I had read Debra Sennefelder's other series debut, The Uninvited Corpse, and that led me to request this debut mystery in the Resale Boutique series. I was not disappointed. Now I have another series to add to my must read list.
Kelly has left her dream job in NYC under a very dark cloud. Add to that, her return to her hometown is due to the sudden death of her beloved grandmother. Her grandmother owned and ran a consignment clothing and home decor store housed in her converted house. All of it is now Kelly's and she is, on one hand, mourning the loss of her grandmother but, on the other hand, she sees a future running the store. First she intends to give the place a make over both in name and in inventory. The only things not on the list of change are the apartment upstairs and keeping her grandmother's cat, Howard (aka the Jerk). They are still getting used to each other but he's really a good cat and good company for her.
Her one employee, Pepper, was her grandmother's best friend and is 100% against the changes Kelly has planned. As Pepper has known Kelly just about her entire life and considers her like one of her own children, that conflict really hurts. Time will tell if they can resolve their differences.
Within days of taking over the store, a woman comes in and tries on a little black lace dress and everything in Kelly's life goes pear shaped! The woman has a vision and faints dead away in the middle of the store. She says she saw a murder and the woman was wearing the little black dress. Only one big problem - the woman who owned the dress was no where near her husband when he died in a car crash. Kelly decides to do her own investigating because all of this publicity has turned nasty and very crazy, threatening the future of her business. Now the killer is after Kelly to stop her snooping around.
At times I did want to give Kelly a stern talking to and a good shaking to get her refocused. She is having her own pity party and needs to move on with her life. Thankfully Pepper is there to do it for me and Kelly grows past her poor little me phase and ends up catching a killer, mending several damaged relationships and seeing her future not so bad as she had thought it would be.
The mystery was well crafted and satisfying and Kelly and the rest of the cast of characters are people I will enjoy reading about again.
My thanks to the publisher Lyrical Underground and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Murder Wears a Little Black Dress is a nice start to a new cozy mystery series. Readers will be entertained by the plot and will love the characters.

I am going to start with what I DID NOT like about this book and then move on to the rest of my review:

1. PLEASE, whom do I need to speak to to stop authors from using the premise of the main character being seen as guilty when the murder occurs? Especially in almost ALL new, first book cozies? Please, please, P L E A S E stop this. It is old, overdone and is driving me [and quite a few other people from what I have read] crazy. It has been done to death [seriously, no pun intended there] and it needs to stop. Now. Please. And in case you couldn't tell, that is how this book opens. Girl moves back home because her beloved Granny has died and left her a store and she had just been [conveniently] fired from her "big city job" and is able to take over and a person is murdered and she is the main suspect. <eyeroll>
AND, while we are at it...

2. WHY do we have to have a MC who is heartbroken, jobless, only back home because someone died etc etc. to have a story? Cannot it be someone who is already established in the community they grew up in? There is only one series that I know of that has done that and even in that one, the people were opening a new business because their other job failed. Okay, there are two [because another one popped into my mind as I was typing that], but that is all. Does everyone need to have an issue, heartbreak or a dead relative to have a good story? Sigh.

3. WHY are all the cops either hard-nose [and if they are women, they have massive attitude and dress poorly] and mean or they are so stupid that you cannot help but roll your eyes every time they open their mouths or try and solve the murder? OR they have to be awesome so the MC will fall in love with them and they can be their big, bad protectors. PLEASE. Stop this as well. PLEASE.
This book has two of the above and it was annoying. And WHY does the "hard nose" cop have to have tunnel vision? Really? I am pretty sure that there are good cops out there that are NOT like that. Ugh.

Now that that is out of the way, let's move on to what I did like about this book.

1. The length. This was almost the perfect length for a cozy. It could have been a touch longer so the reveal wouldn't have felt so rushed, but for the most part [and for a first book] it was a good length and the pacing was really good as well.

