High Heels Are Murder

What to wear: Your favorite shoes, pretty or practical, or maybe both. Wear the shoes that say the most about you.

What to drink: Coffee. White wine. Martinis. You can skip champagne served in slippers.

What to serve: Your city’s regional delights. Every city has hometown favorites. Josie treats her friend Alyce to a St. Louis spread that includes the local pizza, pretzels, chocolate and more. What special drinks and dishes will you serve your friends?

The Questions

(1) Josie has spent most of her life being compared to the awful Perfect Cheryl. Did you have a Perfect Cheryl in your life? Was she really perfect or did your mother or father only think so?

(2) What do you think of Mrs. Mueller’s bargain with Josie? Did you expect Mrs. M to keep her word?

(3) Josie loves her mother. She also needs Jane to help care for her daughter. Does Josie try too hard to please Jane? Should Josie have made a bargain with Mrs. Mueller to give Jane her heart’s desire?

(4) How many pairs of shoes do you own? How many do you wear? Do you have shoes that you can’t throw away because they are too expensive or have sentimental value?

(5) Some experts believe shoes are an indicator of a person’s sexuality. A nun or a grandmother wears a different shoe than a woman who is dating. What do you think of this theory?

(6) Do you enjoy shopping for shoes? Do you buy shoes to fit your mood or help you through bad times? Do you believe in retail therapy, or think it’s another trap?

(7) Josie’s romance with Josh heats up in this book, and she has privacy problems – problems that Josh believes are self-imposed. Should single parents have rules about when to bring dates home? Does Josie have standards, or is she just old-fashioned?

(8) What is Alyce’s role in this novel? Is she Josie’s sidekick? Her support? Do the two women have an equal friendship? What does each contribute? Does one give more?

(9) Is friendship vital to women? Do you think friends are more important to women than to men? Do you need friends? Why?

(10) Addictive gambling by women is an important issue in this novel. Were you aware of this problem? Do you believe that men and women have different kinds of gambling problems, or do you think all gambling addicts are alike?

(11) Everyone in this book has an addiction. Josie’s craving for coffee is socially acceptable. Gambling and shoe fetishes are not. Does everyone have some sort of addiction? Do you?

(12) Mel Poulaine has a housekeeper named Zinnia. Is she a woman of strong character, or someone who refuses to see what’s going on in her employer’s home? Did this blindness lead to her death, or would she have died anyway?

(13) People who deliberately blind themselves are another theme. Besides Zinnia, there’s Cheryl’s mother, who cannot see her own daughter. Jane is blind to her daughter’s accomplishments. Josie cannot see Josh clearly. Cheryl closes her eyes to her husband’s transgressions. Does this blindness help them survive, or hurt them? Do those who see things  clearly fare better in this book? 

(14) Josh’s dream of New York success plays a pivotal part in this novel. Is this a realistic goal? How does Josie fit into this dream?

(15) Josie makes a major decision about Josh at the end of the book. Do you agree with her decision? Do you think it was too harsh? What would you do? Would you give Josh another chance?

(16) Were you surprised by how Josh got his money to go to New York?

(17) When Josie is upset, she cleans her house. How do you handle disappointment?

(18) Josie is part of the sandwich generation, caught between her mother and her nine-year-old daughter. How well does she handle her responsibilities?
 
(19) Did you ever have St. Louis pizza? What are the favorite foods in your region? What cultures do they represent?

HIGH HEELS ARE MURDER
Featuring Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper
By Elaine Viets
A Signet mass market original
ISBN: 0-451-21988-0