Reviews for Daddy's girls
Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Four daughters of wealthy Lord Oswald Balcon come under suspicion after he takes a fatal tumble in magazine journalist Perry's debut, a delightful offering for the beach set. Each daughter has a plausible motive. Actress Serena Balcon is involved with a ruthless hotelier tycoon, and her ensuing pregnancy could mean she carries the next Huntsford baron, but her father won't allow an illegitimate child to inherit the family fortune. Recently fired women's magazine editor Cate wants to put her own spin on a new upscale travel and fashion magazine, but daddy dearest tries to undermine it from the get-go. Venetia, head of a successful design company, yearns to branch out to the States, but dad, an important company shareholder, puts the kibosh on that as well. Barrister Camilla is singled out by her law firm to run for a vacant House of Commons seat, but Oswald, who has lost his seat in the House of Lords, tries to quash his daughter's political ambitions. The writing and plotting are swift, but Perry slaps on an unsatisfying conclusion and a too-pat epilogue. Still, her spicy first novel about four impossibly glam sisters and their power-driven, cantankerous father made a big splash in the U.K. and will likely do the same here. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
Perry delivers glamour, romance, and intrigue in the tradition of Jackie Collins but with a decidedly contemporary twist. The Balcon sisters are a new breed of British nobility--rich but not idle. No, these four beauties have high ambitions. They are Serena, the it girl actress; Cate, the overachieving magazine editor; Camilla, the budding politician; and Venetia, the head of a design empire. When their father drowns in the estate moat, fingers point at the sisters, who stand to benefit from his death. So they get to work clearing their names and unearthing some long-buried secrets. This tasty tome offers a voyeuristic view of life filled with high fashion, glitzy parties, and luxurious retreats, with risque sex and murder thrown into the mix. The perfect fix for readers looking for a frivolous treat, it's bound to make its way into a bevy of beach totes this summer. --Aleksandra Kostovski Copyright 2007 Booklist
Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Glitz is the point of British author Perry's fashion-obsessed debut, a beach read that was a bestseller in the U.K. in 2006. After his family's annual Christmas Eve gala, Baron Oswald Balcon falls from a balcony to his death. When his body is found floating in a moat on Christmas morning, Oswald's daughters are immediately suspects. The story then moves back in time several months, and the daughters' histories are relayed. It seems that ever since his wife's death, Oswald has undermined, controlled, badgered and bullied Venetia, Cate, Camilla and Serena Balcon, despite—or because of—the glory and notoriety all four have brought to the family name. Venetia, the eldest, owns a successful design firm and is married to a German aristocrat, Jonathon, selected by her father. Cate has her own travel/fashion magazine, Sand. Camilla, a winning barrister, has been tapped by the Tory party to serve in Parliament. Oswald's grudging favorite, movie star Serena, recently broke with her actor/director boyfriend Tom to dally in the higher echelons of power with vicious billionaire Michael. But Serena, pregnant by Michael, catches him in mid-orgy and dumps him. Her career nosedives. Daddy is no help—he's engaged to opera diva Maria, who threatens to produce a legitimate male heir and disinherit Daddy's girls. Bent on scuttling his other daughters' success, Oswald corners stock in Venetia's firm and mocks the fact that she has no children. Resentful of Camilla's political ambitions—his own fizzled—he threatens to divulge a "dark secret" from her past. When he's not reminding Cate that she's the ugly duckling of the family, he's discouraging potential backers of her magazine. After Oswald's death, his ghostwriter arrives to blackmail the girls with his Lordship's memoir-in-progress. The murder mystery takes up approximately the last 80 pages. Unsurprisingly, Oswald's past—the part left out of his memoirs—holds the key to his homicide, but readers may skim the obligatory clue-sifting to get to the epilogue, where Perry doles out paltry punishments and unearned rewards to her cast of puppets. Trash with little redeeming flash. Copyright ŠKirkus Reviews, used with permission.
