

Thanks to the author for providing an advance copy of Gilt Trip. I am voluntarily leaving this honest review; all opinions are my own. I highly recommend you read Gilt Trip now. Then read the entire Samantha Kidd series, and then read all the rest of Diane Vallere’s series. You’ll thank me.