Background
Mrs. Kellogg was born in Denver, Colorado, United States, on July 29, 1946. She is a daughter of John C. III (a corporate officer) and Margaret S. Davis.
(Meet Kick Keswick, an elegant and self-possessed American...)
Meet Kick Keswick, an elegant and self-possessed American who has been at London's venerable Ballantine & Company Auctioneer, Ltd., for over thirty years. She is an expert on paintings, furniture, and objets d'art, and so far has lived a perfectly happy life with things on her mind other than love. In fact, Kick rarely lets anyone into her private world. She prefers it that way. She adores her elegant London flat, her books, her music, her delicious meals, and, most of all, her jewels. Kick doesn't need a man in her life messing things up. But when American industrialist, scoundrel, and womanizer Owen Brace grabs the faltering Ballantine & Company in a corporate takeover, he turns Kick's world upside down, opening her eyes to large-scale love, romance and sensuous pleasure. Something tells Kick that Brace's motives are anything but sincere, however. And when he gets near enough to threaten Kick's closely guarded life, Brace learns the dangers of underestimating this woman. From sophicticated London to Kick's secluded farm in Provence, France, BRILLIANT is a playfully delicious novel of suspense, masterful revenge, and secrets of the multi-faceted kind. STARRED REVIEW: "Kick Keswick proves a strong, delightful and intelligent anti-heroine as she leads the reader on a marvelous romp through London auction houses, the homes of the rich and famous, and the Provence countryside...Full of fun and flare, Kick is indeed a kick, and BRILLIANT proves to be a gem of summer reading." —Sheila Riley, Smithsonian Institute Libraries, starred review in Library Journal "...a sensual and lush romp through the rarified world of money and power in London. BRILLIANT is a fun and engaging read, well-written, well-plotted, with memorable characters and a concrete sense of place and time." —Julia Gambill Ledyard, Nashville Tennessean "BRILLIANT fills the beach book bill admirably: fast-paced, well-written, and full of colorful (if morally ambiguous) characters...Madly entertaining – especially the surprise ending which is a real, um, kick." —Melinda Bargreen, The Seattle Times "A witty page-turner...a suspenseful account, with humor and a real sense of style." —Kirkus Reviews "Kellogg's characters live in a world removed from most readers' experiences, but she makes them appealing and familiar so readers can empathize with their lives. Since the story is written in the first person in Kick's voice, the adventure is up close and personal, revealing her fascinating thought processes. BRILLIANT is pure fun and offers a revealing peek into the lives of the rich and titled in London." —Leslie Doran, The Denver Post "Marne Davis Kellogg has written an elegant and luscious suspense novel, filled with intriguing twists and turns. As always, Ms. Kellogg's characters are funny, sexy, interesting and quirky. Great summer reading. BRILLIANT is, in a word, brilliant." —Nelson DeMille, Author of Up Country "Here's a heroine who loves diamonds, great food, and great ways to get revenge. What more could any woman want? BRILLIANT is a delicious novel that you'll devour like the most scrumptious meal. I loved Kick Keswick – I wouldn't want to mess with her, but I would enjoy hanging out with her." —Janet Evanovich, author of Hard Eight About the Author: Marne Davis Kellogg is the international, best-selling author of 11 mysteries, including the highly popular series of capers featuring Kick Keswick, the world’s greatest jewel thief. In addition to her writing life, she is Executive Vice President of The Kellogg Organization, Inc. Marne and her husband, Peter, live in Denver and on their Colorado ranch in the summertime where she cooks the decadent meals found in her books. Marne and Peter visit England, France and Italy at least once a year where they research Kick and Thomas's environs to make certain they're as accurately portrayed as possible.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FY8847O/?tag=2022091-20
(In her cashmere sweater, suede pumps, and pearls, Lilly B...)
In her cashmere sweater, suede pumps, and pearls, Lilly Bennett hardly looks like a hard-boiled private detective. But Lilly, a federal marshal and part-time P.I., has a sharp eye for shady doings among the Wyoming moneyed circles in which she moves. And her Glock .26 makes the perfect accessory with any outfit.... Even Lilly admits that the week of her wedding is not the ideal time to take on a case, but this one's a little personal. During a round of prenuptial parties, a gunshot cuts down the hostess at her own soiree--just minutes after Lilly left her side. Lilly is determined to catch a killer and make it to the church on time. The only question is whether she'll be sporting a wedding veil...or a satin-lined casket.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553580469/?tag=2022091-20
(Despite her best intentions, Kick Keswick---international...)
