This is the second book in the Caprice De Luca Home Staging Mystery series. They take place in Kismet, Pennsylvania, a quiet town where murder comes as a surprise to those who live there. Caprice De Luca is home stager as well as a decorator. She tends to work with homeowners trying to sell their upscale, opulent homes and in this book there is no exception.

Caprice is staging the home of online dating executive Eliza. While working with Bob Preston, who often paints for her, she notices that he and Eliza seem to have more than a client/owner relationship, not only that, but her married sister sets up a coffee date with him right in front of Caprice. Bella and her husband are having marital and money issues and Caprice is worried about her. When Bella sets up a second "date" with Bob, Caprice plans to show up and see if she can talk some sense into Bella. When she arrives at the Community Centre, she hears a scream that sounds like Bella. When she investigates, she finds Bella covered in blood beside the dead body of Bob Preston. Not only does Bella become a suspect, but Joe, her husband, does as well. Caprice takes it upon herself to find the real killer to help her sister and brother-in-law.

Caprice's life is extremely busy. She is dating a handsome doctor named Seth, as well as rescuing animals. Her latest rescue is a cocker spaniel who is expecting and she must learn to care for the puppies when they arrive. Her work life is busy with staging Eliza's house, a "safari" themed house and redecorating for the buyer of it. The sexual tension between Caprice and Grant (her brother's legal partner) accelerates a little in this book, especially when Seth has applied for a fellowship at John Hopkin's and my be leaving town.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series and "Deadly Decor" is even better!! The author has used the unique home staging service along with romance to create a very engaging and lively cozy mystery. I am looking forward to reading more in this delightful series and would highly recommend this book to everyone who enjoys cozies. ( )

My biggest complaint with the first in this series was that it was overly descriptive and that is the case in the second novel. It is unfortunate that is the case since the main character Caprice is great, the plot is quite good, and the conclusion of the mystery is even better. It seems like Karen Rose Smith is trying to extend the length of the book in all the wrong places. I don't want to throw in the towel on this series, I really don't, but I can't take many more descriptions of what something looks like or of every little detail of where and what Caprice is doing when searching for her hiding cat. ( )

This second in the Caprice DeLuca series takes the reader right back to where we left off. We see the continued worries of Caprice's sister Bella and her relationship with her husband now that he knows she's pregnant as well as Caprice's own issues with her relationship with Dr. Seth and lawyer Grant. Then throw into the mix the murder of an old flame of Bella's (that she'd been secretly seeing) and Caprice has her hands full trying to stage her houses and find the murderer to protect her sister.

The characters and relationships are developing in some unusual ways and are craftily woven through the story. Looking forward to the next one. ( )

4 stars

Now I have read all three books so far in the Caprice De Luca Mysteries. I can't wait till next one comes out. Deadly Décor was good. Because I had read the third book first some of the storyline I already knew. It would be better to read the books in order. They can stand alone but to know the regular characters story line it works best.

This is another good cozy mystery. I love the characters, all the animals that are so much part of Caprice's life.
Caprice is single. She is dating a doctor. There is another guy in her life though. She wears vintage clothing. Stages houses, loves to rescue strays, and is curious.

Caprice's little sister Bella and her husband Joe are having problems with there marriage. Bella finds a old high school boyfriend dead. Bella and Joe become the main suspects. So Caprice is ready to try and find the answers to who killed Bob.

This is a clean cozy that keeps the interest of the reader in what is happening around Caprice's life. I hated putting the book down.

I wanted more romance for Caprice. My vote is for Grant but I do like Seth too.

There are recipes in the back of the ebook.

I bought the ebook from Amazon ( )

At 321 pages long, this book was about 160 pages too long. Packed with so much extraneous filler, one could skip pages and not miss anything at all pertinent. The author attempts to infodump via dialogue and it comes out awkward and a bit dick-and-jane-ish.

Caprice is worried about her pregnant sister. Bella's marriage is coming apart like a bad wallpaper job, and to make matters worse, she's decided to meet up with former flame Bob Preston, a house painter Caprice frequently employs. When he's found dead in a pool of green paint swirling with blood, it's time for Caprice to stage an investigation. With all eyes trained on Bella's husband, Caprice shifts her attention from finding the perfect curtains to finding the perfect culprit. .

Caprice's family is tight - I know this because the author is constantly reminding the reader about just how close they are. This also seems to give Caprice free reign to meddle a bit in Bella's marriage. Bella is, honestly, probably the character I like least, with her husband Joe in the running, so I had a rather hard time caring if either one of them went to jail.

The book does improve in the last 25% or so; we see less of Bella and Joe and more about Caprice's life when she's not all up in her family's business. She is a huge animal lover and rescuer of dogs and cats and I particularly enjoyed reading about this facet of her life. Her time working with the former rock star was interesting as well and here the writing felt more natural and flowing.

The murder plot was good, although to be honest, it might have seemed that way because I skipped over so many pages. But I didn't see the murderer coming and I don't think the author did anything to telegraph the killer early.

I read this second one because I was intrigued by her possible relationship with Grant, her brother's best friend and law partner, established in the first book. The author sidetracks us and Caprice with someone else throughout most of this book, only to bring Grant back into the running at the very end. I may or may not read the third book, but I am curious about his story so this book and series get a reprieve from the give-away bag for now. ( )