Death on Heels
The eighth in the Crime of Fashion series, on sale February 2012
Sometimes you want to get your characters
out of town, out of their comfort zone. Mix things up, throw them new experiences, revisit old memories. So in Death on Heels, my
heroine Lacey Smithsonian returns to Sagebrush, Colorado, the scruffy, rough-and-tumble, boom-and- bust town where she earned her
spurs as a young reporter—and where the man she once loved has been accused of three murders.
Sending Lacey back to her reporting
roots sent me back to mine—to the real town I call “Sagebrush.” Sagebrush has changed in some ways and remains frozen in amber in
others. Landmarks I looked for had been torn (or burned) down. Fast food joints (and Wal-Marts) have sprung up like mushrooms. But
the bleached bones of long-dead cows still dot the barren, sagebrush-covered landscape, the highway signs are still riddled with bullet
holes, and the denizens still believe they live in God’s own country. Highlights: interviewing a legendary cowboy, Monty Sheridan,
about the endangered cowboy way of life. Hiking through the sagebrush to find an old abandoned cabin—and a friendly wild horse. For
Death on Heels, I wanted to take Lacey for the Wild West, boots-and-saddles, Last Frontier ride of her life. I think she got
it.
Ellen Byerrum is a novelist, playwright, former Washington, D.C., news reporter, and holder of a private investigator's registration
in Virginia. Her Crime of Fashion mysteries star a savvy, stylish female sleuth: Lacey Smithsonian, a reluctant fashion
reporter in Washington D.C., "The City Fashion Forgot."
Lacey wants to work "hard news," but her
nose for nuance, eye for a great story, and talent for getting into trouble all make her the right reporter for the Crimes
of Fashion beat. In her vintage suits and killer heels, she trips over fashion clues, fabulous shoes, dangerous women, drop-dead
men, and the occasional corpse (who wouldn't want to be caught dead dressed like that).
Ellen and her
fictional friend Lacey Smithsonian share a balcony view of the Potomac River and a love for vintage clothes, as well as
their humorous viewpoints on life, love, mystery, fashion, and the wild and wacky world of Our Nation's Capital.
Photo (c) Joe
Henson 2007
The Crime of Fashion Mystery series
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