The Fashion Beat Is Murder
ENTRY #55
1011.21
The fashion beat is tough. Just ask Lacey Smithsonian.
I recently discovered Ellen Byerrum's (ellenbyerrum) "Crimes Of Fashion" mysteries at my local library, and I'm enjoying looking through them. (I haven't started reading them all the way through yet, for reasons that will be made known in just a few paragraphs.) Quick overview: The main character of this mystery series is the aforementioned Lacey Smithsonian, a fashion reporter for The Eye Street Observer, a Washington, DC newspaper. Despite the fact that Lacey covers the fashion beat, she finds herself continually dragged into various and sundry murders. Somehow, she manages to discover the culprits, all the while looking fabulous. (More often than not, wearing something vintage.)
As I've been looking through the books, something unusual came to mind. I began realizing that the "Crimes Of Fashion" books have a lot of similarities with an old TV series. And it's probably not any series that would immediately come to mind when the word "mystery" is mentioned.
The series is Green Acres.
Okay, I know what you're probably thinking -- the helmet on my Ranger costume has apparently cut off my oxygen supply, right? Just read on, dear reader, and you will discover my line of reasoning.
For those of you who remember Green Acres with varying degrees of fondness, consider this: Oliver Wendell Douglas was the only normal person on the series. Everyone else, to some degree, was a first-class freaking looney toon. (Everyone else in the regular cast; guest stars more often than not were rather sensible sorts.) Are you with me so far?
By the same token, in the "Crimes Of Fashion" books, Lacey Smithsonian (no relation to the museum) is quite often the only voice of reason to be found. There are a couple of notable exceptions to be found: Vic Donovan, Lacey's love interest, who can usually be counted on at least once each book to ask Lacey to please stay out of trouble; and and fellow reporter Tony Trujillo, who seems to be in a state of either perpetual amusement or perpetual bemusement over the chaos that Lacey has a knack for attracting. Other than that, anyone else intersecting Lacey's vector seems to have a skewed view of reality. Like Brooke Barton, Lacey's conspiracy-theory addicted lawyer and friend. Or Stella Lake, Lacey's hairstylist, friend, and number one cheerleader.
Or especially Damon Newhouse, the conspiracy theorist and wannabe investigative journalist who runs a website called Conspiracy Clearinghouse. A website that is described as taking its cues from Matt Drudge, The Smoking Gun, and Art Bell. A website that Lacey dreads visiting, because she knows that she will usually find Damon's latest attempt to make her look like some kind of superhero. (Although Lacey does find herself wishing that she had Wonder Woman's wardrobe; particularly her bracelets, tiara, and lasso.)
[SIDENOTE: I don't know about the bracelets -- at least not bracelets that can deflect bullets -- but I know that Lacey could get at least part of Wonder Woman's costume online. A couple of years ago, I remember stumbling across a site that was selling go-go boots in just about every color of the rainbow, and among the offerings were Wonder Woman's boots -- red boots with a white stripe down the front. After seeing the second or third reference to Wonder Woman in the series, I tried to remember where that website was. To save what loosely passes for my sanity, I turned to Google for help. I typed "wonder woman boots" in the Search box, and discovered that there are more than a few websites that have these boots for sale -- including (I swear I'm not making this up) Amazon.com.]
Much to Lacey's dismay, everyone seems to think that she is some sort of Sherlock Holmes for the fashion world. She keeps telling everyone that all she does is ask people questions, and then she writes her column based on what answers she gets. Sooner or later, people will eventually believe her. She hopes.
I'll probably get around to reviewing the "Crimes Of Fashion" books. As I said at the top, I haven't started reading any of the books cover to cover yet. For some reason, my library has only five of the six (so far) books in the series. The one they don't have is the first book, Killer Hair.
Looks like I will have have to pick up a copy at my local Borders or Books A Million. Oh, who am I kidding? I was going to do that anyway.
Did I say the fashion beat was tough? It's worse than that -- it's murder.
