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    Pillow Stalk
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    Pillow Stalk
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    Pillow Stalk
    Ebook318 pages4 hours

    Pillow Stalk

    By Diane Vallere

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

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    About this ebook

    As LIBRARY JOURNAL says, it's time to "make room for Vallere's tremendously fun homage."

    Interior Decorator Madison Night might look like a throwback to the sixties, but as business owner and landlord, she proves that independent women can have it all.

    But when a killer targets women dressed in Madison’s signature style—estate sale vintage to play up her resemblance to fave actress Doris Day—what makes her unique might make her dead.

    The local detective connects the new crime to a twenty-year-old cold case, and Madison’s long-trusted contractor emerges as the leading suspect.

    As the body count piles up, Madison uncovers a Soviet spy, a campaign to destroy all Doris Day movies, and six minutes of film that will change her life forever.

    You do not want to miss a single page. Take it from the NEW YORK JOURNAL OF BOOKS, "plenty of surprises…and what an ending!"

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    PILLOW STALK by Diane Vallere - A Henery Press Mystery. If you like one, you’ll probably like them all.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHenery Press
    Release dateMar 4, 2014
    ISBN9781940976075
    Author

    Diane Vallere

    Diane Vallere is a fashion-industry veteran with a taste for murder. She writes several series, including the Style & Error Mysteries, the Madison Night Mysteries, the Costume Shop Cozy Mysteries, the Material Witness Mysteries, and the Outer Space Mysteries. She started her own detective agency at the age of ten, and she has maintained a passion for shoes, clues, and clothes ever since.

    Read more from Diane Vallere

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    Reviews for Pillow Stalk

