Table of Contents
Praise for Penny Warners Party-Planning Mystery Series
How to Survive a Killer Sance
Event planner Presley Parker is throwing a party at the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, and you just know all those corridors and secret rooms will be the perfect setting for a murder.... Downright fun.
Contra Costa Times
Presley Parker is a delightful event host, and this entertaining mystery captures the ins and outs of planning a sance.... Delightfully entertaining.
Mysterious Reviews
Unforgettable characters, information, and humor all in one divine package. Treat yourself to this one as soon as possible.
Fresh Fiction
[A]n entertaining read, full of unique characters and breezy prose. The setting is unique, the structure is smart, and the pacing is quick.... Presley otherwise makes for a strong, smart, funny protagonist for whom readers will want to root.
The Season for Romance
Presley is a creative, energetic young woman with a wry sense of humor.
The Mystery Reader
How to Crash a Killer Bash
[Warner] delights her audience with colorful and lively characters, intriguing suspense, and fun party-planning tips. If youre looking for a lighthearted, fast-moving story with enough polish and pizzazz to keep your interest popping to the very last page, look no further than this party-hearty book.
Fresh Fiction
Exactly what a modern cozy should be: light and playful, a little romance mixed with a little mystery, and thoroughly enjoyable start to finish.
Mysterious Reviews
The mystery is well plotted, [and] there are plenty of clues and plenty of suspects, letting readers guess along with Presley.
The Mystery Reader
I highly recommend this book to all mystery readers, cozy [fans] or not. This is a party that you dont want to miss.
Once Upon a Romance Reviews
The Killer Party series is delightful!
Meritorious Mysteries
Presley Parker is a protagonist who readers cant help but like. Shes been down on her luck but lands on her feet when she comes up with the idea for an event-planning business. For a mystery series, its a near-perfect occupation.
MysteriesGalore.com
Penny Warner has created a wonderful heroine in perilous Presley Parker.... With plenty of action on her investigation and several poignant moments, readers will enjoy the perils of Presley Parker.
Genre Go Round Reviews
The second Party-Planner mystery is a delightful whodunit due to a strong lead and the eccentric cast who bring a flavor of San Francisco to life.
The Best Reviews
Plenty of motives and suspects... a cast of lively characters.
Gumshoe
How to Host a Killer Party
Penny Warners scintillating How to Host a Killer Party introduces an appealing heroine whose event skills include utilizing party favors in self-defense in a fun, fast-paced new series guaranteed to please.
Carolyn Hart, Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awardwinning author of Dead by Midnight
A party you dont want to miss.
Denise Swanson, New York Times bestselling author of Murder of a Bookstore Babe
Penny Warner dishes up a rare treat, sparkling with wicked and witty San Francisco characters, plus some real tips on hosting a killer party.
Rhys Bowen, award-winning author of the Royal Spyness and Molly Murphy mysteries
Theres a cozy little party going on between these covers.
Elaine Viets, author of the Dead-End Job mysteries
Fast, fun, and fizzy as a champagne cocktail! The winning and witty Presley Parker can plan a perfect partybut after her A-list event becomes an invitation to murder, her next plan must be to save her own life.
Hank Phillippi Ryan, Agatha Awardwinning author of Drive Time
The book dishes up a banquet of mayhem.
Oakland Tribune (CA)
Grab this book.... It will leave you in stitches.
The Romance Readers Connection
Frantic pace, interesting characters.
Publishers Weekly
These days some of the hottest crime fiction revolves around caterers and chefs. The latest author to venture into culinary mystery territory is Danvilles Penny Warner, whose Bay Area heroparty planner Presley Parkerruns into homicidal high jinks all over the Bay Area, starting with an Alcatraz wedding gone awry.
Contra Costa Times
The Party-Planning Mystery Series
How to Host a Killer Party
How to Crash a Killer Bash
How to Survive a Killer Sance
To the partyers in my lifemy family. And to party planners everywhereyou know what Im talking about....
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to everyone who helped in some way with this book: Colleen Casey, Janet Finsilver, Staci McLaughlin, Ann Parker, Carole Price, Sue Warner, the city of Colma, my wonderful agents Andrea Hurst and Amberly Finarelli, and my incredible editor, Sandy Harding.
I figured that, if you do a vampire movie in Hollywood, youve made it.
Christopher Atkins
Chapter 1
PARTY-PLANNING TIP #1
With the popularity of vampires today, why not host a Vampire Party! Take your pick from The Twilight Saga, True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Bram Stokers Dracula, or Anne Rices Lestat. Or give your party some bite and invite all of them!
It should have been a dark and stormy night, la Hollywood, but the October moon was full and the sky cloudless. I stood quietly in the cemetery, feeling as if I were viewing a film. But there were no cameras, and this was no movie.
I watched as the tall, pale twentysomething man dressed in tight black jeans and a black chest-hugging T-shirt suddenly appeared from out of nowhere. He seemed to glide toward the wide-eyed, raven-haired young woman who waited for him. She wore a white, flowing dress, sheer and low-cut, that displayed her obviously enhanced breasts. Leaning seductively against a towering headstone, her long hair swirling in the night breeze, she smiled at the man in black approaching her. He held a glass of bloodred wine, his glowing eyes fixed on her.
I felt like a voyeur, but I couldnt take my eyes off this mesmerizing couple.
He offered her the glass, not taking his eyes from hers. There was palpable chemistry between these two people. This is very old wine. I hope youll like it.
She wrapped a porcelain hand around the stem, her red-lacquered fingernails tinkling against the glass. Arent you drinking? she asked, her eyes reflecting the bright spotlights. She took a sip.
Staring at her with intense dark eyes, the young man parted his full lips, revealing white teeth that glinted in the light. I never drink wine.
I almost laughed out loud at the familiar line. Count Dracula had said the same thing to Renfield in the original 1939 film. But when the man in black suddenly jerked, as if having a spasm, I gasped. Seconds later he shot up into the air like a rocket and disappeared into the branches of a eucalyptus tree.
