Haute Mess

At seventy-eight years old, Miss Dora Lee Griffen has mastered the art of being underestimated. Let them see the silver hair, the shuffling walk, the adorable dog in the coordinating outfit. Let them speak too loudly, assuming her hearing has gone. Let them dismiss her as harmless. It only makes the truth easier to uncover.A legendary fashion designer whose 1987 collection revolutionized how the industry thought about traditional techniques, Dora Lee now runs a quiet custom design shop just a block from her penthouse at the Royal Griffen Hotel. Her family once owned the grand old building, back when it was still a proper hotel, and when it converted to luxury apartments, she came with the deal. So did the fresh flowers in every hallway. Mother would have insisted on that.Life has settled into a comfortable rhythm of beautiful fabrics, loyal customers, and afternoon walks with Pippa, her Boston terrier mix with the too-big ears and the talent for tricks that always charm a crowd.Then rising star designer Ethan Kemper is found dead in the building's sauna.The jammed door makes one thing horrifyingly clear: someone trapped that young man inside and left him to die. This was murder.The police launch their investigation, but Dora Lee has advantages they don't. She saw Ethan arguing bitterly with his business partner just hours before his death. She's heard whispers about stolen designs and threatened careers. She knows about the service entrance that lets people slip in and out unseen. And she knows, better than anyone, how sharp the knives are beneath all that silk and sequins.As she digs deeper, Dora Lee discovers Ethan wasn't the golden boy everyone remembers. He built his rising career on the backs of desperate interns. He stole ideas from young designers too afraid to speak up. He made enemies of people with everything to lose.Now Dora Lee finds herself navigating a world of jealous rivals, ambitious protégés, and old friends who might not be telling her everything. His business partner stands to inherit the brand they built together. A young model Ethan dropped without explanation keeps appearing at Dora Lee's shop, wanting to talk. A ruthless designer circles the now-leaderless company like a vulture. And her best friend Viola seems eager to help, perhaps a little too eager, always steering the conversation in curious directions.Someone in this building is a killer. And with her sharp eye for detail, five decades of fashion industry knowledge, and a gift for playing harmless when it suits her, Dora Lee Griffen intends to find out who.Even if the truth hits closer to home than she ever expected.Haute Mess is the first book in the Royal Griffen Hotel Mysteries, a cozy mystery series featuring a seventy-eight-year-old fashion designer who proves that age is just a number when it comes to solving murders.