Grave Apparel A CRIME OF FASHION MYSTERY E B llen yerrum A SIGNET BOOK Praise for the Crime of Fashion mysteries “Lacey Smithsonian skewers Washington with style.” —Elaine Viets, national bestselling author of Murder with Reservations “Devilishly funny... Lacey is intelligent, insightful and spunky.... Thoroughly likable. —The Sun (Bremerton, WA) “Byerrum spins a mystery out of (very luxurious) whole cloth with the best of them....” —Chick Lit Books “Fun and witty... with a great female sleuth.” —Fresh Fiction “[A] very entertaining series.” —The Romance Reader’s Connection Raiders of the Lost Corset “A hilarious crime caper . . . readers will find themselves laughing out loud. . . . Ellen Byerrum has a hit series on her hands with her latest tale.” —The Best Reviews “I love this series. Lacey is such a wonderful character....The plot has many twists and turns to keep you turning the pages to discover the truth. I highly recommend this book and series.” —Spinetingler Magazine “Wow. A simplistic word, but one that describes this book perfectly. I loved it! I could not put it down! . . . Lacey is a scream, and she’s not nearly as wild and funny as some of her friends. The story line twists and turns, sending the reader from Washington, DC, to France, and finally to New Orleans....I loved everything about the book from the characters to the plot to the fast-paced and witty writing.” —Roundtable Reviews “Lacey is back, and in fine form.... This is probably the most complex, most serious case that Lacey has taken on, but with her upbeat attitude and fine-tuned fashion sense, there’s no one better suited to the task. Traveling with Lacey is both entertain­ ing and dicey, but you’ll be glad you made the trip.” —The Romance Reader’s Connection continued... Hostile Makeover “Byerrum pulls another superlative Crime of Fashion out of her vintage cloche. ...All these wonderful characters combine with Byerrum’s . . . clever plotting and snappy dialogue to fash­ ion a...keep-’em-guessing-’til-the-end whodunit.” —Chick Lit Books “So much fun.” —The Romance Reader’s Connection “The read is as smooth as fine-grade cashmere.” —Publishers Weekly “Totally delightful...a fun and witty read.” —Fresh Fiction Designer Knockoff “Byerrum intersperses the book with witty excerpts from Lacey’s ‘Fashion Bites’ columns, such as ‘When Bad Clothes Happen to Good People’ and ‘Thank Heavens It’s Not Code Taupe.’ . . . Quirky... interesting plot twists.” —The Sun (Bremerton, WA) “Clever wordplay, snappy patter, and intriguing clues make this politics-meets-high-fashion whodunit a cut above the ordinary.” —Romantic Times “Compelling....L acey is a spunky heroine and is very self- assured as she carries off her vintage looks with much aplomb.” —The Mystery Reader “A very talented writer with an offbeat sense of humor and tal­ ent for creating quirky and eccentric characters that will have readers laughing at their antics.” —The Best Reviews Killer Hair “[A] rippling debut. Peppered with girlfriends you’d love to have, smoldering romance you can’t resist, and Beltway insider insights you’ve got to read, Killer Hair adds a crazy twist to the concept of ‘capital murder.’ ” —Sarah Strohmeyer, Agatha Award–winning author of The Cinderella Pact “Ellen Byerrum tailors her debut mystery with a sharp murder plot, entertaining fashion commentary, and gutsy characters.” —Nancy J. Cohen, author of the Bad Hair Day Mysteries “Chock full of colorful, often hilarious characters. . . . Lacey herself has a delightfully catty wit....A load of stylish fun.” —Scripps Howard News Service “Lacey slays and sashays thru Washington politics, scandal, and Fourth Estate slime, while uncovering whodunit, and dunit, and dunit again.” —Chloe Green, author of the Dallas O’Connor Fashion Mysteries “Killer Hair is a shear delight.” —Elaine Viets Other Crime of Fashion Mysteries by Ellen Byerrum Killer Hair Designer Knockoff Hostile Makeover Raiders of the Lost Corset Grave Apparel A CRIME OF FASHION MYSTERY E B llen yerrum A SIGNET BOOK SIGNET Published by New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi - 110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0745, Auckland, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England First published by Signet, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. ISBN: 1-4362-4720-9 Copyright © Ellen Byerrum, 2007 All rights reserved REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. PUBLISHER’SNOTE This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage elec­ tronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanking everyone who has helped keep my spirits up, answer my questions, and inspire me in the process of writing this book would be impossible. Please know that I am grateful to you all. First I must thank my patient husband, Bob Williams, who is my number one helpmate, friend, and supporter. My sincere thanks go to Mary Ann Grena Manley of Project Northstar, and to “Breezy,” for giving me insights into the plight of the homeless and children at risk. Any factual errors are mine alone, of course. I am also grateful to my editor, Anne Bohner, and my agent, Don Maass, for their guidance. I want to make a special acknowledgment, which I neglected to make in an earlier book, to the teacher who first interested me in Russian history. Reg Holmes made the Russia of Peter the Great and Ivan the Terrible come to life with a great deal of detail and humor. He is not responsible for any factual errors in Raiders of the Lost Corset, Lacey’s previous adventure, but the book benefited greatly from his inspiration.