Killer Cuts

What to wear: An old bridesmaid dress. Garden wedding attire.

What to drink: Coffee, tea, white wine, champagne for toasts.

What to eat: Hors d’oeuvres and cake with white icing and sugar roses. Or a groom’s cake in your favorite flavor.

The Questions

(1) This is a novel about illusions. The bride, Honey, marries a rich man while she's veiled in silk illusion. Miguel Angel’s salon caters to women who need to maintain the illusion of youth. Helen says the salon has more delusional people than an insane asylum, but she ignores her own past and hopes her problems will go away. Maintaining these illusions takes a physical, emotional and financial toll. Do the women pay too high a price for their illusions? Or have they found a sensible way to survive in a harsh world?

(2) How important is your hairstylist? Are you faithful to one? Is a good stylist someone you need? Or would you rather spend money on something you enjoy more?

(3) Miguel Angel’s salon charges $300 for a color and cut. What’s the most you’ve ever paid for a hairstyle? Was it worth the money?

(4) Helen considers Phil a shopping-impaired male. She sends him into a drugstore for Ponds cold cream. Her tough man has a real terror of buying the wrong kind and considers the many options bewildering. Is your man shopping-impaired, or does he like to visit stores? If so, what kind – hardware, electronics, grocery, automotive, bookstores?

(5) The women in “Killer Cuts” marry for many reasons. Some marry for love. Some want to  give their baby a rich father. Others want a man who will take care of them. Should everyone marry only for love, or are there other, more practical reasons to march down the aisle? Do these reasons make for successful marriages?

(6) Helen says that ex-husbands are like cockroaches – you never quite get rid of them. Is it possible to completely divorce your ex from your life? If so, does it depend on the ex-spouse’s personality, your personality, or some other reason?

(7) Miguel Angel is a makeup artist as well as a stylist. He believes facelifts are not the answer to aging. He says anything a surgeon can do with a knife or a needle, Miguel can correct with makeup. New York magazine says the “stretched look” facelifts are passe, and the new look is a “triangle shape” with fat at the cheekbones. How do you feel about facelifts? Have you ever had one? Are you considering one?

(8) Miguel Angel hears “We’re in America. Speak American” over and over from his salon customers. This is a touchy subject, especially in multi-cultural areas. Do you believe U.S. citizens should speak more than one language – or should natives of other countries learn to speak English, as did our immigrant ancestors?

(9) Margery and Miguel Angel advise Helen to buy a new wedding dress for her marriage to Phil. Margery tells her, “Celebrate your fresh start – even tough guys are romantics at heart.” Do you agree? Do men have romantic ideas about their brides, even when it’s their second marriage?

(10) Margery goes to extraordinary lengths to marry Helen and Phil. She acts as de facto mother of the bride and also as the preacher. Did she go too far?

(11) Helen is surprised by the behavior of some salon customers. She thinks Honey confides too much in Miguel Angel. She is shocked by the “stripper tipper,” and feels sorry for the rich older man who brings in the photos of hairstyles his wife wants but are impossible for him to attain. Do expensive salons attract eccentrics or are their rich customers simply indulged?

(12) In Chapter 31, Phil talks about “speaking wife.”  When Helen says her head hurts “a little” Phil decides that means “a lot.” Is Phil correct, or is this simply a communication failure on the part of Helen and Phil?

(13) Helen says she and Phil will live in separate apartments after their marriage. Do you think this is a good idea for an adult couple or a reflection of Helen’s own fears about marriage? After the honeymoon is over, could you see yourself living happily ever after in separate residences?

(14) When a worried wife comes to Miguel Angel for a makeover after her illness, Miguel says, “Is your husband asking his barber for a makeover?” The worried wife says the world is full of younger, predatory females and she wants to head them off. Are her fears justified? Is this man worth keeping?

Killer Cuts: A Dead-End Job Mystery

By Elaine Viets

Price: $22.95

ISBN: 978-0-22686-0