-30-
1011.21
The fashion beat is tough. Just ask Lacey Smithsonian.
I recently discovered Ellen Byerrum's (ellenbyerrum) "Crimes Of Fashion" mysteries at my local library, and I'm enjoying looking through them. (I haven't started reading them all the way through yet, for reasons that will be made known in just a few paragraphs.) Quick overview: The main character of this mystery series is the aforementioned Lacey Smithsonian, a fashion reporter for The Eye Street Observer, a Washington, DC newspaper. Despite the fact that Lacey covers the fashion beat, she finds herself continually dragged into various and sundry murders. Somehow, she manages to discover the culprits, all the while looking fabulous. (More often than not, wearing something vintage.)
As I've been looking through the books, something unusual came to mind. I began realizing that the "Crimes Of Fashion" books have a lot of similarities with an old TV series. And it's probably not any series that would immediately come to mind when the word "mystery" is mentioned.
The series is Green Acres.
Okay, I know what you're probably thinking -- the helmet on my Ranger costume has apparently cut off my oxygen supply, right? Just read on, dear reader, and you will discover my line of reasoning.
For those of you who remember Green Acres with varying degrees of fondness, consider this: Oliver Wendell Douglas was the only normal person on the series. Everyone else, to some degree, was a first-class freaking looney toon. (Everyone else in the regular cast; guest stars more often than not were rather sensible sorts.) Are you with me so far?
By the same token, in the "Crimes Of Fashion" books, Lacey Smithsonian (no relation to the museum) is quite often the only voice of reason to be found. There are a couple of notable exceptions to be found: Vic Donovan, Lacey's love interest, who can usually be counted on at least once each book to ask Lacey to please stay out of trouble; and and fellow reporter Tony Trujillo, who seems to be in a state of either perpetual amusement or perpetual bemusement over the chaos that Lacey has a knack for attracting. Other than that, anyone else intersecting Lacey's vector seems to have a skewed view of reality. Like Brooke Barton, Lacey's conspiracy-theory addicted lawyer and friend. Or Stella Lake, Lacey's hairstylist, friend, and number one cheerleader.
Or especially Damon Newhouse, the conspiracy theorist and wannabe investigative journalist who runs a website called Conspiracy Clearinghouse. A website that is described as taking its cues from Matt Drudge, The Smoking Gun, and Art Bell. A website that Lacey dreads visiting, because she knows that she will usually find Damon's latest attempt to make her look like some kind of superhero. (Although Lacey does find herself wishing that she had Wonder Woman's wardrobe; particularly her bracelets, tiara, and lasso.)
[SIDENOTE: I don't know about the bracelets -- at least not bracelets that can deflect bullets -- but I know that Lacey could get at least part of Wonder Woman's costume online. A couple of years ago, I remember stumbling across a site that was selling go-go boots in just about every color of the rainbow, and among the offerings were Wonder Woman's boots -- red boots with a white stripe down the front. After seeing the second or third reference to Wonder Woman in the series, I tried to remember where that website was. To save what loosely passes for my sanity, I turned to Google for help. I typed "wonder woman boots" in the Search box, and discovered that there are more than a few websites that have these boots for sale -- including (I swear I'm not making this up) Amazon.com.]
Much to Lacey's dismay, everyone seems to think that she is some sort of Sherlock Holmes for the fashion world. She keeps telling everyone that all she does is ask people questions, and then she writes her column based on what answers she gets. Sooner or later, people will eventually believe her. She hopes.
I'll probably get around to reviewing the "Crimes Of Fashion" books. As I said at the top, I haven't started reading any of the books cover to cover yet. For some reason, my library has only five of the six (so far) books in the series. The one they don't have is the first book, Killer Hair.
Looks like I will have have to pick up a copy at my local Borders or Books A Million. Oh, who am I kidding? I was going to do that anyway.
Did I say the fashion beat was tough? It's worse than that -- it's murder.
-30-