The Blackbird Sisters Mystery Series by Nancy Martin

I've read three books by Nancy Martin in the Blackbird Sisters Mystery Series..... Time for a Series Review!


How To Murder A Millionaire by Nancy Martin
Publisher: New American Library / Penguin Putnam Inc.
Pages: 254


From the Cover: From Riches to Rags.......The three Blackbird sisters of Philadelphia--breezy Libby, practical Emma, and fragile but responsible Nora--are to manor born, but it seems there's a curse upon them, as all their husbands died young. Worse yet, their parents have just flown off to luxurious tax-evaders haven.....

Nora Blackbird is a penniless heiress, born to be a debutante, silver spoon and all. That is until her parents spend the family fortune and abscond to better and jail-free, tax-free climates. What's left of the family heritage; portrays to Emma, furniture to Libby, and the broken down family farm and land to Nora is almost worthless. The tax bill on the farm alone is two million dollars. What's an heiress to do? Seating arrangements are her specialty!

When millionaire and family friend, Rory Pendergast, offers Nora her first job on the Philadelphia Intelligencer, she is beside herself. At 31, Nora has her first job, on the society page. Kitty Keough, maven of the society page, doesn't want or need an assistant, but what Rory says goes.

Nora arrives at the Pendergast estate to attend a party, but she instead finds the host dead on his bedroom floor. Nora has another problem, she faints at the sight of a dead body. Who could do such a thing to Rory, a kindly old man? Nora soon discovers that Rory may not have been as sweet as she thought with knowledge of Rory's newest rage, erotic art! The search is on for Rory's killer; could it be his long time love, Peach? His rival in the erotic collectibles? Or, is it the local mafia don's son? All good questions which Nora will try to answer.

Nancy Martin, herself a descendant of the Mayflower crossing, writes an excellent mystery novel that finds Nora looking for answers in all the wrong places. It puts her in direct contact with the gorgeous and supposedly deadly, Mick Abruzzo. But Nora has sworn off men with the death of Todd, her drug taking dead husband. Nora soon discovers she has a nack for murder, at least solving it. If you want to read a book that keeps you laughing and looking for a killer, pick up How to Murder a Millionaire. This is the first book in the new series published in 2002.


Cross Your Heart And Hope To Die by Nancy Martin
Publisher: New American Library / Penguin Putnam Inc.
Pages: 262


From the Cover: Tempest in a C-cup....Things are going great for the Blackbirds. Columnist Nora is still dating mobster's son Michael Abruzzo. Emma's recovering nicely in a clinic for the rich and infamous, and Libby's please about her new career with Potions and Passions, a company that keeps its customers very satisfied.....

Nora Blackbird is at it again. She moving and shaking it with the rich and famous, or infamous, and showing it all on the society page. Kitty Keough is bitchy as ever, never giving Nora a moments rest or a kind word. Mick Abruzzo is helping to fill Nora's nights with hot lovin',sweet dreams, and maybe a baby.

Then, a terrible surprise happens, Kitty Keough shows up on Nora's farm house porch, dead as a door nail. As usually Nora faints away....When the police arrive, they assume Mick has beaten Nora and killed Kitty. How wrong they are!

As Nora covers a fashion show for the new bra that isn't a bra, things are 'uncovered' about Emma, bra designer Brinker Holt (Brinker's Bra), and Hemmings Lamb, known to close friends and family as Hemorrhoid, and all the while Libby struggles to sell her inventory of pleasure items. Nora must revisit the home of childhood friend, Oriana, to discover the truth. She can only hope to do it before Mick is arrested.

Cross Your Heart and Hope to Die is the 4th book in the Blackbird Sister Mystery Series published in 2005. Nancy Martin again uses humor and luck to solve another murder mystery. This book is a quick read and, though its nice to read the books in order, it's not necessary. For a good time and a fun read, try Cross Your Heart and Hope to Die.


Have Your Cake and Kill Him Too by Nancy Martin
Publisher: New American Library / Penguin Putnam Inc.
Pages: 260


From the Cover: Heiress-go-lightly......Nora Blackbird has been reduced to wearing her grandmother's vintage couture. She's teetering on the brink of losing her job as the city's most talked-about society columnist. And she's got two hot men wanting to sweep her off the champagne circuit for wedded bliss. She doesn't need one more family crisis.......

Nora Blackbird is just a society columnist, but when Zell Orcutt turns up dead, all hell breaks loose. Orcutt is the scourge of proper society, married in--not born. When he attempted to sell Fitch's Fancy, the Fitch family estate, after the death of his long suffering wife Hannah, the jet set has a fit! When Nora is asked to investigate this dastardly deed, she finds a long time friend, Delilah, framed for the murder.

With Emma's new job as a dominatrix, Nora's fragile pregnancy and on-again-off-again romance with Richard (sans Mick), and Libby's nude calendar, there's not much time left for solving a murder. The one clue is Orcutt's Cupcake Club, strip club extraordinaire. How is his step-daughter and granddaughter involved in all of this? And why was Libby poisoned after eating cupcakes from Verbina's shop(Orcutt's step-daughter) made especially for the Cupcake's dancers?

Nora is pregnant with Mick baby, unknown to Mick. How will he handle the news now that he has vowed to leave Nora alone to marry Richard? Richard is a clumsy lover and Nora already knows she can't spend her life in a loveless marriage, not after being romanced by Mick. What will she do and who murdered Orcutt?

Have Your Cake and Kill Him Too is the 5th book in the Blackbird Sisters Mystery Series published in 2006. Again, Nora Blackbird has herself in hot water. How will she solved this case and who will pose for the calendar? Nancy Martin brings humor and laughs to another murder mystery. It was a quick, easy, fun read that left me wondering what Nora will get into next. Pick up Have Your Cake and Kill Him Too for a good read and a fun time.

Try any of the Blackbird Sisters Mystery Series, they were all fun and fabulous, darlings, as the society mavens would say!

Dottie :)