I love finding books that surprise me in unexpected places like the free shelf at our local library I visited the other day where I found Shoes to Die For me Laura Levine a new Author for me to check out. Have you heard of Laura Levine? If so what did you think of her writing and why?

For me there are books that ease you in gently, and then there are books like Shoes to Die For by Laura Levine that open the door, trip over a pile of shoes, and somehow turn that into a murder case before you’ve even finished settling in.

Or the type of book Suzzane would have loved because of the title of the book and the shoes on the cover with the Cat I liked. If you look for Shoes to Die for the cover, you find may be different than mine as I have a older copy of the book but the story is the same.

In Shows to Die For the first entry in the Jaine Austen mystery series introduces Jaine Austen as a struggling freelance writer with a life that feels just slightly off balance from the start. She’s not stepping into glamour so much as being dragged through it.

Specifically, into the world of a designer shoe boutique where everyone seems polished, sharp-tongued, and just unstable enough to make things interesting. Wouldn’t that be a fun place to visit? What begins as a work opportunity quickly turns into something messier, because in this world, reputation is everything, and no one is as perfect as they pretend to be.

The humor is what carries Shoes to Die For from page to page. Jaine’s voice is sarcastic, which remind me of myself and she is self-aware, and constantly reacting to situations that spiral far beyond what she signed up for.

The boutique setting becomes a stage for personality clashes, passive-aggressive conversations, and fashion-world absurdity that feels exaggerated but still grounded enough to picture.

It’s the kind of environment where everyone is performing, and the performance starts cracking almost immediately. A place I would like to visit and maybe even work at one day. How about you. Would you want to work or visit this boutique?

As the story unfolds, what looks like a simple chance at writing advertising copy turns into a chain of events that pulls Jaine deeper into workplace tension, personal suspicion, and eventually a mystery that needs solving whether she’s ready for it or not.

Shoe to Die for leans more into comedy than darkness, so even when the stakes rise, the tone stays light, almost conversational, as if the chaos is something she’s narrating in real time while trying to keep up with it herself.

Part of the charm of this opening book is how clearly it sets the tone for everything that follows in the series. Jaine is not a polished detective or someone with special skills—she’s just someone who keeps ending up in the wrong place at the right time. That makes the mystery feel more accidental than intentional, which is exactly what gives it its cozy appeal.

And then there’s the playful nod to Jane Austen in the character’s name and the series identity. It isn’t trying to imitate classic literature so much as lightly wink at it, taking the idea of social observation and dropping it into a modern, messy, fashion-obsessed world where the drama is less about drawing rooms and more about boutiques, coworkers, and questionable decisions.

By the time the book wraps up, Shoes to Die for feels less like a formal mystery and more like being pulled through a very chaotic week in someone else’s life—one where humor, confusion, and just enough danger all show up wearing designer shoes.

Shoes to Die For is a strong starting point for the series, of 20 books I believe especially if you enjoy mysteries that don’t take themselves too seriously but still manage to deliver a satisfying puzzle underneath all the jokes.

About the book:

I’m crazy about Laura Levine’s mystery series. Her books are so outrageously funny. –Joanne Fluke

If clothes make the man, then what do Jaine Austen’s elastic-waist pants and T-shirts make her? A fashion nightmare, according to her neighbor, Lance. She doesn’t expect Lance–who works in the designer shoe department at Nieman Marcus–to understand. . .which is how she ends up visiting his favorite boutique, Passions. While the couture is definitely not for Jaine, the staff’s gossip is. Tiny orange-haired clerk Becky starts complaining about her co-worker Giselle–a.k.a. “Frenchie”– a brittle blonde who, when she’s not making fun of customers behind their backs, adds extra-marital notches to her Chanel belt. Though Jaine doesn’t land a new look, she does land a new job when Passions’ owner gives her a chance to write their new magazine ads.

But when Jaine arrives the next morning to pitch her ideas, she finds Frenchie pitched over, stabbed in the neck by one of her own stilettos. Now all Jaine has to do is figure out who hated Frenchie the most, in a case of death by designer knock-off. . .

Inside this post is my affiliate links. If you click on the links and make a purchase, I will make a small percentage from the products you purchase.

Thank you,

Glenda, Charlie and David Cates

Laura Levine

About the author

Laura Levine is a former sitcom writer (The Bob Newhart Show, Laverne & Shirley, The Love Boat, Three’s Company, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman). As an advertising copywriter, she created Count Chocula and Frankenberry cereals for General Mills. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.

Readers are welcome to contact her at Jaineausten@aol.com or on her website at www.lauralevinemysteries.com