2. The characters. I really, really like these characters quite a bit. Usually it takes me a couple of books to settle in with the characters, but these grabbed me right from the first and that was cool [perhaps because I lived in NY and loved the city like the MC does and i now live in a small town and I know the gossip and crap that goes on in that arena as well]. The characters work well together and have a good rapport and flow with each other and that made easing into a new book relatively easy. I do with the accident with Ariel was more fleshed out and the reasoning behind Kelly and Caroline's estrangement was also more fleshed out, but perhaps we will see more of that should this series [and I for one certainly hope it does] continue.

3. I like the idea of this book. A boutique resale shop is VERY NY and very en-vogue there and is a perfect setting for a cozy series. I like how the MC faced dilemma's of having to take over her Grandmother's shop and the resistance she faced - it was the perfect amount mixed in with the encouragement from her best friend; just like it would be in real life.

4. The smarmy uncle and step-aunt. Been there, done that. And they are perfectly done.

Overall, I liked this book very much - I had to give it three stars because of the reasons stated at the beginning of the review, but I will absolutely read the next one and have a feeling they will get better with each book. I look forward to finding out if I am correct!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for providing the ARC for this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had really hoped to like this book. Unfortunately, it did not capture my attention and I struggled to read it to then end.

Fantastic read. Very rarely am I totally surprised at the ending, but this was a twist I was not expecting. Wow! Great book!

This was a great start to a new cozy series featuring Kelly Quinn, a former fashion buyer in New York City, who has inherited a consignment shop from her Grandmother in her home town of Lucky Cove. At the start of a three-day sale at the shop, a psychic tries on a dress and has a vision of a murder that is connected to the dress. Things go down hill for Kelly from there. She is a murder suspect, there aren't many customers shopping at her store, and her bank account is quickly emptying. The mystery was intriguing and just when I thought I had it figured out something else would happen that would change my mind. I am looking forward to learning more about Kelly and her backstory in future books.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Kensington through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I love this book! I can’t wait for the next book to come out!

Kelly has mixed feelings about relocating back to Lucky Cove to take over her Grandmothers consignment shop. She has big plans for the soon-to-be-renamed Curated by Kelly Resale Boutique. That all changes when a customer puts on a black lace dress that triggers visions of someone being murdered. As if the haunted “Murder Dress” isn’t enough to kill business, the psychic’s doppelganger cousin has just been found murdered.

Kelly soon becomes the number one suspect. Will she be able to clear her name and revamp the shop? A fun cast of characters are in this book. There is something that is referred to as the biggest mistake/regret in Kelly’s life that I wish more attention had been given to. Otherwise I give this book 2 thumbs up!

Murder Wears a Little Black Dress is the first book in Resale Boutique Mystery series and is off to a great start.

I personally liked so much about this book. The setting was great, consignment shop idea is fabulous. I also like both the main character as well as supporting ones. A supernatural bits fit in nicely and were quite interesting and spiced up the story,
I found the characters well developed and once the mystery of Kelly's involvement in her friends accident was explained everything fell into place.
Kelly had inherited her Granny's consignment store that she wants to develop even more as she has a background in fashion industry. When an alleged psychic faints in the store while trying on a dress, claiming that a woman had committed a murder while wearing the dress all hell breaks lose.
From then on Kelly has to fight off impromptu seances in the store, weirdos casing the place, nasty messages left in changing room but most of all a lack of customers. She soon realizes that if the situation doesn't get resolved soon there will be no store. She is fueled into asking questions around not only by the said psychic but by the fact that she is one of the suspects.
It book is steady paced, the readers get to familiarize themselves with the characters, especially as this is the first book, and we also learn about Kelly's life prior to moving back to her little town and her everyday struggles so that she seems more real.
The story is great, with many twists and turns and has that true cozy feeling.
I am looking forward to reading more book in this series.

Murder Wears a Little Black Dress is the first book in Debra Sennefelder’s Resale Boutique Mystery series. If this first book is any indication, this will to be an entertaining series that combines aspects of cozy mystery, chick lit, and light paranormal genres. The storyline is well plotted, and the well-developed characters are fun. This quick and easy read has a lot of humor and enough twists and turns, plus red herrings to keep the reader quickly turning the pages.

