August 13, 2007
Jane Kelly, Oregon’s spunkiest PI-in-training, and her pug pal, Binky, sniff for clues in their rollicking third case (after 2006’s Electric Blue
). The newest Dwayne Durbin Investigations client, Violet Purcell, is ultra gorgeous, ultra rich and ultra desperate: her prints are all over the silver tray that whacked her “favorite ex-husband,” Roland Hatchmere, on the morning of his daughter’s wedding. Other suspects include Roland’s estranged wife, Melinda, a manic Junior Leaguer; his first wife, Renee, a plastic surgery addict; and several members of the sleazy Columbia Millionaires’ Club. Dwayne must depend on Jane to do the legwork while he’s stuck at home, recovering from injuries and passing the time by spying on neighbors from his window. Soon he starts wondering what those Lake Chinook teens are really doing during their nocturnal parties at a house under construction, and sends Jane undercover to find out, adding another layer of mystery to the tangled plot. Jane’s cool, reader-friendly attitude makes this funny new series a winner.
September 15, 2007
Nancy Bush successfully introduced sleuth Jane Kelly in Candy Apple Red (2005), followed by Electric Blue (2006). In this outing, Janes PI boss, Dwayne, is sidelined with a broken leg in a cast and binoculars on the neighbors (Rear Window, anyone?), so it falls to our heroine to prove high-profile client Violet Purcells innocence. This first official case for Jane involves a high-society wedding where the focus shifts from the bride to Roland Hatchmere, her father, since hes been clobbered with Purcells gifta silver tray. If this evokes Erle Stanley Gardners Perry Mason series (something along the lines of The Case of the Flattened Father maybe?), keep readingand enjoy the ride as this breezy female PI, whos snappy and fun in her own odd way, is drawn deeper into the lives of the eccentric Hatchmere clan and Violet, who is supercharged in a sultry, throbbing way like Monroe, but whose signature color is purple, not polka dots.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)