The summary of the book leaves you expecting a bit of a different book than you get and I do think it should have been longer, as we really could have used more time to get to know some of the side characters more and the pacing was a bit off to me, but I read this book primarily for Mel and on that front it delivered. You can tell Bonnie Langford had a lot of fun with this and that she really loves Mel as a character, and it's so nice getting an entire book dedicated to her and expanding on her as a person.

I wasn't really able to get into this book. First off, the plot line in the first third is almost completely divorced from the eventual murder mystery that gets set-up. The main issue though is (and I can recognize this as a beginner writer myself) that the prose is quite simple and straightforward. Once the murder mystery gets set-up, we're given a ton of characters all at once and have to remember them all. Still, it was fun to have a whole novel dedicated to Mel, who is in the midst of renaissance in the 2020s. It was very sweet that Bonnie Langford put in tons of references to her career too. Honestly, I bet if I listened to her narrated audiobook I would've like it better. It's a fine read, but nothing special unless you want some Mel and Glitz in your life.