Amanda Matetsky
Murder Is A Girl’s Best Friend
The second book in the Paige Turner Mysteries series, 2004
Song lyrics on page ix are from “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”.
Music by Jule Styne. Words by Leo Robin. Copyright © 1949 (Renewed)
by Music Sales Corporation (ASCAP). International Copyright Secured.
For Molly, because a sister is a girl’s best friend
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I have the best group of cheerleaders in the world, and I heartily thank them all: Harry Matetsky
I send heaps of gratitude and good wishes to my dear friends at Literacy Volunteers of America-Nassau County, Inc., and my fellow mystery writers and readers at Sisters in Crime-Central Jersey. And to my wonderful co-agents, Annelise Robey and Meg Ruley of the Jane Rotrosen Agency, and my superlative editor at Penguin Group, Martha Bushko, I shout THANK YOU at the top of my lungs.
“Men grow cold when girls grow old, And we all lose our charms in the end. But square-cut, or pear-shaped, These rocks don’t lose their shape- Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.”
– as sung by Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Prologue
IT ISN’T EASY BEING ME. MY NAME IS Paige Turner, which is laughable enough all by itself, but when you couple the silly name with the fact that I’m a writer, my entire identity takes on an aura of absurdity. To put it more succinctly, I’m a living joke. People start giggling the minute they meet me. And then, when they learn that I’m a mystery novelist and a staff writer for Daring Detective magazine, the giggles turn into great big snorts and belly laughs. It’s so embarrassing and annoying I’m thinking of leaving my job to become a switchboard operator, or a stenographer, or a teacher, or a nurse-like every single other (okay, every other single) woman working in Manhattan.