Member Reviews
**My review will post to my book blog at www.myinterdimensionalchaos.blogspot.com on January 28th. I will post a link to the blog post after it goes live. It has already posted to Goodreads.**
Tobi Tobias is worried. Her fledgling ad agency is not doing well, the bills are piling up and she's just received a 14-day notice to pay her overdue rent or be evicted from her apartment. Just when things look darkest, a new client comes to her office. Zander Closet Company needs a new ad campaign and a great slogan to make their company stand out from the competition. Tobi comes up with a great idea, but just as the campaign gets off the ground, a dead body falls out of one of the Zander closets during a home showcase event. Suddenly Tobias Ag Agency is getting bad press because of the new ad, exactly the opposite of what Tobi needed. The only way to save the situation and her company is to discover who killed Preston Hohlbrook and stuffed him in a closet.
Death is Advertising is the first book in the new Tobi Tobias series by Laura Bradford. The characters are interesting and a bit quirky in a fun way. Tobi is a great main character. She has spunk, intelligence, and a good sense of humor. Her bestie Mary Fran and her teenage son, Sam, are great sidekicks. The story flowed well with excellent pacing, several suspects and a few twists and turns. I figured out a few parts of the subplot quickly, but I didn't figure out the final outcome before it happened. Excellent mystery! Excellent first book! I will definitely be reading more of the Tobi Tobias series!
Laura Bradford writes romances and cozy mysteries, including the Amish Mystery and Emergency Dessert Squad Mystery series.
Death in Advertising will be available February 7th. I definitely recommend this book to anybody who enjoys mysteries and cozies. A fun, quick read!
To find out more about the author and her books, check out her website: http://www.laurabradford.com/
**I voluntarily read an Advance Readers Copy of this book from Kensington via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.**
I loved Death in Advertising! Outstanding and warm characters highlighted this wonderful cozy mystery. From the first laughs to the final sigh, Laura Bradford had me in the palm of her hand. I felt for Tobi’s struggles and cheered for her triumphs and wanted to hug her, her friends and her grandfather throughout the books. While there was one clue that I wanted badly for her to catch, I think the circumstances made it perfectly reasonable for her to miss it until several things came together. I did feel that she was blind to who was having an affair longer than she should have but again the circumstances she was working under were far from where I was sitting. Neither issue kept me from loving the book. My next sentence may be a spoiler but it matters for me, she didn’t just trip over the killer, using the clues that were available she figured out what had happened. I look forward to reading book two in the new Tobi Tobias Mystery series.
I requested an advanced readers copy of this book via NetGalley and was thrilled to receive it. The review is completely voluntary and the opinion is all mine. I always review books that I love.
I absolutely loved Tobi Tobias and Death in Advertising. The character is charming, witty and vulnerable, a fun mix. The mystery had me guessing until the point at which Tobi solved it. All the supporting cast is wonderful and I look forward with great happiness to 30 Second Death, which is coming soon.
Death in Advertising
By Laura Bradford
Tobi Tobias is a perky funny young lady who is trying to make it on her own in the advertising world after having enough of bosses who were too big for their pants. She is just waiting on that one big break that will get her what she needs…to pay her bills and her one employee! In walks Andrew Zander of Zander Closet Company. They need a slogan, a good one that can catch the eyes of hundreds of people. She comes up with a brilliant one…”When we’re done, even your skeletons will have a place!” Zander loves it; they advertise it on television and as they gear up for a big show; most unfortunately, the morning of the show, a skeleton really does fall out of one of their closets!
Now Tobi must figure out who murdered the man in the closet before her business is sunk. Readers join her as she meets talking birds and shady characters and some really great people along the way. You also get introduced to her quirky friends who support her and help her try to salvage her advertising business.
Death in Advertising is a fun book. It is cute and funny and keeps you smiling while you try to figure out who the killer is. It actually kept me wondering until the very end. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a light, happy read.
I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review from NetGalley.
Oh my gosh I loved this book! Tobi is awesome, her friends are hilariously quirky, and I never thought I'd laugh that much at a parrot (snort, snort). The mystery was great, too, although the ending did feel a little anticlimactic. I can't wait until the next book comes out!
Awesome New Series
Death in Advertising is the debut book in Laura Bradford’s Tobi Tobias Mystery series. This is a fast-paced whodunit with a great storyline, well-developed and engaging characters, lots of humor, and a touch of romance. This is a fast paced story that held my attention the through the entire book and kept me guessing whodunit until the final reveal. This is the first book I’ve read written by Ms. Bradford and I love her witty writing style and am looking forward to reading more of her books. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a well-crafted cozy mystery.
Tobi Tobias is the owner of the Tobias Ad Agency and works part time in her best friend’s pet shop, To Know Them Is To Love Them. While she has a background in advertising, she hasn’t been in business long and is struggling, so when she is approached by Andrew and Gary Zander, owners of Zander Closet Company, to create a slogan and ad campaign for their company, she is thrilled. Zander Closet Company and their clients, Preston and Mitzi Hohlbrook, are being featured in the upcoming Home Showcase in Chester. Tobi and the Zander brothers think the slogan: ‘When we’re done, even your skeletons will have a place.’ is perfect. Maybe a little too perfect because while preparing to do a photoshoot of the Holbrook’s home for brochures, Preston’s body falls out of a closet, and the press focuses on Tobi’s slogan having served as a premonition of the murder. With her business suffering, Tobi, with the help of her friends and neighbors, sets out to find the killer.
I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed it.
I enjoyed Death in Advertising. It's the first book in a new series about Toby Tobias, who is the owner of a new advertising agency. She's struggling to make ends meet and is competing with her former agency, She finally gets a new client and comes up with a witty slogan for the Zander closet company that she hopes will bring in even more new clients, until a murder takes place in a Zander closet and the media starts quoting her slogan, and not in a good way. It's all too much for Toby, who has a talented advertising mind, and she decides to solve the murder to clear her name and save her agency.
Laura Bradford is a good writer and her characters are well drawn. I look forward to reading future books where Toby will get new clients, solve more murders, and expand on the love interest that develops towards the end of this book. A nice cozy mystery and an afternoon well spent.
A new series by author Laura Bradford! Seven. Best. Words. Ever!
I started reading DEATH IN ADVERTISING with an excited expectation. I was looking for what I have seen in every book I’ve read by Laura Bradford, clever mystery, likable characters I can connect with, and a story that would make me hate reading the last word of the last page. Well, Ms. Bradford delivered all of the aforementioned, and much, much more!
My first bit of happiness with the book happened on page one with protagonist, and series namesake, Tobi Tobias. DEATH IN ADVERTISING is told from Tobi’s point of view, which lends itself to many extremely witty scenes! She’s so fun! I can see Tobi and I being great friends. My second, third…one-hundredth bit of happiness came from every page there after!
Laura Bradford has seriously blown me away with this book! This was a fast moving story that held tight to my attention the whole way through. It was truly a mystery that kept me on the edge of my seat guessing at and waiting for the truth to come out. I was completely taken by surprise with the who in the dunit!
No reader could ask for or expect more from the first book in a series then what Laura Bradford has accomplished with DEATH IN ADVERTISING. Simply brilliant!
I love this book that immediately grabbed my attention and was hard to put down. I like how the mystery was set-up giving me enough clues to keep me intrigued in all that was happening on the pages. The narrative was perfectly pitched and visually descriptive in how this story was told as Tobi set forth on solving this murder. Tobi is a likable heroine surrounded by an eclectic cast of characters that included her friend/boss, her upstairs neighbor and her adorable grandfather. One aspect that I like as I was reading was the fact that Tobi did not snoop but rather asked questions that lead to the answers that she needed and it was that approached that enhanced how well this fast-paced drama was presented. With engaging conversations and a feel-good atmosphere, this was a great read and I look forward to reading the next book in this delightfully charming new series that is a welcome addition to the cozy mystery genre..