Reviews

• Five Stars

  Just started this book, and already hooked! Cannot put it down......

• Madcap Adventure; light on mystery, long on fun

  The biggest complaint I have about this book is that I'm finished. I decided to pick up one of Harley Jane Kozak's romantic comedy mysteries on the high recommendation of Entertainment Weekly. From their review, I expected that the book would be competently written. I didn't expect it to make me laugh out loud or to make me care for her characters quite so much. In that, I can see, I differ from some of Amazon's other reviewers. This book is definitely a hybrid, which may make it a challenge to fans of the traditional mystery. It has many qualities of the romantic comedy. In that guise, Kozak reads most to me like MaryJanice Davidson (without the vampires). Of the other mystery writers I read, Kozak reminds me most of Joan Hess, particularly with Hess' Claire Malloy mysteries. But we're not dealing with the slow meticulous gathering of clues common to the mystery genre--and which for many of us is the primary pleasure of the reading of that type. From the start, this novel is a joyride, with some interesting scenery along the way. Less Ellery Queen. More Inspector Clouseau. But without all the bumbling...and with a lot more focus on dating and shoes. Our heroine, Wollie Shelley, is warm and believable--larger than life, but--in my opinion--true to it. Her relationship with her mentally ill brother (which propels the story) feels genuine, not exploitative. Some of his symptoms may be cliche, but he is not--he is highly sympathetic. Wollie's career goals and dreams feel integral, not window-dressing tossed in to simulate character depth. As with many comic characters, she is often impulsive, but her impulsiveness doesn't seem contrived simply to move the plot along. Her behavior seems of a piece with her personality. I plan to pick up the second Wollie Shelley mystery immediately. If it's even half as much fun as this one, Kozak will have earned herself a loyal fan.

• I think I liked this author's second in the series a bit better

  But this one is very good, too. I read them out of order, of course! Wolly Shelley (what a name!) is kind of an LA Stephanie Plum -- same kind of "suspend all disbelief" over the top humor. I think the plotting is much better than Evanovich, however, whereas Evanovich does romance very well. Both Steph and Wolly have strange families that they nevertheless love and are close to. Wolly's brother is sweet schizophrenic, and at the beginning of the book, Wolly gets a call from him (he's in a mental health on a trial of a new medication) talking about murder. She is afraid that perhaps HE has killed someone, although that would be totally unlike him. She rushes out to the hospital to find her brother and discovers (at night) a body in the driveway to the hospital. She goes into the hospital to find him and is immediately taken captive by a man she is very much attracted to -- she mistakes him at first for a physician. They take off in his car, and the rest of the book involves the intrigue he is dealing with -- he tries to drop her off but she refuses (I told you that a serious suspension of disbelief is needed.) Wolly is simultaneously involved in a "scientific study" in which she has to date a whole bunch of men (blind dates) in a short period of time, wearing a pre-chosen wardrobe that arrives before each date. You can imagine some of the choices. Not to mention some of the dates. It's humorous, the characters that should be likable are likable, the villains are cartoonishly villainous, and the pacing of the book is fast. If you enjoy madcap humor and romance in your mysteries, you should really like this book. As to the reviewer who complained about celebrities being authors, frankly I've never heard of this actor and didn't know that the author was an actor until I read the bio at the back of the book. Frankly, who cares? It can't help or hurt a book.

• Love, Laughter, and Lethality in L.A.

  I like mysteries, I like to laugh, and I'm a sucker for true love. I'm also an incredibly picky reader. A friend's recommendation led me to Dating Dead Men, and I'll always be grateful for that; otherwise I'd never have met Wollie and Doc and Fredreeq and all the other wonderfully-drawn characters that populate this remarkable novel. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (no, not that one) is an artistic soul struggling to make it in the greeting card business. Finding a dead body on the way to visit her brother in a mental hospital and being subsequently kidnapped by a mysterious (and good-looking) man with a ferret is only the very beginning of an adventure that will take Wollie Shelley on a lethal whirlwind tour of L.A., from Sunset to cemeteries to synagogues, into the clutches of knife-wielding mobsters and gun-toting Swedes and dates best forgotten. It's entertaining and real and laugh-out-loud funny, and highly, highly recommended.

• Great Beach Book

  Enjoyed this book very much: lots of great "one liners" that made me laugh out loud; I liked the characters and thought the plot was an amazing feat of imagination. The pace was incredibly fast and fun. I recommend this book for a fun quick read.

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