An enjoyable, intelligent read that triumphs over its minor shortcomings.
An unexpected romance blossoms during a murder investigation in Geiger’s debut mystery.
When anchorwoman Michelle Osher is found nearly decapitated in her expensive apartment, suspicion focuses immediately on her husband, Paul. Police uncover a pattern of calls linking Paul to Sheyla Samonte, an entertainer at a nightclub called Pearls of Asia that features transgendered entertainers. Samonte quickly joins the suspect list when it is discovered that she enjoyed a lavish lifestyle on Paul’s dime, leaving police to wonder whether she wanted a promotion from mistress to wife. When Samonte refuses to cooperate unless Homicide Inspector Mac Fleet takes her to brunch, Fleet knows he needs to regain control of the investigation. That’s easier said than done, as he grows increasingly infatuated with Samonte. Convinced of her innocence, Fleet devotes himself to finding the real killer. The ensuing investigation uncovers infidelities, betrayals and a host of people who might want Michelle Osher dead. Geiger centers much of the action on the Pearls of Asia entertainers, whom he generally portrays with emotional depth and complexity. Occasionally, though, Geiger gives in to the temptation of cheap titillation and offers readers one-dimensional, hypersexual caricatures of the transgendered women. His writing style is similarly uneven. The book begins with snappy lines—"the gourmet kitchen was bigger than his first apartment, and it looked as though it made more reservations than recipes" and “jalapeno and garlic was the best California combination since Beach and Boy”—but later in the story, the witticisms focus primarily on crude sexual innuendos (“does that mean I get to go down on your periscope?” or “[she] called me right as my Latin boyfriend was rolling over to give me ‘room service’”). However, these small missteps do little to detract from the overall appeal of this fast-paced romp that has plenty of plot twists. Geiger deftly balances the murder investigation with the developing relationship between Fleet and Samonte until the book’s end, which rushes to a barely credible and somewhat unsatisfying resolution.
An enjoyable, intelligent read that triumphs over its minor shortcomings.Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2011
ISBN: 978-1463587567
Page Count: 248
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.
A promise to his best friend leads an Army serviceman to a family in need and a chance at true love in this novel.
Beckett Gentry is surprised when his Army buddy Ryan MacKenzie gives him a letter from Ryan’s sister, Ella. Abandoned by his mother, Beckett grew up in a series of foster homes. He is wary of attachments until he reads Ella’s letter. A single mother, Ella lives with her twins, Maisie and Colt, at Solitude, the resort she operates in Telluride, Colorado. They begin a correspondence, although Beckett can only identify himself by his call sign, Chaos. After Ryan’s death during a mission, Beckett travels to Telluride as his friend had requested. He bonds with the twins while falling deeply in love with Ella. Reluctant to reveal details of Ryan’s death and risk causing her pain, Beckett declines to disclose to Ella that he is Chaos. Maisie needs treatment for neuroblastoma, and Beckett formally adopts the twins as a sign of his commitment to support Ella and her children. He and Ella pursue a romance, but when an insurance investigator questions the adoption, Beckett is faced with revealing the truth about the letters and Ryan’s death, risking losing the family he loves. Yarros’ (Wilder, 2016, etc.) novel is a deeply felt and emotionally nuanced contemporary romance bolstered by well-drawn characters and strong, confident storytelling. Beckett and Ella are sympathetic protagonists whose past experiences leave them cautious when it comes to love. Beckett never knew the security of a stable home life. Ella impulsively married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended when he discovered she was pregnant. The author is especially adept at developing the characters through subtle but significant details, like Beckett’s aversion to swearing. Beckett and Ella’s romance unfolds slowly in chapters that alternate between their first-person viewpoints. The letters they exchanged are pivotal to their connection, and almost every chapter opens with one. Yarros’ writing is crisp and sharp, with passages that are poetic without being florid. For example, in a letter to Beckett, Ella writes of motherhood: “But I’m not the center of their universe. I’m more like their gravity.” While the love story is the book’s focus, the subplot involving Maisie’s illness is equally well-developed, and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere.
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-533-3
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
To her usual mix of love, mystery, and passion, Roberts (Sanctuary, 1997, etc.)—author of 115 romancers in some 17 years—adds Renaissance art and a decidedly Medici-like family: the Joneses of Maine. Dr. Miranda Jones, nearly six feet with flaming red hair and a glacial reserve, is an archeometrist who specializes in the analyzing and dating of Renaissance bronze sculpture. Miranda hopes to secure a world-class reputation for herself by authenticating a 15th-century statue of the Dark Lady, one of the mistresses of Lorenzo the Magnificent, as the undiscovered work of a young Michelangelo. Miranda's mother, Dr. Elizabeth Standford-Jones, the emotionally remote director of the Standjo art lab in Florence, has summoned her daughter from the family's Victorian cliffside home in Jones Point, Maine, to test the statue. Meanwhile, Miranda's father, equally remote, is an archaeologist who spends more time at his digs than at home. In fact, no one in the Jones family has made a successful run at marriage, a failure that Miranda and her alcoholic brother Andrew call the Jones curse. As for the statue, when it's discovered to be a fake, Miranda sets out to prove that someone stole the original. In this she's helped by gorgeous art thief Ryan Boldari (half-Italian, half-Irish), who's come to Jones Point to steal yet another bronze, which also turns out to be a forgery. Ryan's plan had been to use Miranda as a pawn, but now, naturally, he finds himself falling hard for her. While the two search for bronzes, a standard-issue romance-novel psychotic is stalking them. Most readers will twig to the killer's identity: Here, as always, Roberts's sexual tension is more compelling than her suspense. Perhaps it's time to take a sabbatical from the pink sweatshop and turn her considerable wit and narrative skills to a more original piece of work.
Pub Date: March 23, 1998
ISBN: 0-399-14387-4
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1998
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
