Shopaholic meets Stephanie Plum in the fourth novel of the wickedly funny series featuring paralegal-turned-crime-fighter Finley Anderson Tanner.
Kidnapping is so last season.
Couture-conscious paralegal Finley Anderson Tanner knew it was risky to break her cardinal shopping rule—never pay full price—for a last-minute date with her gorgeous new boss, but the hidden costs of her little black dress have put her whole life in the red. After the romantic evening turns into a disaster thanks to impossibly sexy and utterly infuriating private eye Liam McGarrity, Finley finds herself down two thousand dollars and out two potential boyfriends. Naturally, she turns to eBay.
To help pay off her debt, she tries to sell the vintage pageant jewelry she received for doing law partner Ellen Lieberman a favor. But when Finley’s best friend abruptly disappears while helping to wrap up the auction, Finley fears the worst. Does frumpy Ellen have a sinister double life as a beauty queen? Is the auction’s high bidder, Tiara64, more suspicious than her name suggests? Can Finley possibly hunt for clues without irresistible Liam swooping in to bail her out of trouble . . . again? Rhonda Pollero’s hilarious new novel featuring fashionista crime-fighter Finley Anderson Tanner is the must-have mystery of the season.
This would have gotten five stars from me, because it's a really entertaining read. Not deep and meaningful AT ALL, but really entertaining. It lost that fifth star, however, because the author had so many continuity errors it drove me nuts. If you're really specific about what your contractor has tattooed on his knuckles in the third book, don't change the tat in the fourth one. If you have a specific conversation between the main character and her boss, stating that she'll get pain over time for taking a continuing ed class in the third book, then don't have the main character complaining about not getting the overtime in the fourth (unless there's an explanation for it, and there wasn't.)
But continuity issues aside, this book (and series) has a great cast of characters, mostly loveable ones, but a few you enjoy hating. The story line was solid, although a wedding sort of put the whole plot line on hold for a good chunk of the book, but it was fun to read. The suspect was obvious to me from the start, but I was too entertained by the writing to be irritated by it. And the romantic tension - really excellent!
I have the fifth book in hand and I'm looking forward to cracking it open tonight - it promises to be even better!
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21 November, 2012:
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21 November, 2012:
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