Kelly Quinn, who recently lost her job as an assistant fashion buyer in New York City, moved back to Lucky Cove, New York when her grandmother, Martha Quinn, passed away and she inherited her house, consignment shop, and Howard, her rescue cat. Ralph, Kelly’s uncle, is the executor of Martha’s estate. Kelly reconnected with Liv Moretti, her best friend, who provides her with scrumptious baked treats and moral support, and several others, and has hopes of patching things up with her estranged sister, Caroline. She has big plans for the shop, number one being to change its name from Lucky Cove Consignment Shop to Curated by Kelly Resale Boutique, and turn it into an upscale boutique, but her grandmother’s best friend and the shop’s employee, Pepper Donovan, isn’t pleased with Kelly’s proposed changes and is updating her resume. She’s planned a three-day sale to clear out merchandise, but things don’t go as planned when a psychic, Bernadette Rydell, tries on a little black lace dress and has a vision of a woman wearing the dress murdering a man. The woman who owns the dress, Irene Singer, recently lost her husband in an automobile accident, and Kelly can’t help but wonder if she played a part in his death. Rumors spread that she’s selling haunted merchandise and very few paying customers are willing to enter the shop. After Kelly visited Irene, Bernadette calls the shop and says she must see her immediately, but when Kelly arrives, no one answers the door. When she discovers the door is unlocked, she enters, but instead of finding Bernadette, she finds her lookalike cousin, Maxine Lemoyne’s body. Kelly and Bernadette are on Detective Nora Wolman’s radar, and Kelly, who’s desperate to save her boutique, begins to investigate. She shares some of her findings with Officer Gabe Donovan, Pepper’s son, but doesn’t listen to him when he warns her of the possible danger she’s placing herself in.

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

MURDER WEARS A LITTLE BLACK DRESS by Debra Sennefelder is the first novel in the Resale Boutique Series. The novel is due out on January 22nd 2019 by Lyrical Underground.

After getting fired from her coveted job as a fashion buyer, Kelly Quinn abandons New York City and moves back to her small hometown of Lucky Cove. As if getting fired wasn’t bad enough, Kelly’s grandma has recently passed away and left her consignment shop to her granddaughter. Kelly is trying to turn the consignment shop into an upscale boutique, but things don’t quite go as planned. When a local psychic tries on a little black dress and has a vision of a man being murdered, Kelly’s shop suddenly becomes the newest paranormal hotspot on Long Island. Kelly finds herself caught up in a murder investigation when she stumbles upon the psychic’s murdered cousin and finds herself at the top of the police’s suspect list. It’s up to Kelly to clear her name before the killer catches up to her.

MURDER WEARS A LITTLE BLACK DRESS is a light, quick read. There is enough suspense and action to make it a page turner. I finished the novel in one day. The novel is well plotted, and Sennefelder kept a good balance between Kelly’s amateur investigation, her personal life, and her work on revamping and running the consignment shop. Kelly also has a believable reason to get involved in the murder investigation – she not only finds the two dead bodies, but she is a suspect in both of them. The murders are also having a negative affect on her consignment shop – the first victim’s cousin had a psychic vision in Kelly’s store about a man being murdered, and this drives away paying customers while drawing in crowds of looky-loos and fans of the paranormal. The paranormal aspects added an extra element that kept things exciting. My only issue was the killer’s identity – I didn’t feel like there was enough detail and setup to make the reveal believable and reasonable.

This is the first of a new series which is part cozy and part chic-lit. I really like this author as I have read her other series as well. Kelly Quinn loses her job in New York as a buyer and at the same time is left a resale shop and apartment from her Granny. She moves to Lucky Cove and decides to take the resale shop and upscale it to a boutique. On the first day she is opened a psychic comes in and tries on a little black dress and when she does she sees a man being murdered. Now rumors are spreading she is selling haunted merchandise and no customer except for people interested in the paranormal and she is afraid all her dreams might go up in smoke. Kelly decides to visit the customer/psychic and discovers her cousin dead. This was a quick read and really look forward to the next installment. First books are tricky as they have to lay the foundation for the mystery and the books to come. Think the author did a great job of character development and will definitely read the next one.

Long Island Cozy Murder Mystery
This book is a fun and cozy mystery that takes place in a small Long Island town. There are many plot shifts and details that leaves our heroine lost. This is a great start for a new series. There are quite a bit of fashion details as the story revolves around a consignment store. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series. I received this book for free and this is my honest opinion.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. I am not usually a fan of fashion/consignment cozies but this one really grabbed me.
I found the characters entertaining and the whodunit kept me enthralled and guessing.
I look forward to reading the next in the series.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of the book.

Murder Wears a Little Black Dress is a cute cozy mystery that has great characters. This is a enjoyable read and I hope to read more by this author.

Kelly Quinn lot her job as an assistant fashion buyer in New York and her Granny. But Granny left her the resale store and apartment in Long Island and Kelly has a chance to build a new career for herself. But during the first sale a local psychic tries on a dress and has a vision of a man being murdered and the woman who consigned the dress wants it back.

Kelly finds herself a murder suspect when she goes to the psychic's house and finds the psychic's cousin dead. Now Kelly has to clear her name and that of the resale shop (boutique) that now has a reputation for selling haunted items. Will Kelly close up shop and head back to New York City, or will she stand her ground and make a go of the business...if she isn't murdered first.

While the characters appear well developed, I did find Kelly's being 26 and calling a younger woman, potentially a recent high school grad, young and inexperienced a tad arrogant. There are times the character is rather mature and others where she is extremely immature and is called out on it. Since this is a new series and I'm a bit torn, I'm going to wait for the second book to come out. I find that the second book is what really makes or breaks a new series, so I'm going to have faith that the author is going to make tweaks that will add this one to my must read list going forward.

Murder Wears a Little Black Dress by Debra Sennefelder is the first book in a new cozy mystery series that seemed to be a little bit cozy mystery, little bit of chic lit and a slight nod to psychic abilities.

Kelly Quinn has moved home to Lucky Cove to take over her grandmother's resale shop after her career in New York as an assistant buyer crashed. She's is second guessing her decisions about her move, her life and the shop as she tries to begin her life all over again. Then a psychic visits her shop on the first day, tries on a little black dress and has a vision of a man being murdered. Rumors fly and so do customers. Kelly is desparate to save the shop so begins to investigate.

Ms. Sennefelder has written an intricate plot that is smoothly paced with enough twists to keep readers guessing and several suspects that all could be guilty. The reveal was dramatic and surprising and the final chapter was a happy grand opening for the shop and a new beginning for Kelly.

A fun first addition to what looks to be a charming series. Full of enchanting quirks and characters, this book hits the spot if you are looking for a great read with a dash of fun.

2/5

I was confused reading Murder Wears a Little Black Dress because it is marketed as cosy mystery, but inside was a bit heavier that what is cosy, but also not up to 'real' mystery yet. This book is crossing to the chicklit genre for a while before the murder business (then again in the middle, then in the end) that I'm not even sure anymore.

Pros:
- characters are quite fleshed out
- I like the supernatural bit, like, believe it or not and it adds something to the book

Cons:
- too many characters to keep up, although author did a good job in keeping the focus in Kelly's parts
- the subplot works in the romcom but not in cozy mystery, or at least too much imo
- slow build, it's too slow for me, it's not that nothing is happening in the first act, but author took a long route to get over some things

(I received a digital arc for free from NetGalley & Lyrical Undergroudn in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion)

Cute story showing how families and small town life can be. Fast paced, quirky characters and plenty of plot to keep it interesting. Quite clever, I was surprised at the end.

Murder Wears a Little Black Dress is the cute story of a Kelly, a girl whose career in NYC is ended unexpectedly. She then takes over her recently-deceased grandmother's consignment shop. Soon after beginning her new career, a customer tries on a dress and declares it to be haunted by a man murdered by the wearer. Chaos ensues, with Kelly even being held accountable for other murders occurring in the town. While this book is pretty corny, and slow-moving in some places, it still made for a quick and enjoyable read.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.