    4/5

    26 ratings7 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I love Doris Day, I love mysteries and I love romance. Roll it all together and you have a winning combination. A joy to read, fun and fast paced, good story and well written. A very enjoyable series.
    • 5/5
      I came at this series backward, beginning with the fourth (and to date the current book) The Decorator Who Knew Too Much. I loved that book so much that I gathered up the first three to read them, too. After reading this first book, my enthusiasm for this series has only increased. The covers and the talk of Doris Day make this series sound much cuter than it is. Yes, there is charm to be found in the pages, but Diane Vallere's Madison Night series has unexpected depth and an edge to it that really appeals.I like the main character-- and not just because we both have bum knees. Madison is in her late forties. She's independent and intelligent. This woman also has a very strong sense of empathy. When her contractor Hudson James becomes Suspect #1, she puts herself in his shoes to try to understand his behavior. And-- although she doesn't like the police detective at all-- when she learns something surprising about Tex Allen, she does the same thing... puts herself in his shoes to understand him better. I like this facet of her personality.Animal lovers should know that dogs and cats are well-represented as they should be since Doris Day has always been an animal rights activist. Madison's Shih Tzu puppy, Rocky, never met a lamp he didn't like. To pieces. And I have no fondness at all for Hudson's cat Mortiboy-- but that's just me. This series is giving me an even greater appreciation of Doris Day, and the double-pronged "hooks" of the actress and Madison's mid-century modern decorating business blend into the story very, very well. How about Pillow Stalk's story? It's not often that a mystery stuns me, but this one had me gasping and thinking, "Whoa! I didn't see that coming!" (And not once, but twice.)The only thing that didn't sit well with me was the ending. I thought it strained credulity a bit, but I did really like the fact that the "bad guy" was hiding in plain sight. Diane Vallere's Madison Night series has, within the space of two books, become one of my favorites. I'm wanting to speed through the remaining two books, but I will pace myself. Honest!
    • 4/5
      After leaving the Poconos and East Coast after a bad break-up, Madison Night heads to Dallas to start fresh. She soon has her interior design firm, Mad for Mod, up and running, the market full of mid-century ranches to re-do and lots of Sixties kitsch to purchase as people downsize or die. Madison's other love is Doris Day and she volunteers at a local theater, dresses in those vintage styles and tries to channel Doris' whimsy when necessary. A murder of a friend and local relator, Pamela, while wearing Madison's robe (and possibly suffocated by a pillow from her trunk) lead Madison to sleuthing to help clear her handyman Hudson while not alienating Lt. Tex Allen of the police force. I'm glad I hung in for the whole story, the twists definitely kept me guessing and look forward to reading more about Madison in what I hope is a new series.
    • 4/5
      My Review:PILLOW STALK (A Mad for Mod Mystery #1) by Diane Vallere 4 STARS I saw Pillow stalk a long time ago. I liked Doris Day but not like Interior Decorator Madison Night character. Their are lots of references to Doris Day is this book. I probably only picked up a few of them. Like her dog is Rocky, handyman Hudson. Plus she dresses like Doris Day's movie characters, decorates like the scenes in the films. Madison even shares a birthday with Doris Day. It brought up good memories. This is a cozy mystery with fun attitude thrown in the mix. It has lots of drama, suspense and comedy thrown in. It brings a lot of smiles as I read it. Madison finds a dead body under her car. Pamela is wearing Madison's robe she was getting in her trunk to borrow something. They look a lot a like too. Madison has a daily routine. She swims daily, works at building up her business. She also volunteers at a old theater. She wants to put together a Doris Day marathon when another event is cancelled. Richard is the manger and he hates Doris Day films and says no. So Madison is trying to gather support for her film marathon. The detective Lt. Tex Allen is a playboy. He hides a lot of things. He is always showing up around Madison. He really believes that Hudson is the guilty person. Madison's handyman is Hudson James. At first I really liked him. He turns up as a suspect pretty earlier. Madison is sure he could not be the killer. Hudson is good at repairing items. Madison even wanted to make him a partner in her business. The book leaves you wanting to read the next Mad for Mod Mystery, That Touch of Ink. I can see me reading it real soon. I was entertained reading Pillow Stalk. I do want to watch some Doris Day movies now though. I was given this ebook to read and asked to give honest review of it in return from Netgalley.
    • 3/5
      I'm a fan of Doris Day, as is the heroine of this novel, Madison. She runs a vintage designer / home decorator shop, based on the mid-century era of 1950's to 1960's. I chuckled at the character names, taken from Day's movies. If you're looking for a fun cozy read with some romantic interest, you might enjoy Pillow Stalk.
    • 5/5
      LOVED IT!
    • 3/5
      I requested this as an ARC from NetGalley based on the strength of a short story Diane Vallere wrote in Other People's Baggage and the description of the book itself. It's not a bad read, but it does suffer from two things I found problematic. Both are things I think are probably one-offs and I don't expect to see either one in future books. First things first: Madeline Knight is the owner of an interior decorating firm called Mad for Mod and specialises in 1950's era decorating using as many original pieces as possible. There's a lot of vintage information thrown into the narrative as she immerses herself business, home and wardrobe in the era she loves. Doris Day is her inspiration in her private life. But don't make the mistake that her love of the era means she's a pushover or a happy-suzy-homemaker, as she most assuredly has feminist leanings. This is where we come to my first speed bump : A bad breakup has left her with what I can only describe as a chip on her shoulder. The bad breakup involved an accident that left her with a badly damaged knee and her feminist, independent leanings means she won't let anyone know her knee is damaged and she won't allow any one who does know to help her. Her need to be independent felt overly strong to me and ventured into prideful and almost bitterness. I like my heroines independent, but I don't like them bitter. There is, however, enough character development towards the end that I expect Mad Night to be in a better place emotionally, if not physically, in the next book. Also, throughout most of the book I couldn't figure out why, when her knee was so bad, she didn't use a cane and I can only guess it's the pride thing. I didn't think any more highly of her because she abused herself by not taking care of her knee. Quite the opposite. She's adamant she takes care of herself, but doesn't take care of her physical health. There are two main men in her life. Both have their secrets and both are pivotal to the plot of this mystery. I'll not say more because it could be considered spoiler-ish. I don't know if this is going to turn into a love triangle or not, but I hope not. I rather like both of them and I don't fancy the idea of watching Mad play monkey in the middle for several books. At this point it could go either way (and I believe the author's bringing the ex back for the next book too - party!). The mystery plot was well plotted. Murders old and new, of women who all resembled Doris Day. It was a bit convoluted and in the end the bad guy's motivation was a bit 'out there' but it worked for me and I liked seeing where she took the story. My last problem with the book was more about the construction of the story, for lack of a better way to put it. The writing was excellent and it's because the writing was so well done that I think this was more an editing issue than a lack of writing talent. See, there were inconsistencies in the story and they all felt like orphans. Imagine the editor decides to tighten up the story by removing parts that either don't work or feel extraneous. Or perhaps the author decides to make small adjustments to events in the timeline. Only those removed/tweaked parts are referenced later in the text and it isn't caught, causing inconsistencies. Examples: In one scene Hudson (her handyman/carpenter/friend) says "Remember I told you I saw someone hanging around my house?", but he never did say that - at least not in the narrative and it seems pretty important. Another, slightly different example involves an argument with the investigating police officer, Tex, on the morning of the second murder. The scene is pretty clearly set to be late morning, and she goes on after the argument to work a full afternoon: "hours had passed since I left Tex at the [theater], and the day had turned to dusk." She then ends up at Hudson's house where a LOT of drama ensues, none of which involves Tex. The next morning she's awoken by Tex pounding on her door. When he sees her he asks "What happened to you?" so we know he's unaware of the previous nights events. When she asks why he's there, he replies with "I don't like how things ended last night.". Now, normally this probably wouldn't stand out so badly, but the author does an excellent job of writing a clear, descriptive timeline of events, so this not only stood out, it confused me to no end. Those were two that stuck out enough for me to remember, but there were other, smaller errors of the same type; they didn't make the story un-readable, but they did make me question my reading comprehension skills at first. I'm confident this is not a sign of things to come; I have yet to read a Henery Press book that wasn't amongst the best edited books I read. But I do mention it and deducted a star for it because it did effect the readability of the story itself; I found myself pulled out of the story, or having to go back and re-read sections to make sure I didn't miss something. Overall, I believe this is a good start to a series; it could have been stronger, but I've definitely read a whole lot of first books that were a whole lot worse. Ms. Vallere has all the elements in place for a strong series moving forward and I look forward to the second book with complete confidence that it will be an excellent read. (This book was provided as an ARC via NetGalley in return for an honest review.)