Meh. This was a trashy mystery that I read as candy to serve as dessert after a semester of hardcore British and American Literature. It was okay, I guess, but nothing special to write home about. I liked Carl Hiaasen's "Strip Tease" a lot better.

Exotic Dancer, Sierra Lavotini-funny light mystery

My flight home was 3 hours late in leaving Halifax so Sierra and her wacky cast of characters kept me company during my wait. It was a quick fun read that I finished before my plane touched down in Toronto.

I enjoyed this book. It was funny yet kept me in suspense.

Vincent, the Tiffany Club owner, has acquired some hefty debts and has decided to invite some Atlanta porn film stars as guests to increase business. The film stars are murdered and Sierra and John are on the case.

3.5 stars. I really do like the characters in this series. Their quirks and oddities seem real, not like some "insert wacky neighbor here" characters. Only one more left in the series, which I have in hand!

It doesn't surprise me that I am the first to actually REVIEW this book rather than just rate it. Reading this book is akin to mental masturbation, similar to the fluffy romance novels that are so popular with bored housewives and readers who always want a happy ending.

However, this book (series, I'm sure) has the distinction of being a complete and utter rip-off of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum One for the Moneyseries, but doesn't raise to the moderate level of Sarah Strohmeyer's Bubbles Series Bubbles Unbound: Bubbles Yablonsky Book 1. A Single Italian stereotype, thirty-something solving a crime with the help of her "crazy old lady" neighbor (who drives an antique car) much to the chagrin of her Detective boyfriend, while being attracted to a mysterious, dark and dangerous man. Oh, and her boss is a short, fat, scummy Italian who talks about his mob connections. (Stephanie, Grandma Mazur, Big Blue, Morelli, Ranger, Vinnie if you couldn't already make the connection.)

The reader is dropped of into the world of a stripper...wait...EXOTIC DANCER (never a stripper and 10x better than a porn star) names Sierra. Sierra works at a "class establishment" where she proves how classy she is by beating up her rival "dancers" in the make up room for sitting in the wrong chair or for giving her "lip". It seems that everything Nancy Bartholomew knows about Exotic Dancing Clubs she learned from the movies Strip Tease and Showgirls. To further class the place up, two porn star strippers from Atlanta are killed and a car bomb explodes in the parking lot. Sounds like a high end joint to me!

As a reader, I don't know if the author is stupid or if she's really great at writing stupid characters. Sierra withholds vital evidence from the police (multiple times)because she feels excluded from the investigation or because she is too dumb:a small bomb explodes in her driveway. Is this just an average weekday at the stripper's trailer park?

With the Evanovich books, the crime solving is plausable: Stephanie is a bounty hunter. With Sarah Strohmeyer, Bubbles is a reporter. I can see how a nosy old lady (Agatha Christie) can snoop around, but not a Barbie Doll Stripper.

There is a quote by Sierra's brother Francis about "Feelings", that gave this book an extra star. "Feelings! God damn, Sierra, when are you going to grow up? Feelings don't get you shit. It doesn't change anything. Feelings don't undo what's happened or take it all back. Feelings just get in the way of moving on." I am reminded of Jack Nicholson's character in As Good as it Gets when he says how he writes women characters so well: "I think of a man and I take away reason and accountability." Keeping this quote in mind it makes me think that the author is not a total dummy as she can write male characters pretty well.

good

The Tiffany Gentleman's Club is in financial trouble. The plan to save it is to bring in guest porn stars and it seems to be bringing in big bucks until a girl is killed by a sniper. The police believe that another dancer, Marla, is the best suspect but Sierra knows that she couldn't have done it. There has been a strange man hanging out at the club and Sierra makes his think that she is related to the mob. Her detective boyfriend wants her to keep her nose out of the investigation but she is determined to find the real killer before she gets killed too. She needs help and gets it from her landlady, her crazy neighbor, and her older brother. It's a funny but suspenseful tale.

Fun mystery/crime with a woman heroine (sort of). Fun Series

Light frivolous read, would be great for the beach.

A zany Florida mystery peopled with exotic dancers, gangsters, a crazy elderly lady, and a hairless chihuahua...
It could have been better edited. At one point a dancer puts a gun in her mouth when the author intended for her to chew some juicy fruit.

I like this series, but this book is not one of the stronger ones. And it's a fluff mystery involving a stripper - be warned