DIVA LAS VEGAS by Eileen Davidson

RELEASE DATE JULY 6, 2010

This is the third book in the Soap Opera Mystery Series and we find Alexis on a new soap, The Bare and the Brazen.  An old friend, really the wife of one her past castmates, and a former Playboy Playmate, Shana Stern, invites Alexis to a Halloween party at the Playboy Mansion. 

Dressed as Little Bo Peep, complete with her friend George dressed up as her sheep, they are stunned to arrive at the party to find the playmates costumes are really just painted on their naked bodies.  Well it is the Playboy Mansion.  They finally catch up with Shana who is also scantily clad, Alexis feels terribly overdressed as her petticoats, bows, and ruffles bump into everything within several feet of her.  Her costume is soon forgotten as Shana tries to tell her something important.  Shana is not acting at all like herself and she keeps dropping hints that she has a serious problem.  Before Alexis can find out what the problem is, Shana is dragged off to have her picture taken with a bunch of other former Playmates.

Alexis and George mingle while they wait for Shana to return and end up going through the famous Hef's Haunted House and are scared out of their wits as they enter each room, but the fun all ends when they find Shana in one of the scenes and she isn't getting her picture taken or acting, the blood is very real and she is very dead.

The investigation leads to a soap opera convention in Las Vegas and as Alexis tries to help the handsome detective, Jakes, the bodies continue to pile up.  They have to catch this killer and there is no script to follow.

I read all three books in the series last week devoured every one of them.  They were funny and suspenseful.  Eileen Davidson is a real live Emmy nominated  soap opera actress that has appeared on Days of our Lives, The Bold and the Beautiful and The Young and the Restless, so she definitely writing about something she has experienced, with the exception of all the real murders.  Each book in the series was better than the last as you could see Davidson get comfortable in her role as author.  All three were fun cozy mysteries, and if you are a soap opera fan that's an extra bonus!!

 Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Publishing. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”