This was an entertaining audiobook. I had read the print book many years ago. Librarian Jacqueline Kirby is great character. She drinks and smokes and is an independent woman who is intelligent and determined.

Looking for an inexpensive vacation from Nebraska, she decides to visit the annual Historical Romance Writers of the World convention in New York City. To get ready, she reads a couple of historical romances on the plane.

When she arrives, she finds quite a variety of characters. There is the greedy agent whose Southern accent comes and goes, a variety of authors who are under her control, a gossip columnist who wants to expose the greedy agent's dirty tricks, and a variety of fan clubs who are a bit fanatical.

When the gossip columnist dies at an evening wine party, Jacqueline is convinced that she was murdered though she can't quite recall how she got the wine glass the likely held the poison that killed her. The police, however, are certain that the gossip columnist's heart disease was the culprit.

As Jacqueline investigates, she learns lots of secrets about the people at the convention including that an old college classmate is now one of Aunt Hattie's authors and hiding it for fear of not being granted tenure as an English professor. Another old classmate is leading the protests against the convention since she's a devoted women's libber who thinks the books are harming women.

I loved the description of the various activities at the convention and the various characters who were attending it. So much pink! And so many hearts! I loved that Jacqueline decided to write her own historical romance while attending the convention.

This was a fun story with a great main character and lots of interesting side characters too. ( )

I enjoy Jacqueline as a character. She is smart, sassy, and not young like typical heroines. She knows what she wants, and she generally gets it. ( )

Jacqueline Kirby is a librarian in Cold Water, Nebraska. She is 40 something and looking for a change. She takes a trip to New York for a Historical Romance Writers convention and naturally uncovers a mysterious death. She also discovers that she could write historical romance and make money. The author makes the mystery a fun satire of romance writing.

I admit, this one makes me giggle. I like romances and this plays with the genre's worst tropes. I love how Jacqueline's romance story changes as she goes through the convention's seminars. The mystery heads the way I expected, but it was fun getting there. All the clues are there; for once I guessed right.

If you like cozy mysteries, you might like this. If you like cozies and have flirted with the romance genres (and aren't too serious about them), I think you'll love it. ( )

Published in 1984. Not a sterling entry in the Jacqueline Kirby series. Peters is going for satire, I think, but it falls flat.
(book description from Amazon) The annual Historical Romance Writers of the World convention in New York City is calling to Jacqueline Kirby, a Nebraska librarian who desperately desires some excitement. But all is not love and kisses at this august gathering of starry-eyed eccentrics and sentimental scribes. As far as Jacqueline is concerned, the sudden "natural" death of a gossip columnist seems anything but. And when she's approached by a popular genre star who fears for her own life, the resourceful Ms. Kirby quickly goes back to work...as a sleuth. Because there's a sinister scenario being penned at this purple prose congregation. ( )