Things seem sweet for Carly; she's head stylist at her own beauty salon, she has great friends, a great career - and a great new hair color.
Only problem is, no one else seems to appreciate her bright purple hair style quite as much as she does. That's the problem with small towns. Individuals stick out. At least Carly has her shop, Curl Up & Dye, and her best friend, Hans.
Until, that is; disaster strikes. One of Carly's customers is dead. A carnival is in town, and one of the workers, a girl named Ruby, came into Curl Up & Dye for a new bright pink hair color.
And ended up curled up and dead. Did Carly's hair dye cause an allergic reaction that killed the girl? Was Hans' carelessness to blame? Or do the answers lie at the carnival? Carly, determined to clear her and her best friend's name, sets off to find out.
Curl Up and Dye is the tongue-in-cheek name of a beauty shop owned by Carly, where she employes her best friend Hans. To promote a new line of pastel hair dyes, Carly dyes her hair lilac. Lilac hair in a small town is going to stick out like a sore thumb. Of course with the carnival in town, maybe she won't be too noticeable.
When a young carnival worker, Ruby stops in the shop, she leaves with a bubble gum pink hair dye job. But when Carly and Hans try to find her at the carnival they find her dead behind the cotton candy booth.
Carly, afraid that something will think her dye job was to blame, decides to investigate herself and gets herself into a mess.
This is a very short little story, only about five or six chapters long or so, but it's cute and fun to read. It's quick and enjoyable. Now whether there is more to this beauty shop idea or not, I am not sure, from what I can see from the author there seems to be a great number of cozy style mysteries, but all different genres.
CURL UP AND DIE. by S Y Robins. Caryl with a new hair do color of lavender. With circus in town, she shouldn't stick out too much. Business is slow, and hope it will be as advertising. A girl comes in, loving Caryl hjair, so Caryl points out her line of "cotton candy hair colors". Of which the girl sold at the circus. Caryl and Hans go and tragic has happen, she's dead, was it the dye, allergic reaction,or what. A cute story, with a twist of mystery in it
Novella - 4 Chapters to create characters, commit a murder and solve it .. quite a clever format .. but they are all the same format & some almost the same story with names & locations changed .. read one, read 'em all ..