Helpful Score: 2
#3 in the Tattoo shop mysteries featuring Brett Kavanaugh, owner of the Painted Lady tattoo salon in Las Vegas. Brett kindly loans her red Mustang convertible to an elderly friend who is getting married--they are using one of the drive-through wedding chapels in Vegas and wanted something more classy than Sylvia's battered Gremlin. The morning after, Brett returns from a trip to Red Rocks where she does some hiking--only to discover a body in the trunk--dead as a doornail, with a dead rat underneath it. The body looks, at first glance, like Dean Martin, but ends up being one of the impersonators who worked at the wedding chapel.
When she tries to reach Sylvia and Bernie, they can't be found either by herself, Sylvia's son or the police--Brett calls her brother Tim, a detective with LVPD, but because of her involvement in the case, it must be handled by another detective. Brett and Jeff Coleman, rival tattoo shop owner, sort-of friend and son of Sylvia, put their heads together to try to locate the newlyweds and find out who the body in her trunk is and who put him there, and of course this gets them in trouble (several times) with the law as well as with the killer.
While the storyline here sounds good, I have to say that this book and I got off on the wrong foot on page 3, when the wrong form of a word was used--'incidence' being used instead of simply the plural of 'incident.' Argh! It's one of those mistakes you need a human proofreader for and the kind I find more annoying than a simple typo.
I enjoy the information about tattoos and the real sense of place that Olson gives to the Vegas venue. Brett's character is likable enough in general, it just seems that she continues to become dumb and dumber as she goes off on her own pursuing leads, withholding valuable information from the police, and doing otherwise unbelievable things. I like a story where the protagonist might be defiant and high-spirited, yet I like to be able to insert myself into the story, thinking "I might do the same thing if I were in her shoes." But I rarely feel that way with Brett.
And again, it's another case where almost every eligible man she comes across, she 'checks out' and is ready to follow with puppy eyes after just a few minutes. It gets old, and my eye muscles get a good workout from all the eye-rolling I do. I have to admit I really miss the author's much-feistier, less cozy character from her previous series--as much as I like the author's writing style, this series is fast drifting back into the pack of cookie-cutter cozy series. Not bad, just not worth crowing about.
When she tries to reach Sylvia and Bernie, they can't be found either by herself, Sylvia's son or the police--Brett calls her brother Tim, a detective with LVPD, but because of her involvement in the case, it must be handled by another detective. Brett and Jeff Coleman, rival tattoo shop owner, sort-of friend and son of Sylvia, put their heads together to try to locate the newlyweds and find out who the body in her trunk is and who put him there, and of course this gets them in trouble (several times) with the law as well as with the killer.
While the storyline here sounds good, I have to say that this book and I got off on the wrong foot on page 3, when the wrong form of a word was used--'incidence' being used instead of simply the plural of 'incident.' Argh! It's one of those mistakes you need a human proofreader for and the kind I find more annoying than a simple typo.
I enjoy the information about tattoos and the real sense of place that Olson gives to the Vegas venue. Brett's character is likable enough in general, it just seems that she continues to become dumb and dumber as she goes off on her own pursuing leads, withholding valuable information from the police, and doing otherwise unbelievable things. I like a story where the protagonist might be defiant and high-spirited, yet I like to be able to insert myself into the story, thinking "I might do the same thing if I were in her shoes." But I rarely feel that way with Brett.
And again, it's another case where almost every eligible man she comes across, she 'checks out' and is ready to follow with puppy eyes after just a few minutes. It gets old, and my eye muscles get a good workout from all the eye-rolling I do. I have to admit I really miss the author's much-feistier, less cozy character from her previous series--as much as I like the author's writing style, this series is fast drifting back into the pack of cookie-cutter cozy series. Not bad, just not worth crowing about.
Back to all reviews by this member
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details