Despite her best intentions, Kick Keswick---international jewel thief, fabulous dresser, gourmet cook, and woman-about-town---finds herself drawn back into the glamorous, dangerous world of jewels (and the people who covet them).… It should have been the start of a perfect sojourn in Provence. Kick Keswick has just settled down to a warm chocolate soufflé with a meltingly delicious Grand Marnier sauce and a small glass of Armanac when she receives startling news: The personal jewels of the Queen of England have gone missing. And she wants Kick to get them back. Most of the world knows Kick as an expert in jewels and antiquities, having been the right hand at Ballantine & Company Auctioneers in London, but others know Kick as the world’s finest jewel thief, a woman who can stand out in a crowd at will, but who can also blend in when she wants to. Kick now desires nothing now more than a quiet life, but Her Majesty requests her expertise (and Kick’s vanity is more than tickled). So the chase is on, in a race that takes her from Provence to Paris, London, St. Moritz, and Milan---and puts all her wiles and talents to the test as she faces a thief whose skills match her own. And with Kick Keswick on the case, there will be trouble afoot---of the multifaceted kind.... With sophistication, wit, and insider details, Perfect is a madcap adventure that takes you on a quest for the things that make life worth living...or at least wirth talking about. Despite her best intentions, Kick Keswick---international jewel thief, fabulous dresser, gourmet cook, and woman-about-town---finds herself drawn back into the glamorous, dangerous world of jewels (and the people who covet them).… It should have been the start of a perfect sojourn in Provence. Kick Keswick has just settled down to a warm chocolate soufflé with a meltingly delicious Grand Marnier sauce and a small glass of Armanac when she receives startling news: The personal jewels of the Queen of England have gone missing. And she wants Kick to get them back. Most of the world knows Kick as an expert in jewels and antiquities, having been the right hand at Ballantine & Company Auctioneers in London, but others know Kick as the world’s finest jewel thief, a woman who can stand out in a crowd at will, but who can also blend in when she wants to. Kick now desires nothing now more than a quiet life, but Her Majesty requests her expertise (and Kick’s vanity is more than tickled). So the chase is on, in a race that takes her from Provence to Paris, London, St. Moritz, and Milan---and puts all her wiles and talents to the test as she faces a thief whose skills match her own. And with Kick Keswick on the case, there will be trouble afoot---of the multifaceted kind.... With sophistication, wit, and insider details, Perfect is a madcap adventure that takes you on a quest for the things that make life worth living...or at least wirth talking about.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312337329/?tag=2022091-20
(Kick Keswick, once a jewel thief living an exciting doubl...)
Kick Keswick, once a jewel thief living an exciting double life, has now retired in simple luxury to the south of France. But when an old enemy resurfaces, threatening to expose the countless fake jewels Kick had carefully substituted during her years of secret theft, she is ready to act. Back in London, Kick finds herself with more employment than she bargained for at a company whose status is much more precarious than she'd thought. Her enemy, in disguise, circles ever closer. And a young nun comes to Kick with a mysterious jewel-encrusted figurine, and a story of greed and murder. To balance on this high wire, Kick must sneak into an upper-crust wedding in the Italian Alps, break into an ancient castle owned by a very modern murderer, and do it all with her customary panache, style, and grace. Can she keep one step ahead of the most seductively ruthless foe she's ever encountered? Kick Keswick, once a jewel thief living an exciting double life, has now retired in simple luxury to the south of France. But when an old enemy resurfaces, threatening to expose the countless fake jewels Kick had carefully substituted during her years of secret theft, she is ready to act. Back in London, Kick finds herself with more employment than she bargained for at a company whose status is much more precarious than she'd thought. Her enemy, in disguise, circles ever closer. And a young nun comes to Kick with a mysterious jewel-encrusted figurine, and a story of greed and murder. To balance on this high wire, Kick must sneak into an upper-crust wedding in the Italian Alps, break into an ancient castle owned by a very modern murderer, and do it all with her customary panache, style, and grace. Can she keep one step ahead of the most seductively ruthless foe she's ever encountered? Kick Keswick, once a jewel thief living an exciting double life, has now retired in simple luxury to the south of France. But when an old enemy resurfaces, threatening to expose the countless fake jewels Kick had carefully substituted during her years of secret theft, she is ready to act. Back in London, Kick finds herself with more employment than she bargained for at a company whose status is much more precarious than she'd thought. Her enemy, in disguise, circles ever closer. And a young nun comes to Kick with a mysterious jewel-encrusted figurine, and a story of greed and murder. To balance on this high wire, Kick must sneak into an upper-crust wedding in the Italian Alps, break into an ancient castle owned by a very modern murderer, and do it all with her customary panache, style, and grace. Can she keep one step ahead of the most seductively ruthless foe she's ever encountered?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312337299/?tag=2022091-20
(If Susan Isaacs had lived in the American West as an Amer...)
If Susan Isaacs had lived in the American West as an American WASP, she would have created Lilly Bennett. By turns sassy and tough, tender and vulnerable, Lilly, a no-longer-so-young Wyoming belle with degrees in criminology and toxicology, is a private investigator and the marshal of Bennett's Fort, a town owned literally lock, stock, and barrel by her cousin. Shod by Chanel, clad in designer suits, and wearing ladylike white gloves, Lilly is an unlikely but highly efficient detective--as she proves when confronted with solving the murder by poisoning of Cyrus Vaile, the incredibly rich, disgustingly lecherous old patron of the local repertory theater. It happens on the night of his birthday celebration, in full view of Lilly and most of his repertory "family," any one of whom might have a pretty good motive for wanting Cyrus dead. And with so much flamboyant emotion obscuring the facts like a theatrical fog, it isn't easy for Lilly to cut through the glycerin tears and get at the unvarnished truth. In Lilly, her eccentric extended family (who made their money in two black crops--oil and Angus cattle), and her dashing suitor Richard Jerome (an ex-Morgan banker turned opera impresario and professional team-roper), Marne Davis Kellogg has invented a fascinating cast of ongoing characters. In Tramp she has created a witty, twisty mystery that shows off each of their talents to perfection. From the Hardcover edition.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006XWYIWK/?tag=2022091-20
(In a humorous novel set in today's Wild West, the fiery L...)
