Holly Swimsuit Mystery: Book 2
Publication Date: February 15, 2025
The last thing Mermaid Swimwear sales exec Holly Schlivnik expected to find when she opened the closet door was nasty competitor Lissa Charney’s battered corpse nailed to the wall. When Holly’s colleague is wrongly arrested for Lissa’s murder, the wise-cracking, irreverent amateur sleuth sticks her nose everywhere it doesn’t belong to sniff out the real killer. Nothing turns out the way she thinks it will as Holly matches wits with a heartless killer hellbent for revenge.
When swimwear executive Holly Schlivnik finds the beaten and bloody corpse of a nasty competitor nailed to the wall of her closet door, and Holly’s coworker is arrested for the murder, Holly goes into amateur sleuth mode to find the killer, in the second book in Author Susie Black’s Holly Swimsuit Mystery series, Death by Pins and Needles.
I was fortunate to review the first book in the series, Death by Sample Size, and this second book is just as good as the first. Sometimes, the little things in life bring the most joy.
The formula for this sequel is the same as the first, and it works just as well. I like cozy murder mysteries that are easy to read and follow, with just enough oomph to keep the reader guessing and discovering what happens next.
I like that Holly is in fashion and works with department stores. I think it gives context for people to imagine the scenes from the book in their heads.
The book is fast-paced, entertaining, sharp, and so funny. I love Ms. Black’s humor and giggled through the entire read.
Bringing back the Yenta Coffee Klutch group ties the two books together and is a focal meeting place for Holly and her posse. The Yenta’s gather together and sum up what happened to tie up any loose ends that may have been lingering.
Whimsical and delightful, Death by Pins and Needles is a fabulous sequel to this entertaining series. I highly recommend this humorous book!
Named Best US Author of the Year by N. N. Lights Book Heaven, award-winning cozy mystery author Susie Black was born in the Big Apple, but now calls sunny Southern California home. Like the protagonist in her Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series, Susie is a successful apparel sales executive. Susie began telling stories as soon as she learned to talk. Now she’s telling all the stories from her garment industry experiences in humorous mysteries.
She reads, writes, and speaks Spanish, albeit with an accent that sounds like Mildred from Michigan went on a Mexican vacation and is trying to fit in with the locals. Since life without pizza and ice cream as her core food groups wouldn’t be worth living, she’s a dedicated walker to keep her girlish figure. A voracious reader, she’s also an avid stamp collector. Susie lives with a highly intelligent man and has one incredibly brainy but smart-aleck adult son who inexplicably blames his sarcasm on an inherited genetic defect.
