Lula Sees a Murder

Rating: 3.5/5

Review: Well, there were several laugh-out-loud moments, as usual, but can we please stop with the stupid cars getting burned or blown up already? The love triangle is starting to get tiresome too. I do have to admit that the enticing encounters with Ranger are a bit fun to read, though. Lula witnessing a murder was a great concept, and Stephanie is still one of my favorite characters. I'm hoping she actually manages to stay with Morelli in the next book, and not have any ridiculous fights over a jar of nasty peanut butter.

Book Description: Stephanie Plum chases killers, burglars and romance-well, not romance this time-through the flames that threaten every square inch of Trenton. It's not as if there weren't enough work for the bounty hunters of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds, dedicated professionals charged with bringing in Failures to Appear like serial flasher Junior Turley, who's known to every housewife in his neighborhood, and retired pharmacist Myron Kaplan, who robbed his dentist at gunpoint when his new choppers began to ache. They really don't need the two unrelated cases that pop up like mushrooms. Stephanie's pal Lula arrives at work one evening to report that she just saw a man getting beheaded outside the Sunshine Hotel, and smoldering Ranger, the bounty hunter who's long lusted after Stephanie, reveals that clients using his security systems are getting robbed left and right. Stephanie would turn to her main squeeze, Det. Joe Morelli, if an argument about peanut butter hadn't sent them skittering to opposite corners. Looks like she and Lula will be on their own as they go after the $1 million reward offered by Fire in the Hole Red Hot Barbecue Sauce for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the parties Lula watched decapitate celebrity chef Stanley Chipotle. To get in the mood, Lula naturally takes up barbecuing.

A Murder Solving Book Collector

Rating: 3.5/5

Review: This one started out a little slow, but soon got interesting enough to encourage further reading. I like Cliff Janeway, with his wonderful book addiction, and tough guy appeal. It's an unusual combination that really drew me into his story. There was a great mystery to be solved, and I liked that I had no idea who the killer was until the end. There was a weird section in the book, where Janeway opens a book store, which didn't seem to fit with the rest of the story. It was fun reading about it, but I was thrown off a little bit from the murder mystery. Once the investigation picked back up again, though, I was hooked. The ending was a bit abrupt, however. While there didn't seem to be any lose ends aside from his relationship with Rita, I felt a little let down for some reason. I do plan on reading more in the series, though.

Book Description: Denver homicide detective Cliff Janeway may not always play by the book, but he is an avid collector of rare and first editions. After a local bookscout is killed on his turf, Janeway would like nothing better than to rearrange the suspect's spine. But the suspect, local lowlife Jackie Newton, is a master at eluding the law, and Janeway's wrathful brand of off-duty justice costs him his badge.
Turning to his lifelong passion, Janeway opens a small bookshop — all the while searching for evidence to put Newton away. But when prized volumes in a highly sought-after collection begin to appear, so do dead bodies. Now, Janeway's life is about to start a precarious new chapter as he attempts to find out who's dealing death along with vintage Chandlers and Twains.

Blood and Gore and Sophistication

Rating: 4/5

Review: I was surprised to find myself quite enjoying this book. It was certainly unusual, and at times a little gross. Of course, that's hard to avoid when dealing with zombies. I laughed out loud, however, on more than one occasion. It was such a hoot reading about these classic characters dealing with nasty "unmentionables" in as sophisticated a manner as possible.

Book Description: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains." So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton-and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she's soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers-and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Can she vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you'd actually want to read.