In a humorous novel set in today's Wild West, the fiery Lilly Bennett starts a security firm in Wyoming and takes up the case of an ornery, wealthy rancher gunned down at his birthday party. Reprint.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0446603570/?tag=2022091-20
(High society sleuth Lilly Bennett investigates the murder...)
High society sleuth Lilly Bennett investigates the murder of a German baroness at a luxury ranch in Wyoming frequented by a diverse group of suspects
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0446518379/?tag=2022091-20
(For the past ten years, Nigel Weatherby-Smythe has gone o...)
For the past ten years, Nigel Weatherby-Smythe has gone out of his way to be the perfect butler ... loyal, trustworthy, and discreet. But his adored employer — the internationally famed portrait painter Jacqueline di Fidelio — suddenly finds herself in hot water with the IRS, the FBI, and two dangerous, attractive men. And Nigel discovers his duties expanding in a most unexpected way.... As Madam jets from one glamorous playground to the next, Nigel turns spy and protector to fend off those who would do Jacqueline wrong. For in Nigel’s opinion, his irresistibly alluring employer’s torturous past has rendered her as unstable as a house of cards. Yet when one of Jacqueline’s simpering socialite clients is murdered — and then another mysterious death follows while Jacqueline is on the scene — Nigel begins to wonder if he has it all wrong. Is the woman to whom he has dedicated his life simply an innocent victim of careless, callous men? Or is she a heartless manipulator whose mask of black Prada and pearls hides the tortured secrets of a ruthless killer?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553581694/?tag=2022091-20
(In Marne Davis Kellogg's fifth intricately plotted, wildl...)
In Marne Davis Kellogg's fifth intricately plotted, wildly entertaining mystery, Marshal Lilly Bennett, hot on the trail of an unlikely serial murderer, finds herself drugged and lost in the Nevada desert. Out West, where open spaces are practically sacred, land developers are considered the closest thing to Satan, so it's really no surprise to Lilly Bennett when members of the Johnson clan--the evil spirits behind the Johnson Land Company--start getting bumped off. It all begins with a masked gunman's very surprising appearance at a charity dinner. With her trusty Glock pistol tucked in her evening bag, Lilly chases the murderer across food-laden tables, startling the guests even more and ruining her brand-new Yves Saint Laurent aubergine shantung suit in the process, only to have the killer escape in the Bennett family helicopter. Needless to say, the marshal is more than eager to get even. As any reader of Marne Davis Kellogg's wickedly biting, cleverly conceived, and always amusing mysteries will know, nothing that happens to the Bennett clan of Bennett's Fort, Wyoming, ever takes place on a small scale. In Birthday Party, Lilly and her oh-so-proper mother spend time hobnobbing with a bevy of Las Vegas showgirls; the marshal and her hunky new husband, Richard, find themselves wining and dining with mobsters; and Bennett's Fort entertains a superstar at a party. Events unfold at breakneck speed, and the entertainment never lets up, right through the startling and deliciously satisfying conclusion.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385493339/?tag=2022091-20
Mrs. Kellogg was born in Denver, Colorado, United States, on July 29, 1946. She is a daughter of John C. III (a corporate officer) and Margaret S. Davis.
Marne Kellogg attended private schools in Denver, CO, and Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.
Mrs. Kellogg was an assistant bureau chief in Colorado at People. She worked at Frontier Airlines as a regional sales manager. Mrs. Kellogg served as a director of communications at Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Denver, CO, from 1976 to 1978. In 1981 she was appointed executive vice-president at The Kellogg Organization, Inc., Denver.
(Despite her best intentions, Kick Keswick---international...)
(In Marne Davis Kellogg's fifth intricately plotted, wildl...)
(In a humorous novel set in today's Wild West, the fiery L...)
(Kick Keswick, one of the most charming, enchanting, and b...)
(High society sleuth Lilly Bennett investigates the murder...)
(Meet Kick Keswick, an elegant and self-possessed American...)
(Kick Keswick, once a jewel thief living an exciting doubl...)
(In her cashmere sweater, suede pumps, and pearls, Lilly B...)
(In her cashmere sweater, suede pumps, and pearls, Lilly B...)
(If Susan Isaacs had lived in the American West as an Amer...)
(For the past ten years, Nigel Weatherby-Smythe has gone o...)
Marne Kellogg married Peter M. Kellogg (a corporate officer) on December 29, 1979. The couple has two stepsons: Hunter R., Peter M. II.