Someone is dressed to kill in the debut Costume Shop Mystery from the national bestselling author of the Material Witness mysteries.   No sooner does former magician’s assistant Margo Tamblyn return home to Proper City, Nevada, to run Disguise DeLimit, her family’s costume shop, than she gets her first big order. Wealthy nuisance Blitz Manners needs forty costumes for a detective-themed birthday bash. As for Blitz himself, his Sherlock Holmes is to die for—literally—when, in the middle of the festivities, Margo’s friend and party planner Ebony Welles is caught brandishing a carving knife over a very dead Blitz.   For Margo, clearing Ebony’s name is anything but elementary, especially after Ebony flees town. Now Margo is left to play real-life detective in a town full of masked motives, cloaked secrets, and veiled vendettas. But as she soon learns, even a killer disguise can’t hide a murderer in plain sight for long.   INCLUDES RECIPES AND COSTUME IDEAS! FIRST IN A NEW SERIES! Praise for A Disguise to Die For: “Meet Margo Tamblyn, the newest, savviest, smartest heroine to join the cozy mystery world. Weave in a quirky cast of characters, a fascinating setting, a fast-paced plot, and yummy recipes, and you have a thoroughly appealing whodunit that will keep you guessing all night long.”—Kate Carlisle, New York Times bestselling author   “Both madcap and moving, A DISGUISE TO DIE FOR has the right amount of humor, poignancy and danger for a most irresistible whodunit. Highly recommended!—Naomi Hirahara, Edgar Award-winning author of Grave on Grand Avenue   "A fresh, funny voice, irresistible characters—and oh, the costumes! No disguising the fact that Diane Vallere's new cozy is a winner." —Lucy Burdette, national bestselling author of Fatal Reservations They say that inspiration can come from just about anywhere, right? Well, the inspiration for this series came from my teddy bear (no lie!). I was having lunch with my agent and editor and telling them about my annual tradition of making a Halloween costume for my bear--specifically describing how funny it was to put a little teddy bear in a white fur yeti costume!--and my agent (who remained unmoved by the novelty of my story) suggested that I write a costume shop cozy mystery series. I was ready to drop my  unfinished sandwich and start working on a proposal right then and there, but cooler heads prevailed, and we ended the lunch with the ball in the court of my editor, to see if the publisher was interested. Between proposal, synopsis, sample chapters, and brief sketches of possible books, it was a several-month-long process until the green light switched on and the costume shop mystery series went from an idea over lunch to a real thing. A DISGUISE TO DIE FOR is the first in that series, and I hope you enjoy it! xoxo, Diane Diane Vallere also writes the Lefty-nominated Material Witness series including Suede to Rest and Crushed Velvet , as well as the Mad for Mod and Style & Error series. She has had a lifelong love of playing dress up, and believes the lines between fashion and costume can (should?) be blurred on a regular basis.  At age ten, Diane launched her own detective agency and has maintained a passion for shoes, clues, and clothes ever since. Acknowledgments Praise for Diane Vallere Berkley Prime Crime titles by Diane Vallere Title Page Copyright Dedication Acknowledgments Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Disguise DeLimit Costume List: Blitz Manners’s Detective Party Recipes Costume Ideas Special Excerpt from Masking for Trouble Chapter 1 “GIVE ME THE knife,” demanded the cranky man in the wheelchair. “I don’t think so,” I said. “I’m not playing, Margo. Give me the knife.” “Why? I already told you I could do it. It’s just going to take longer than I thought.” “That’s because you can’t climb the ladder in those silly boots.” “Why are you so worried about my go-go boots? You bought them for me. Besides, you’re the one wearing two different shoes.” My dad—the cranky man in the wheelchair—looked down at his feet. He wore one brown wing tip and one black. “I pay that nurse too much to end up leaving the house wearing two different shoes,” he said. “And this stupid chair makes everything worse. If I can get up and down the stairs okay, then I don’t need it.” “You’re in that chair because you’re still weak. The doctors don’t want you running all over the place and having a second heart attack. And the nurse didn’t mismatch your shoes on purpose. Most of the nurses don’t expect to have such colorful patients.” He stuck his feet out in front of him and shook his head at the sight of the mismatched shoes. “I said brown wing tips. How hard