Curl Up and Dye Books in Order

The Curl Up and Dye mysteries follow Hilde Higgins, a young woman with a very unusual job. By day she styles hair for funeral homes in and around Wichita and the nearby town of Eden, Kansas. Her purple streaks, love of Spam salad, and fear of clowns make her stand out in a world where everyone else is literally lying still.

In Missing Mabel, Hilde’s routine work is shattered when she realizes the woman in the casket is not the client she prepared days earlier. When she raises the alarm, the funeral home turns on her and she is soon accused of stealing a diamond ring. Clearing her name means finding out what really happened to Mabel and why someone would go to so much trouble to cover it up.

The next mystery pulls Hilde even deeper into trouble. A local businessman who moonlights as a clown at a children’s hospital is found dead in costume, and the police quickly suspect another clown, the man Hilde is dating. In a community already wary of her odd profession, she has to prove that the person she cares about is not a killer while sorting through the secrets behind the greasepaint.

By the time A Wedding to Dye For opens, Hilde has planned her own wedding down to the last detail. A rehearsal dinner at her boarding house seems like the final, happy step before she walks down the aisle. Then a brutal ice storm slams the town, trapping the guests inside, and a substitute pastor is found outside in the snow with a knife in his back. With no way to call for help, the boarding house turns into a classic closed circle mystery.

Across the series, Nancy Mehl leans into the contrast between Hilde’s odd line of work and her very ordinary longings for love, friendship, and a place to belong. The tone stays light and a bit quirky, with plenty of boarding house gossip, stubborn landlords, and small town church life. At the same time, real danger stalks the edges of every case, whether it arrives in the form of a switched corpse, a clown costume, or a winter storm.

Readers who like their mysteries with a strong thread of faith, a dash of romance, and an offbeat heroine who keeps walking into trouble will find a lot to enjoy here. Each book tells a complete story, but watching Hilde’s relationships deepen from one investigation to the next is part of the fun.