Title/Author: A Perfect Manhattan Murder (A Nic & Nigel Mystery) by Tracy Kiely
Genre: Cozy
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Date of publish: May 2017
Pages: 240

The play’s the thing, but it’s the star-studded after-party that sends sparks flying
Thrilled that their friend’s Broadway debut was a rousing success, Nic and Nigel Martini, along with Nic’s college pal Harper, are trying to enjoy the exclusive after-party. Unfortunately, all the champagne and repartee in the world aren’t enough to overlook the churlish behavior of Harper’s husband, Dan. Nic is shocked the next morning when she learns that Dan’s been murdered. Nigel thinks the world may be a better place without him.
Still, Harper’s their friend and they’re intent on helping her any way they can. The Martinis will stop at nothing—with the possible exception of cocktails and walks with their bull mastiff Skippy—to see that the killer ends up behind bars.

This story is a really quick read. The pace is fast, the dialogue is snappy, and humor runs profusely throughout.
~Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book

Oh my gosh what a read. I literally just finished it. I was laughing one minute and needed a Kleenex the next…
~Babs Book Bistro

This was a fun, light and breezy cozy mystery that doesn’t leave you feeling heavy afterward.
~Rainy Day Reviews

The pace is lively and Ms. Kiely’s voice as an author is fairly established and enjoyable to read.
~Queen of All She Reads

I was not at all surprised to read in the author’s bio that she enjoyed reading Agatha Christie. As I read the opening banter between the Nic and her martini drinking playboy husband Nigel Martini, I was immediately transported to a bygone era the likes of which Ms. Christie would not have felt out of place, such a wonderful way to begin a book about a murder, especially one of such a universally despised character. Of course the story is set in such the modern era that Harry Potter is beautifully referenced, but it never loses that opening flavor. Also, it also takes a certain flair to write theater people the way they are meant to be read and Tracy Kiely has done a fabulous job of capturing all of the ego, insecurities, eccentricities and back stabbing that are the hall marks of theater life, providing along the way a sharp contrast to the stark tv cop drama played out admirably by Nic and her former employers. Once this mystery begins to unravel it moves fast, but the author has done a fabulous job of keeping the reader in the thick of things, while keeping classic storylines fresh. I am certainly going to have to look into previous Nic and Nigel installments.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Tracy Kiely is a self-proclaimed Anglophile (a fact which distresses certain members of her Irish Catholic family). She grew up reading Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, and watching Hitchcock movies. She fell in love with Austen’s wit, Christie’s clever plots, and Hitchcock’s recurrent theme of “the average man caught in extraordinary circumstances.”
After spending years of trying to find a proper job that would enable her to use her skills garnered as an English major, she decided to write a book. It would, of course, have to be a mystery; it would have to be funny; and it would have to feature an average person caught up in extraordinary circumstances. She began to wonder how the characters in Pride and Prejudice might fit into a mystery. What, if after years of living with unbearably rude and condescending behavior, old Mrs. Jenkins up and strangled Lady Catherine? What if Charlotte snapped one day and poisoned Mr. Collins’ toast and jam? Skip ahead several years, and several different plot ideas, and you have her first mystery Murder at Longbourn.
While she does not claim to be Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, or Hitchcock (one big reason being that they’re all dead), she has tried to combine the elements of all three in her books.