Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Lust, Loathing and a Little Lip Gloss- Kyra Davis

Lust, Loathing and a Little Lip Gloss
Kyra Davis
Mira, Jun 2009, $13.95
ISBN: 9780778327363

A decade has passed since mystery writer Sophie Katz saw her slimy former spouse Scott Colvin. However to her shock, she runs into him at an open house in the Marina District where a $1.4-million fixer-upper is up for sale. Her initial reaction is someone spiked her frap. Her second thought comes when Scott offers his ex a sweetheart deal; which she knows means he is hiding something from her because Scott Colvin means trouble for anyone who ventures within a kilometer of his sphere.

The Victorian house is owned by Oscar Crammer, who insists his place is haunted and is willing to let it go for practically nothing. Scott takes Sophie to the mansion where they find the house haunted by the corpse of Oscar. The late owner’s son Kane also believes the house is haunted and agrees to honor his father’s price quote on the stipulation that Sophie join the San Francisco Specter Society to help him contact his father's ghost. Amateur sleuth Sophie and her private investigator boyfriend Anatoly Darinsky, hired by the victim’s estranged wife to prove she did not kill him, think the house is haunted by humans and set out to prove the bumps in the night are mortal as is the killler

This is an amusing lighthearted investigative murder mystery that will hook the audience on two levels. First spunky Sophie is super as she takes San Francisco while providing her first person perspective which includes plenty of in your face comments. Second is the cleverly designed séance-homicide that turns out to be a locked room murder. Kyra Davis writes a terrific whodunit starring an amateur sleuth filled with lust for her boyfriend, loathing for her ex, and needing a little lip gloss for her boyfriend.

Harriet Klausner

No comments: