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Died Blonde
Nancy J. Cohen Book Review

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Plot Summary of Died Blonde
"

Kensington, Dec 2004, 22.00, 256 pp.
ISBN: 0758206569

When the lights go out during working hours at Marla Shore's beauty parlor Cut'N'Dye, the owner's first thought is that Carolyn Sutton of Carolyn's Hairstyle Heaven is up to one of her tricks. Since Carolyn moved her business into the same shopping center where Marla is located, the newcomer has been playing dirty tricks on her in hopes of stealing or at least reducing her rival's customer base. When Marla goes to her meter room, she trips over the dead body of her competitor.

Marla's boyfriend Detective Vail heads the investigation. Marla publicly announced to her customers that she would kill Carolyn if she was responsible for the outage. Vail does not suspect her, but asks her to help him by talking with people who knew the victim especially her employees. Marla learns that Carolyn had a lot of secrets including being a blackmailer.

There is a romantic subplot between Vail and Shore where she decides whether she loves him and his daughter.

Harriet Klausner

"

Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of Died Blonde
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10%




Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
How difficult to spot villain? - Very difficult--no foreshadowing/clues
Time/era of story: - present (2000-2010)
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 60%
Kind of investigator - amateur citizen investigator
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot? - feelings towards lover
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes
Is Romance a MAJOR (25%+) part of story? Yes

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - small businessman
Age: - 20's-30's
How much violence does he/she use? - a little
Ethnicity/Race - White/American
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 60's-90's
Profession/status: - wealthy
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
Motive of antagonist - insanity
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Southeast

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
How many deaths? - 2
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
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